If you have received your latest bumper edition of “The Wanderer”, you may have read the paragraph on page 35 headed “Oh Chute!”.   Since writing it Mark and I have discovered one other helpful tip.   Still suffering occasionally from the spinnaker sheet getting caught round the bow on dropping, we have now fitted “Thistle” with a modified spinnaker sheet catcher attached to the bow.   So far (touching wood) this has successfully prevented the sheet going over the front, and has not fouled either the sheet or the downhaul line.  

Two pictures are shown of this gimmick, to give you an idea what it looks like, and how to fit it if you want to.

It is made from a standard spinnaker sheet catcher of stainless steel wire as supplied, for example, by LDC Racing Sailboats who have an excellent mail order catalogue.   The 2003 price was £4.29.   Using a vice and a pair of pliers we simply reshaped the catcher, which was designed for use with a cockpit launch.   Instead of a horizontal loop screwed to the bow, and liable to be lassoed by the downhaul or sheet with a spinnaker chute launch, the catcher forms a triangle resembling the outline of an extension of the bow.  

The upper end is attached to the after pin on the stemhead fitting (the one the genoa or roller gear is attached to), and the lower one is screwed to the keelbanding on the bow, using an existing screw hole.   The upper part of the triangle projects horizontally, and the lower arm slopes down to the keelband at an angle of about 45 degrees.

To be legal within the Class Rules the device should not project more than 200 mm beyond the stemhead.   See Rule 14.1(a).

Gavin Barr.   W1282, “Thistle”. Jan22nd 2004