Spindrift Rigging Time

[grj]

How long does it take to rig the Spindrift for a sail?

Thanks,

grj

[Tom Lathrop]

Having rigged my Spindrift many, many times, I should know.  The fact is that it is so little that I never bothered to think about it.

[Hirilonde]

It can depend on your situation.  Sometimes I am rigging mine right after towing it to a new harbor behind my Renegade.  Then I have to gather all the components from their storage places down below and in the cockpit locker.  This situation can take a little time as the components are secured in place or stored in a special bag to keep them safe.  Other times I am rigging it after being in the harbor from the previous day.  Then everything is in the dinghy and partially rigged already.  But if you are referring to just the rigging time, it is but a couple minutes at most (assuming you are referring to a cat rigged Spindrift).  One thing I have learned to do is keep the halyard threaded through the luff sleeve all the time, even when the sail is flaked and stored.  Threading the halyard is probably the most time consuming part of the task.

[Howard]

On the Spindrift 10n shown in the photo, with one reef point, let's walk through the steps.

Assuming you have all the parts assembled.......first thing I would do is thread the mainsheet onto the traveler and be ready to thread the sheet through the block on the end of the boom.

Slide the sail's mast sleeve over the mast, attach the halyard to the head, then step the mast (halyard runs through a sheave at the top of the mast, down the mast inside the sleeve).

Attach the gooseneck on the boom to the mast, thread the main sheet to the boom on the other end, then attach the tack of the sail at the gooseneck and run the outhaul line on the clew through a turning block to a cleat on the boom. If you are on the water, at this point you have the sail hoisted and attached at all 3 corners and will be moving (or she will be wanting to).

Run the lower halyard end through the turning block at the mast step back to a cleat. If you are using the vang, you need to pin that to the boom and down and through a turning block at the mast step and back to a cleat. If you are using the jiffy reefing, you would need to run the reefing line from the boom, up through the rear reefing point, down to a turning block on the boom, forward to the mast, up through a block on the forward reefing point (reefed tack), then down and through a turning block (#3) at the mast step and back to a cleat. Now you are all set and flying. Takes me 5 to 10 minutes for all of that including tying in some bowlines and figure 8 stopper knots, but I tend to be slow and deliberate and almost all of my clevis pins have rings on them, which slows me down.