Dangly Pole setup for a singlehander...

[JimC (Guest)]

I'm experimenting with a dangly pole setup on my singlehander. I won't mention what it is as this is a 12 forum, but not difficult to guess... This being the obvious place to ask about dangly poles, I'd like to beg permission to ask for your expertise with respect to a couple of probably stupid ideas...
The first is: how big are the loads on the pole? It feels so far (dinghy park only) as if they are really pretty low. I was considering putting on a 1:2 puchase so there's a bit less string to pull. Does that sound silly, or worth trying.
The second is definitely more crazy... There being only the oe of me on board, trimming pole and jib sheet on the reaches is likely to be somewhat challenging... I was wondering: supposing I was to put a piece of heavy shockcord in the line that pulls the pole down? It seemed to me that might give me the option of a degree of trim on the jib sheet without having to adjust the pole. Or will I just lose control of the pole?

[andymck]

The loads are variable, depending on how hard you pull the jib sheet etc. You can punch a hole through the main if it is not carefully set up. The control line is effectively a 2:1 due to the set up, and is not too much excess if set up with the correct length control line, you may need to adjust it from the end of your sliding seat after all. Not sure about the elastic idea, but i expect you would probably not want to adjust it that much once you were going, and sail to the jib a bit. There is a bit of play, as long as you don't jam the pole on too hard, and loose all the leech twist.
Grazz has the best set up I have seen, you should speak to him.
Andy

[Lukepiewalker]

For the shockcord idea to work you might need to have the pole fixed to the clew of the jib. I don't think the loads are massively high, but the bow and arrow effect on the static line on the mast can result in the mainsail pokiness mentioned earlier.
I was about to suggest one of those combined kicker/mainsheet swivel jammers with the pole coming from the 'kicker' part but the mainsheet is attached to the seat carriage so that wouldn't work.
The other thought I had was leading the end of the line to the seat, with the cleat forward with some kind of remote release doofer so you could pull it on and release the cleat from the seat without having it self-adjust everytime you moved the carriage back.
Other than that I fear it would have to be a swivel or flip flop jammer forward of the carriage and tie it to the end of the sheet so you could get a hold of it while dangling off the seat.

[interesting idea (Guest)]

Jim, loads are very low but the fine tune is quite delicate.  I think on 1:2 you might find it difficult to trim accurately enough.  The elastic might work, I’d be more tempted to replace the whole string with a light elastic and effectively have it ‘in’ all the time.  Not sure, the problem is closing down the leach.  Try it, how much is a couple of meters of 4mm elastic going to cost you?

[alternative idea (Guest)]

prehaps you could raise the jib about a foot above the deck fit a jib boom with a kicker to controll the top of the sail and then it might be easyer to leave the kicker on upwind and ofwind to keep the whole sail with power all the time. however depending on how the jib is set up theboom may not be able to get round the mast.

[jimc (Guest)]

Thanks folks, all useful food for thought...

[Cookie (Guest)]

I've had a 1:2 on the jib - was fine most of the time but was a bit hard work in a breeze.

Cheers

Mike