Yesterday I used the spinaker for the first time, with help of two friends. I think this spinaker has hardly been used by the previous owner.

Surprise is equipped with a spinaker pole of 10cm in diameter.

I read Peter Dann’s blog of his “around the UK” voyage, and one of the photos suggest a more slender spinaker pole, but that may be a distorted view from the wide angle camera. What diameter spinaker pole is advised for the 325/335?

NB I also have a thinner and shorter pole to pole out the genua.

That's a fine looking sail!

Our spinnaker pole is a carbon one and about 65-70mm diameter.

I highly recommend carbon if you can afford it, the light weight makes it so much easier to use.

Sorry for such a slow reply, my presence on this topic escaped me! I would not describe my spinnaker pole as slender, it is fairly beefy but oddly at 60mm diameter smaller than Martin's sexy carbon one. However, it is, as he says, the weight not the girth that counts. I would love a carbon pole one day...

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Hi Dirk

It might be the perspective on the photo but your spinnaker pole looks a bit long. Normally you'd expect the spinnaker pole to be shorter than the one you'd use to pole the genoa out. It should be about the 'J' length on your rig (3.4m for a 325 from a quick google)

On my 275 I've got the medium one of these (https://www.ratseysyachtrigging.co.uk/selden-60mm-telescopic-pole)...and you can see from the figures there that in spinnaker mode it's shorter than for a genoa.

Cheers

James

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Thank for your comment James. As I’m on Bali, far from my ‘Surprise’ I can’t measure the length of the spinnakerboom. However, I noticed it reaches some little 20-30 cm past the furled genoa when the boom is hanging horizontal in the spinnaker ring at the mast.

When sailing with wind abeam the spinnaker boom will nearly touch the forestay/furled genoa, but it has stick beyond it. At least, that’s what I thought was necessary. That’s what I used to have on my previous 6.5m dinghy (a Randmeer).

I do have a shorter, sleeker, boom (stored at the starboard side) that I thought should be used to pole out the genoa. For that purpose I considered it to be quiet short.

I may try to both in reverse use.

I finally was able to measure both aluminum booms. The longest and thickest boom measures 3,45m and has a diameter of 7cm. This means it has the ‘J’ length.

The smaller boom is 2,25m long and has a diameter of 4cm.

So does this mean the longest boom is to be used to pole out the genua and the smaller boom to set the spinaker?

If you do any racing, I believe the Spinnacker pole must be no longer than the "J" Measurement. Same for a whisker pole. My Spinnacker pole on my P27 is a 60mm aluminium pole and my whisker pole for the Genoa is a 50mm telescopic one that I have marked with a back band at the maximum length as it can be pulled out further when not racing, although in truth unless using a 150% Genoa, I usually end up using it at shorter lengths.

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