USER GUIDELINES
CLIK FOR MORE INFO:
USER GUIDELINES
CLIK FOR MORE INFO:
USER GUIDELINES
Preparing for Deckchute is a three step excercise.
You must consider:
1. The boat
2. the kites
3. The Deckchute
To guide you through the three steps and introduce you to Deckchute thinking, click to see the User Guidelines for Super Yachts.
USER GUIDELINES
Preparing for Deckchute is a three step excercise.
You must consider:
1. The boat
2. the kites
3. The Deckchute
To guide you through the three steps and introduce you to Deckchute thinking, click to see the User Guidelines for Super Yachts.
USER GUIDELINES
Preparing for Deckchute is a three step excercise.
You must consider:
1. The boat
2. the kites
3. The Deckchute
To guide you through the three steps and introduce you to Deckchute thinking, click to see the User Guidelines for Super Yachts.
DECKCHUTE BY DOWNWIND
SHORTHANDED IN ANY SICE OF BOAT
VIDEOS
J80
Shorthand drop J80.
25% oversize spinnaker.
Driver ease halyard, rest done by one crew.
DECKCHUTE SHORT/SINGLEHAND
SPINNAKER HOIST AND DROP
Shorthand or cruising hoist and drop is very safe.
It is spinnaker sailing full control all steps, no worries.
To make it happen, we have "cut" the spinnaker hoist and the drop into steps that you can do on your own, running winches, pulling and slacking lines in the cockpit.
The job on the foredeck to hoist is minimal, and you do not have to leave the cockpit at all to drop the spinnaker and head upwind.
No more rushing from foredeck to cockpit, from spinnaker halyard to tack line to spinnaker sheet.
No step is critical in the sense that it triggers a next urgent step!
You are in full control in your pace, all steps.
Deckchute is mounted and the spinnaker is loaded in harbor.
Leaving harbor the spinnaker can be hoisted right away, or it can rest in the chute.
In all Deckchute shorthand/cruising hoist and drop takes the worries out of spinnaker sailing.
Hoisting and dropping the spinnaker is as safe and ordinary as leaving harbor, hoisting the main, unfurling the jib.
It is you performing "ship shape" doings!
Deckchute make you run the spinnaker more often and in stronger winds, enjoying the thrill of running it closer to its limits.
Beneteau First 44.7
Shorthand hoist and drop of 200m2 spinnaker.
Hoisted spinnaker open when safety line is pulled away and sheet is loaded.
Dropline is pulled on pitwinch by handle.
Xp 55
Prototype Ø450 Deckchute.
Shorthand hoist and drop.
Controlled zip in luffs full length.
Drop by pitwinch.
Wally 148'
Shorthand hoist and drop.
The boat raced with Deckchute before Corona.
1st test of Deckchute shorthand system on a SY, spinnaker 1.400m2.
The hoist and he drop was by the "book", the system functioned well, as expected.
DECKCHUTE SINGLE-/SHORTHAND HOIST AND DROP
DECKCHUTE SINGLE-/SHORTHAND SYSTEM IS SAFE SPINNAKER SAILING.
The system address each of the 3 maneuvers that are risky, dangerous or even impossible to do with few hands:
The Hoist
The jibe
The drop
The system turn each of them into something you can do single- or shorthanded in your own pace in a safe and orderly way.
The hoist:
Your spinnaker is fitted with a zip in luffs full length: Head to tack corner.
In case you use a symmetrical spinnaker, starboard leech is announced luff and starboard corner is announced tack corner.
The zip is then fitted to the “luff” of the symmetrical spinnaker like normal.
You run a symmetrical like normal on the spinnaker poole.
Jibing is very different but easy, more to come.
When you close the zip head to tack corner, you pack the spinnaker into itself as a long "snake" or "tube" .
see the pictures.
In nice weather you can zip the spinnaker on deck after the drop.
Most often, and if it is windy, you pull the spinnaker out of the chute and let it drop into the pit and zip it below deck.
You hoist the zipped spinnaker.
The zip is locked by a safety line mechanism, meaning it will not open until you are ready for it!
That is when you have hoisted the zipped spinnaker, taken it forward by its tackline or moved it on to the spinnaker pole by the guy, loaded the sheet, checked twice that everything is good: No tangle, all secured, all good, heading is right for it and so on.
To open the spinnaker, while being in the cockpit, you unlock the zip by pulling the safety line away, and then pull the sheet.
After this, the wind open the spinnaker; foot to top in a few seconds - and you are off!
THE JIBE:
Shorthand jibing is just bad.
If windy, half of the spinnaker really-really like to go under the forestay and into the turbulence behind the main.
A few turns of the spinnaker around the forestay happens in no time, and you are in trouble.
We work on a new SAFE way how to jibe singlehanded.
Asymmetrical as well as symmetrical spinnakers.
Looking good, more to come.
THE DROP:
Deckchute shorthand/cruising drop is just very-very safe.
It is so, because you pull the spinnaker down by the dropline, tack corner first.
Tack corner is the strongest place in the sail, and tack corner is at the foot of the spinnaker.
Thus, Tack corner is the logic place where to attach a dropline.
You cannot pull tack out of the sail!
So going on the dropline by the pit winch, you can give it what you got.
Tack corner and the foot pulled down first means NO chance that the spinnaker catching water.
No chance of "trawling"!
As soon as you got tack corner and the foot in Deckchute you are good.
The top of the spinnaker is still flying, but it is like a big flag.
It never catches the wind the way a spinnaker does!
FOR SHORTHAND/CRUISING DROPLINE LAYOUT, SEE:
You pull the dropline on a pitwinch.
As you pull the dropline on the pitwinch, you ease tack line or guy, then halyard:
Singlehanded, the way you go is:
You pull one or two meters of dropline, ease one or two meters of tackline or guy, pull another one or two meters of dropline, ease another one or two meters of halyard and so on.
You work in your own pace, no hurry! It may take you a few minutes - never mind!
The spinnaker cannot fly away from the boat.
You go by the book - and you get the drop done in a safe and orderly way.
As long as you can steer the boat, you are good!
After the drop the spinnaker is resting safely in Deckchute.
It will NOT catch wind and start to move on the deck.
You Can head upwind and tack right away.
Going, you either close the second zip of the chute to compress the spinnaker further in the chute (see picture) or you go to the foredeck to free the spinnaker from its halyard and sheets.
Then you pull the spinnaker out of the chute and let it drop into the pit.
last thing is to repack it by closing its zip in luffs full length, to reset the safety line, and to load it back into Deckchute for the next hoist.
Or store it in its locker.
