My arrangement is similar to yours, Don. The spinnaker guy has a shackle with a large bale The sheet is attached to the guy and the guy is attached to the spinnaker clew. I have a two or three inch diameter disk on the guy just aft of the shackle which prevents the shackle from getting caught in the jaws of the pole. My guy goes to a pad-eye just aft of the shrouds, and the sheet to a block on the rail all the way aft. When dropping the chute, we drop it under the jib, and down the forward hatch. That keeps the companionway clear, and the spinnaker doesn't tangle with the cockpit crew.
Alan Bergen 35 Mk III Thirsty Rose City YC Portland, OR Don Kern via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> 1:08 PM (2 hours ago) Reply to cnc-list, Don I race quite a bit (more than I cruise) and I have not used the reaching strut in years, though it carried below on the shelf above the v-berth. We use both a sheet and a guy attached to each clue. The sheet is lead to a turning blocks at the aft most opening on the toe rail, the guy is lead to a snatch block on the toe rail about a foot aft of the lower-aft shroud, then inboard aft to the cockpit. In light air we will drop the guy and just go with the sheet. The shackle of the guy is normally hooked into the ring of the sheet's shackle. For spinnaker take downs we grab the lazy guy, easy since there is no tension on it, lead it over the life line down the companionway into cabin. Then let the pole go forward and blow the sheet's shackle (guy is hooked into the sheet) and haul the chute down behind the main. Two other advantages with this arrangement is that with the guy led into the toe rail amidships it also acts as a pole downhaul and when running dead before the wind, in very heavy blow we choke the spinnaker with the lazy guy to inhibit death roles. Don Kern Fireball C&C35 MK2 Bristol, RI
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