Submitted on November 5, 2002 by Chris Johnson

Question: What is your take on star-cut symetrical spinnakers? I'm going to purchase a spinnaker soon and I would like a spinnaker that I can use in 10-25kts. apparant and for reaching and running. I will use this spinnaker on a Freedom 36 with the gun mount setup. Thanks, Chris

Answer: Hi Chris,

The name "Starcut" can describe a range of differant panel arrangements for a spinnaker. It basically means that the three corners of the sail are all built with radial sections that extend toward the center of the sail. The panels that come out of the head are almost always about 50% of the length of the leeches. The panels radiating out of the clews can range from 25% to 50% of the leech length. It is generally better to build the sail with shorter clew panels and then fill in the center, or "belly" of the spinnaker with sections of panels that are rectangular, or trapazoid shaped. The gunmount spinnakers are more narrow on the midgirth measurement than a conventional spinnaker, but the panel arrangement considerations are the same.

Most of the spinnakers we build for cruising sailors are asymetrical. However, a race symetrical spinnaker and a cruising symetrical spinnaker have the same panel configuration. This link will take you to a page that shows what the panels look like in a North Gradient Symmetric spinnaker.

There is also a section of the web site called "Color Me Fast" that you can use to try differant color schemes overlaid on the panels for a sail for your boat.

Regards,
Dan Neri

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