Re: March 7th - Making Bail, Equipment Failure and other fish stories

Wayne.B wrote:
....
> Flying a spin****r at night with only one person on deck is not a good
> idea.  Wing and wing with the jib poled out and the boom prevented is
> one traditional solution of course, and it works pretty well.  The
> *really* serious downwind cruisers have always favored a double head
> sail rig with twin poles, and the main down.
> 
> Keeping the main strapped down hard, dead downwind in a decent breeze
> and large swells is a recipe for disaster.  The only time I'd do that
> even tem****arily  is jibing the spin****r short handed.
> 
> The other solution is the one I originally proposed: reaching up high
> enough that the jib is full, thus minimizing the chances of an
> accidental.  That does require an occasional jibe to stay on course
> but that's easily managed with an auto pilot at the helm.
> 

My previous boat was a Nonsuch 30, which loved to run dead downwind, but 
the long boom was at risk of dipping into the water.  The trick I 
learned to eliminate the risk of dipping or jibing was to haul up on the 
topping lift to create a lot of twist.  The boom was raised a foot or 
more and the twist prevented jibes.  Admittedly, this can't be done on 
all rigs, but its easy with a stayless rig.