Rationale:  Setting, gybing and taking down your spinnaker pole are best done easily and fast.  This is especially true in a blow where every second that the crew weight is forward brings increased risk of a swim.

Storage:  Fast pole manoeuvering starts with handy storage.  Your pole should be stored along the boom while being permanently attached to the uphaul/downhaul system by means of a rope loop.  For this, you need:
1. stainless steel wire or plastic loops on each side of your boom about 5’6” aft of the mast to support the aft end of your pole in storage
2. a rope loop (a bowline not too much bigger than the circumference of your pole, tied into the end of your uphaul will do nicely!)  This loop should be inside the string which connects your two pole end fittings.
3. The string connecting the end fittings should pass through a small eye strap fitted across your pole about 3 to 4” from each end fitting.  This keeps the loop from sliding off the end of the pole in its stored position.
4. To keep those 3 - 4” from sticking out past the mast, attach a plastic hook (e.g. Holt-Allen 148 or 248) with the open end facing aft, to each side of the boom near the gooseneck. Insert the downhaul into one of these hooks during storage.

Use and Control:  For adequate pole control as you fly your spinnaker, you will need:
1. “reaching hooks” or the “balls system” to help hold the pole down and to keep the windward sheet off the crew’s neck.
2. a spi pole ramp, Holt-Allen 357, which is a very oblique-angled triangle with a gap at its apex that will ‘capture’ the rope loop as you slide the pole through the loop to set it.  This ramp is attached in mid-pole on one side of the pole and will very nicely hold the uphaul/downhaul in position, even during gybes, until you choose to rotate the pole a quarter turn after taking it off the mast and before storing it (see diagram below)

3. the pole eye that came with your mast is set lower than optimum position. You may wish to add a second eye about 27” above the lowest black band so that your pole can make the most of its 6’6” maximum length.

A pole system for the 21st century?
A system where the pole set from its storage position along the boom by a simple pull of a rope and then clipped onto the mast, is very popular with the Fanshawe Fleet.  If interested in the details, contact Scott Town at (519) 672-5505.