Let’s hear everyone’s favorite setups for light and heavy winds!
Hi Eric Thanks for posting this as it got me to finally post something that I thought might be of interest to the group!!!
I often use a wing on wing set up on TSALTA … using my Code Zero and my Genoa especially if the conditions are going to get a bit sporty ! … The reason being that it is simple to set and easy to douse.
Here are some of the tweaks that might be useful to others.
- I use barber haulers on both mid ship cleats to move the clews further out and to get decent luff tension on the sails. This is done with Antal snatch blocks on long dyneema strops with a big eye splice (using a Brummel eye splice) on one end which I then attach to the mid ship cleat with a cow hitch and if I need to change the clew position I simply put another half or full wrap of the strop around the cleat. That said … These Antal blocks are pricey and with hindsight being an exact science !! … this same barber hauler set up can be done by splicing a friction ring at a fraction of the price and simply thread the sheet through the friction ring … which is what I do anyway with my snatch blocks!
- For winging the genoa I move the lazy sheet to the same side of the yacht as the genoa working sheet and also put this sheet through a barber hauler on the mid ship cleat and then through the aft turning block and onto the winch (as per the same sheet line as a code zero … or as in your case with the sheet from the asymmetric spinnaker. I then tension the lazy sheet so that it becomes the working sheet and once done I then release the original genoa working sheet to become the new lazy sheet. This moves the genoa clew out by nearly two meters and will add at least a knot of additional boat speed in ten knots plus of wind! To furl the genoa simply turn the lazy sheet into the working sheet on the primary winch and then release the new lazy sheet on the stern winch enough so that you can furl the genoa. Once furled then remove the lazy sheet and rethread it back into its original position (dont forget to put back the stopper knot once done!)
- Another tip is that if you have to furl or douse your Asymmetric in “anger” use your engines to get the apparent wind down as it makes a huge difference to managing the loads during this process. NEVER come up into the wind on a catamaran to furl your head sails.
I also use a symmetric spinnaker for downwind sailing (a North Sails S2) and this is my favourite sail … it is launched and doused with a sock and I have rigged up a snatch block system to the cross beam on a dyneema strop to help douse the spinnaker if things get really sporty … I then simply winch the spinnaker sock down after I have popped the Port tylaska shackle on the Port spinnaker sheet. The reason for always popping the port clew is once the clew is released we bring the yacht about 45 degrees to Port so that the spinnaker is always doused on the starboard side of TSALTA so that the person the helm (usually the Admiral !!) has a full view of the action and is not blinded by the mast during this process.
Just for clarity I only wing on wing with a code zero and genoa as I dont carry an Assym spinnaker … I only have a symmetrical spinnaker.
Another thing which I would STRONGLY recommend is using a dyneema topping lift (if you dont have one) … When I “built” TSALTA I was actively involved in changing the rig setup and one of the changes I made was to swap out the topping lift from Yachtmaster Braid to a dyneema cored line … the reason being is I never sail deep downwind with a main sail (as the shrouds prevent the main sail from being effective in this wind angle and things can get also get really hectic VERY fast in a squall with a large mainsail and big foresail up) and therefore I center the boom and then put proper tension on the main sheet … which then turns the dyneema topping lift into a running back stay (like on a monohull) and dramatically reduces and spreads the load on the rig when sailing downwind. For the new yachts after build 94 (I think) this is now a standard on the KYC yachts. If you dont have dyneema topping lift consider in the interim of using your dinghy halyard as this is dyneema cored … if you dont
have a dinghy lift … SORRY for you !!!
Cheers
Steve
TSALTA
Steve, great information thank you!
-Eric
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Funny, I asked ChatGbt about you system(I think I do the same as you) and this is what it came up with🤪
That is classic … I have not used ChatGPT or any AI app yet!! …Sad but true 
… So it has simply used my post to give you the same answer! The search capability of this tech sure boggles the mind … well it does mine!!!
You realise the limitations of the tech when you look closely at the diagram it decided to put with Steves words… Good luck if you try to follow that!
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We don’t use a barber hauler as such - just low friction rings cow hitched to the Cleat oy the stays.
If we are going to be on a long passage with a good chance of downwind sailing, we do add a second lightweight set of sheets set up for our low friction rings - on addition to our normal Genoa sheets. We can then swap from the normal Genoa sheet to the wide sheeting angle easily.
One downwind setup we used I’d Code-G to one side and Genoa on the wide sheeting points on the other.
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