RS SAILING RSCAT 14, Rigging Manual

Page: 49 / 65

47
5.6 Using the Gennaker
If you are inexperienced in using a gennaker, choose a fairly quiet day for you first
excursion. A gennaker nearly doubles your sail area, and should be treated with a
healthy degree of respect!
For your first hoist you should be sailing downwind on a broad reach, with the wind
coming over the helm’s left shoulder. The crew should sit in the centre of the tramp,
and hoist the gennaker by pulling the gennaker halyard from the spinlock cleat on
the front beam.
The gennaker halyard pulls the tack of the sail to the outboard end of the gennaker
pole– when the gennaker is hoisted, you are ready to go. The crew, or the helm if
sailing singlehanded, should now pull gently on the leeward gennaker sheet until the
gennaker has filled.
Gennakers may be effectively used from a close reach to a broad reach so, to get
downwind, one should become adept at gybing. It is not possible to tack with the
gennaker hoisted. For the best effect, the gennaker sheet should always be eased
as far as possible, so that the luff is just on the point of curling.
Gybing with the gennaker is fairly straightforward. Like the jib, it should be pulled
across at the same time as the mainsail comes across. As soon as it has been pulled
in and filled with wind, it should again be immediately eased for maximum
efficiency and speed. If sailing singlehanded, the mainsail should be cleated, and the
helm should hold the gennaker sheet at all times.
To drop the gennaker, reverse the procedure used to hoist. The boat should be
sailing on a broad reach, and the slack in the gennaker downhaul is pulled in from
the left hand halyard block. As the gennaker downhaul goes tight, the gennaker
halyard should be popped out of the cleat. Then, pull the remainder of the gennaker
downhaul through until the gennaker is pulled sharply into the chute. Dropping the
gennaker on tighter reaches is harder, and requires more effort on the gennaker
downhaul. If possible, this should be avoided when sailing singlehanded.
TOP TIP
Tie a rope bobble onto the gennaker halyard, about 10 cm from the bowline
( knot #2) that is attached to the head of the gennaker. This will make dropping
the gennaker easier.
HINT
The gennaker can “bunch up” when entering the chute. This can be minimised
by keeping some tension on the gennaker sheet, preventing the clew from
being sucked into the chute with the main body of the gennaker.
When the gennaker is fully lowered, tidy the sheets and the halyard to keep in the
pockets on the tramp.
5 - Sailing Hints