Spinnaker Halyard Pump Setup

Very interesting idea... I used to have a 1:2 halyard on my Fireball as well....pull up 1 foot and the sail goes up 2 feet. The 1:2 is illegal in Flying Scots, but this particular setup may skirt the rule because the halyard is a 1:1 until the helmsman grabs the handle.

I would atrongly recommend you look at the "Halyard System with take-up reel, item 270760, shown on this page of the Scot online shopping site. https://wx17.registeredsite.com/user1002163/store/product.asp?numPageSta... You use two hands, but, with the halyard at the aft end of the centerboard trunk, it's easy to put the tiller between your legs, and with three or four strokes, raise the halyard smartly. Bill Ewing is doing exactly in this photo: http://www.fssa.com/images/home/IMG_3351sm.JPG The halyard is also uncleated easily by the skipper at the moment of take-down. Many of the top class racers use this system. FSSA Forum editor

The halyard retractor is a great addition to prevent snags on the line and have it ready for instant dousing. It is actually available at hardware stores like Lowe's as a laundry line take-up reel....just replace the rope with pre-stretch halyard line. On the Scot they are usually mounted on the stantion under the fore deck. The halyard runs aft to the helmsman, thru a cleat and then forward to the reel. An alternative I have seen is a shock-cord loaded 1:4 running under the port cockpit seat that takes up the halyard as it is raised by the skipper.

Very interesting. Look as if 2 'pumps' would be required to hoist the Scot chute, given the height of the halyard block and assuming about a 10 ft gain on each extension. I don't know if our Chief Measurer reads these posts and if he did I doubt he would rule on the set up until he saw it installed. You might address the question directly to him. Otherwise, I'd say give it a try and see what happens. If you use it in conjunction with the take-up reel, it would be easy enough to 'uninstall'. In any case, my question is does the crew have to uncleat the halyard (at the the cleat near the mast ) to drop? Bob New FS 5143 Merritt Island Florida Fleet Captain Fleet 179

I rigged 1:4 take-up system this season for the last few races. The system is essentially the same as shown in the Fireball Class link--nothing new in the last twenty years. It is currently set up as follows: The spinnaker halyard comes through the deck on the port side of the mast and feeds to a cheek block mounted low on the tabernacle. From there it travels along the port side of the centerboard case about two inches above the cockpit sole. Just aft of the centerboard trunk, there is a wooden "pad" bonded to the sole, slightly off-center to port. On the pad are mounted a small Harken cam-cleat, a bullet block, and the Northfix Pump cleat. The halyard passes through all three and into another cheek block and exits to port. Below the seat is a pad to which the first double-bullet block is fixed. The "floating" double-bullet is attached to a 30 foot length of 3/8 shock cord. You need a lot of power through the full length of the throw (about five feet to take up twenty feet of halyard at 1:4). The shock cord runs forward to a block fixed to the bow (just below the jib toggle)then aft to a fixed block on the transom. From there, it runs forward. I attached a length of 3/16 line to the bitter end so I could vary (or release) the tension. The halyard needs to be 53 feet long with this rig. I tried 50', but it was just shy of allowing me to leave the spinnaker basket on the sole and still have enough slack to tidy it off at deck level. The halyard is 5/32 so it would fit through the Northfix cleat. The system is sensitive to the resistance of the halyard, so rig it without twists or torque in the line. We've only had nine hoist/retrieve cycles under racing conditions with it, but here are my thoughts to date. Overall, I am very happy with the 1:4 shock-cord powered take-up. It 1) keeps the boat neater 2) allows the helsman to take care of all halyard related actions, thus freeing the crew to focus on more important things 3)there is enough drag in the system that the chute doesn't drop in the water when the halyard is un-cleated--thus making the retrieval easier. 4)the system is just about bullet-proof, bog-simple. Nothing to corrode or wear-out and it's all out for easy access and adjustment. 5) the halyard reel system probably weighs a bit less than all that shock-cord and related Harkens & hardware. The Pump cleat is a little less clear-cut. You can move a lot of halyard in a hurry, however, I still found myself adjusting it by hand to position the spinnaker head. Also, when you make some of those dramatic hoists, the halyard doesn't necessarily get sucked-up instantly into the system. I had to "feed" it on a couple of occaisions. A bit more restraint on the part of the skipper (smaller pulls) should address this. As to the rules,I don't believe this constitutes a "1:2" halyard because the bitter end of the halyard is not fixed and the twing block serves only as an "accelerator"--not as the sole means of moving the halyard. It is still a direct 1:1 and can be used that way. A true 1:2 halyard just isn't a good idea with a chute the size of the Scot's. As Bruce noted earlier, if the spinnaker fills before the full hoist, you simply can't get it all the way up--not a safe situation when its blowing +20kts. Personally, I feel the Pump is a safe way to go. You need only one hand, leaving the other to steer and hold the mainsheet. You don't have to look down into the boat to do this, so your boat handling in the crowded mark roundings is better. Bottom Line: an easy way to race the boat, but no striking advantage over the current set-ups.