I have read so much about the extended spin runs and can only imagine the hand cramping the crews were enduring. Working the chute for hours is very physical, did the skipper and crew trade off, was it all on the crew? IMO when the spin is up the crew is really running the boat, skipper is threading the line.

I just want to say how impressive the whole deal was, coverage, effort by Velocity, the whole deal. The crews deserve huge credit as do the ground crews etc. I might have been able to run a spin for one day but not repeating it day after day, impressive! These are men and women of steel!!!

Bailey was a beast on that spin sheet - with no doubler either. We did trade off a bit, but usually because one of us was about to fall asleep.

I can't say enough about the effort that Bryan put forth. He had only sailed with me about a dozen times prior to the start of the Tybee, but that did not hold him back at all. He has spent many years as a sailing coach and it certainly showed. He is a very smart and focused sailor. One of the things that he did best was to keep me focused, keep my eyes forward, and keep me motivated. He was always thinking, watching the boats around us, and making adjustments to boat and sail trim. He was also a beast on the spin sheets. No doublers and no cleats. He asked me to put a couple of cleats on the deck for him, but I resisted. On the last couple of days, he really could have used them, and I realize that I should have put them on. It would have been a tremendous help to him.

I know that Bryan is looking to do the race again. If anyone is looking for a rockstar crew for next year, let me know and I'll put you in touch with him. You'd be hard pressed to find a better crew! I attribute a great deal of the success we had in the race to his work. I feel I would have been quite a bit deeper in the standings without him!

Man oh man...it killed me to make remarks about spinnaker trim during the week (I did anyway though ). Frank was an animal trimming that kite and his hands looked like balloons after only the third day. That super tight spin reaching in 12 knots is crazy tight on the sheet!

While sailing into Fernandina (next to the last day), we were closely passed by Trey and Alan and I noticed they had a doubler on the spin sheet. I noted it and told Frank I would hook him up tonight. After dinner, I collected the parts I needed, put on a new spin sheet, and hooked up the doubler system and went to bed. I gave a brief "how to" instruction to Frank that morning and we pushed through the surf. The kite went up and Frank hooked in the doubler before coming up to the high side. He made a light comment about how nice it was but I was a little surprised that his reaction wasn't more dramatic - Afterall, I was pretty proud of what I rigged up in about 20 minutes in the dark the night before. About 15 to 30 minutes later I asked him "so, is that doubler great or what?". A moment or two of silence followed before he responded in his attorney voice; "so....tell me Jake....how long have you known about this system?". I laughed so hard I nearly fell off the boat.

But seriously - It didn't come to mind until I saw Trey's!

I have seen spin sheets that can be turned into a 2 to 1 system by having a block on the clew and enough sheet to pull the stopper knot to a cleat on the side stay...

is this what you mean by a doubler system?

PS my hands are still sore from a 30 minute spin run home on sunday where it was about 10knots.. pointing high... HATS OFF TO YOU WHO DID IT FOR 5DAYS!!!

hey Frank,
If your reading this ,I would have hooked you up before the start.

"doubler"

Pictures? Would it work sailing uni?

Thats funny Jake! I know Frank and have heard the attorney voice before. Just be glad he didn't begin litigation right then and there!

Yeah, but he would have made you take it off after the second day!

You guys were not too hot on the idea of using a doubler on the spin when I mentioned it 3 years ago.

We used it the entire time - it keeps the crew trimming more often over a long distance - which in the end is faster. A certain Dutch speed merchant shares this view point.

Chris.

It works fine if the crew can stay on top of the trimming. In large waves with big surfing speed changes, it's equivalent to the 10:1 main, you need 2 pumps to retrieve what you used to do in one. This makes you lose the acceleration you get with the pump. if your crew can anticipate this there is no problem, if not ,you get alot of luffing from running over the kite. It has it's place.
Chris, you were extremely fast the last day, but this ain't some of our first rodeo either.
Tawd

p.s. And Frank, Ksurfer is probably right.

It was 6 days and about 6 to 10 hours a day. no stop for potty, no stop for drinky, no stop for food. It was great!

I didn't say it was new!

As far as crew praise goes, I really enjoy sailing with Frank - we have a good time, it's competitive, and we learn and get tougher every day. He's just as serious about what he does as am I. It WAS a very difficult year to be at the front of the boat. 2005 was similar but was about 75% as much tight spin reaching and it took me 3 months before I could type at full speed again (I crewed for Carl Roberts that year) - so I have a little idea about what kind of grueling pressure that puts on your hands. I've got a couple more tricks that I'll plan ahead for next time to make things a little more crew friendly!

yes. just more spin line to tend to though. chris explained it back then too. Put a rachet block with becket on the hull where the normal spin blocks are. put 2 lightweight blocks on the spin clew. line goes from block with becket around block on clew of the spin, to the block with the becket to you. same on the other side. there are other ways to do it of course, but I assume this is the easiest to explain. 2:1 purchase. I had thought about doing this when I had the crazy big NE spin on my old 6.0.
i kind of thought this was standard practice for the tybee

I copied so this is not an original...but instead of the becket, I tied a small line to a stainless steel hook from the eye-strap that the primary ratchet block connected to. Two blocks are attached to the spin clew. Each sheet goes through one of the blocks on the clew of the spinnaker but they each end in a plastic bozo ball with a stopper knot which keeps them from pulling through the blocks. Normal sailing? don't change anything and you have 1:1 with the balls bottomed out on the blocks on the clew. If it get tight and becomes worth the time needed to connect the 2:1, you go to the low side, grab the bozo-ball at the block on the active sheet at the clew of the spinnaker and drop it in the hook next to the ratchet block on the deck....instant 2:1. Our spin sheet was just long enough that you can still snuff completely with the 2:1 connected but you would have to disconnect it to gybe and reconnect on the other side.

I did the same, but instead of hooks ,I have small cleats on the chainplates, that also work well for, cleating the sheet temporarily and holding the cat trax. I've used this set-up since 2000 W-1000, when needed and had no issues with it except what was stated in the above post.
Todd

I've never sailed with someone like that.... they all just want smaller lighter lines.

By the way, my crew was awesome. I can't remember his name but he was great.Really.



Jeff did a great job and pushed me extremely hard keeping me focused. He knows he did an awesome job 'cause I told him every ten minutes.
If you look in the hotline thread you'd see this thread was unnecessary.A lot of praise there.

That oughta tell you something!

I have lots of respect for all the crews in this race... personally I don't think I would ever consider being on the front end of the boat for this race!
My crew, Brendon Scanlon worked his butt off all week.... his hands were swollen and blistered after just the first day but he kept on truckin. He really had me concerned at times, especially right before our 2nd night finish in a row in Daytona.
Despite the tough times, he endured and only took a few short breaks the whole race.
He asked me about doublers after he noticed them on some boats towards the end of the race. I was doubtful and didn't like the idea but I let him add them but he didn't even end up using them even on the 80+ miles of tight reaching to Tybee.