We have a gennaker on Miss Fidget, which we've now flown three times in light winds - so we're not experts! However, we've found it a splendid sail for a reach, especially close and beam reaches, when it pulls much better than the genoa. We have the tack close to the deck on a close reach, and quite a bit higher on a broad reach. Like Kate, we find it doesn't pull well when the wind is aft of a broad reach, as the main blankets it very easily so that it collapses. Even without the main up, it didn't fill consistently, but that may have been partly because the wind was *very* light and flukey on that occasion. We haven't yet tried to gybe it - we're working up to that, as it seems complicated because the attachment for the tack is aft of the forestay. We've found that we can get it down either by releasing the tack first, then the halyard and pulling it aft and straight down into the cabin using the sheet, or by partly unfurling the genoa to blanket the gennaker so that it collapses, and then releasing the halyard, and pulling in on the sheet. Other people with more experience may well be able to provide a stronger recommendation for how to manage this. We don't have a spinnaker for comparison.
Gilliane
Miss Fidget, Super Seal 26, no. 69
Delphine, Parker 275, no. 41