crossing halyards and sheets. More experienced teams use a headsail foil allowing a racing peel: hoist the new sail on the inside of the old jib. After the hoist, tack the boat and drop the old headsail on the windward side. The new sail will help keep the old sail on the deck while it’s being dropped. l Determine how you will do each manoeuvre. Who will do what and in what sequence? This takes practice. During your practice session, have a third person come out and shoot video of your manoeuvres so that you can modify and then memorise what works and what doesn’t. Make a “menu” and then memorise it for each manoeuvre, such as reefing, gybing the spinnaker, changing sails, dousing the spinnaker, etc. l Whatever sort of spinnaker you have, symmetrical or asymmetrical, both types can be set, gybed and doused safely as long as you figure out the manoeuvres for your boat and how it is set up. A common manoeuvre for both kinds of spinnakers is the “letterbox” take- down. It is the safest way to douse a spinnaker in a fresh breeze. There is a video and article in the “How To” section of the UK Sailmakers’ website
www.uksailmakers.com
Changes you can make At first, before jumping into double- handing with both feet, only make those gear purchases you really need.
80 SEAHORSE
l Adding spinnaker sail handling systems are high on the list of upgrades to add. Dousing socks are used on boats from 30ft to superyachts. UK Sailmakers’ long- time customer and five-time winning of the doublehand division of the 630-mile Newport to Bermuda Race, Richard du Moulin, swears by his spinnaker socks. For heavy air gybes, he and his doublehanded partner avoid costly errors by socking the spinnaker, moving the gear around, gybing the main and then re-setting the spinnaker. l Furlers can be added to code zeros and flying jibs, both of which are tacked to the end of a sprit. Top-down furlers can be used for reaching chutes, but are not optimal for wide-girth running sails. l When you decide that doublehanding is for you, you’ll need to invest in a good autopilot.
Sail Inventory
The longstanding UK Sailmakers loft in Sweden has been at this game a long time. In fact, most people consider northern Europe the ancestral homeland of doublehanded racing. Sweden's doublehanded races are characterised by often lighter winds. UK Sailmakers Sweden's Mikael Olesen says, ‘when this type of racing started, most of our clients chose to sail with much smaller jibs and smaller gennakers. But the cost
Above: for two-handed racing you want your sails to have a slightly less powerful
mould shape. Without the weight of a full crew on the rail, in most boats you’re likely to find the best VMG when pointing a bit higher, sailing a bit slower and feathering more into the gusts
to performance in light air is way too big and did not outweigh the gain in rating. Yachts started using full-size sails, everyone ended up following suit.’ In the rest of the world, doublehanded sailors are more apt to simplify their sail inventories. For shorthanded sailing, UK
Sailmakers recommend X-Drive construction, where additional strengthening in key areas can be added, increasing the wind range and life of the sail. X-Drive sails work well for doublehanding because they are more durable than membrane sails. UK Sailmakers’ chief sail designer Pat Considine says, ‘due to the reduced crew weight, we design sails for doublehanders with a slightly less powerful mould shape. Most doublehanded boats are better off sailing slightly higher and slower in order to be flatter. Because doublehanded racing tends to be rougher on sails than racing fully- crewed, we increase the Yarn Density or DPI so that the sail can be used into the J3 range without distorting the shape or damaging the sail.’ Being able to customise X-Drive
sails is a big part of why they are recommended for shorthanded sailors. Each sail can be tailored exactly to a customer’s needs and sailing style. Features such as additional patching or taffetas can also be used to extend durability. Taffeta can cover one or both sides
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