Tips on being a J/105 mastperson

What I learned crewing for one of the best J/105 teams during the Chicago NOODs

Over the weekend I was invited to sail with Bruce Stone on Sam Power’s J/105, Gryphon #29. If you are planning to crew as mast man this is what you will need to know to make sure the spinnaker runs as effectively as possible during every hoist and douse. So effective, you will wish things like airport security or companies like American Airlines ran as smoothly as your spinnaker.

Preparation

You want to start by running the tapes before you do anything. Start at the clew, running the yellow tape along the foot of the spinnaker to the tack. After, start over at the clew, running the red tape along the leach of the spinnaker to the head.

Managing the main controls and especially the vang: while mast man sets and eases the Cunningham and outhaul, the most important control is the vang. In the prestart (and later when sailing upwind) you have a hand on the vang in case it needs to be blown to duck another boat, and tend it when sailing downwind for the same reason. With a lot of wind, easing the vang can help avoid a broach when a gust hits or you go into planning mode.

Hoist

Your bow person opens the hatch and pre-feeds the tack to the bow, then returns to the hatch to control the spinnaker from flying out too soon. Gryphon has a thin line running across the deck to a Wichard shackle at the low side, so you can release the spin halyard for the high side. At the last second prior to the call to hoist, you want to pull the line to remove the halyard from the shroud. Be careful not to do this too early into the rounding of the weather mark, as your halyard risks getting fouled on either of the shrouds. If the offset mark is abeam or downwind, you can do a pre-hoist, where you sneak up the spinnaker 3–4 feet out of the hatch to prevent it from getting fouled on the jib. If the offset is upwind, you should not prefeed until rounding the offset as this is not aerodynamic. During the prefeed, the mast man pulls the halyard from both ends of the block to prevent the halyard from running afoul during the hoist — in other words, do not let the slack in the halyard gather at the block at the base of the mast.

As the skipper is generally the only person able to see the mark, he or she counts down to the hoist. At that point, you want to pull as fast as you can hand-over-hand. During this time, being in sync with your pit person comes in handy, as the faster the pit can tail the faster the hoist and the less likelihood of the halyard running afoul, or the spinnaker making the dreaded “hourglass” shape during the hoist. Once the spinnaker makes it to the top, you then yell out “made” and adjust the outhaul and vang to your downwind settings. (During practice, put electrical tape on the spin halyard where it emerges from the mast so you know it is fully hoisted without having to look up.)

While the spinnaker is flying you want to look behind your boat and see what is going on in the back of the course: are you getting covered, did other boats decide to gybe after the rounding, where is the wind coming from. If the helmsman needs to head up to protect his wind from a trailing boat, call out something like “head up for traffic”. If you see better pressure to leeward or to windward, then it is “soak (or head up) to stay in the best wind” or “you are in the best wind on the course”. This is a bit challenging, as you are moving with the wind. The trailing boats are a good tell, indicating more pressure is coming as they might be soaking lower, or it is a lull and they are sailing higher. The trimmer and driver need this info instantly.

Look for shaded spots on the water and see how they are moving. There are three things you want to spot: is the wind going to lift or knock the boat, would it be better to gybe to stay in better pressure, or should you maintain your course with the wind. To illustrate this, tactician Nicole Breault drew the following diagram (which I have since recreated):

In the diagram, when the header is coming, you should announce it to your trimmer, to give him an idea of when it should be coming. The nice thing about most J/105s is the wind indicator at the top of the mast. The wind arrow gives the trimmer an indication of when the shift has reached the boat, while the anemometer cups spin faster or slower as the apparent wind accelerates or decelerates. Supplementing this, the main trimmer also has two parts of the mainsheet in her hand and advises the helmsman of pressure changes. On some boats, the helmsman holds the mainsheet and can feel this directly.

The bow team looks for the leeward mark or gate to give input on lay-lines and to plan for the approach. With flood or ebb, the lay-line may come early or late. You try to aim for a spot upwind of the middle of the leeward gate to provide options. The bow team should always know which side of the boat the spinnaker has to come down on for the next leg/set and should be ready for whatever type of douse is required to get it there (windward, leeward, Mexican, Canadian).

Jibes

The mast person tractors the lazy spin sheet to prevent jams at the blocks, and then gets a hand back onto the vang to help prevent a broach. This responsibility tends to keep him or her from helping roll jibe the boat, but, if the other five crew members are rolling to the low side then, one person on the high side attending to the lazy sheet is not a problem.

Douse

Before the douse, since wind speeds may have changed, it is important to ask the tactician if the jib leads need to be moved before going back upwind. Also, ask how much outhaul and Cunningham are desired prior to the rounding. Leaving the outhaul and Cunningham only partially engaged adds power in a slow leeward mark rounding and they can then be pulled tighter when going upwind.

Open the hatch, laying it down softly to not stress the hinges. Our team has a pool noodle tied across the hatch to give it a soft landing, while some boats have tennis balls. When the call comes to pull the jib out, bow or mast person pulls on it to make this go faster and puts the lazy sheet behind the hatch.

A clean douse will save you time in the sewer, prevent you having to run the tapes while going upwind, and makes your next hoist easy-peasy. The way douses work on Gryphon are quite simple, you generally jump down the forward hatch with the lazy sheet in hand. Toss your hat into the sink. Trimmer blows the sheet and pit person eases 6–8 feet of halyard so you can start the drop by hauling down the leach of the spinnaker, bringing the clew down to the port side of the forepeak. As the red tape goes taught and it is clear you are in control, your bowman then asks for the halyard to be blown and you start squirreling, hand over hand, pulling continuously on the red tape as fast as you can. Every time you let go of the spinnaker it has the potential to blow out. Once you get to 4–6 inches from the head you want to get the head into starboard side of the forepeak. Last, you pull the foot and push it into the bow. Avoid standing to the right where the pole will retract during this process. Bow person closes the hatch. Grab your hat and with it in hand return to the deck via the companionway. Don’t wear your hat below or you might crunch your neck on the doorway to the head. Note that if you were in heavy seas and took on water during the drop, you might briefly pump the bilge on manual, then reset it to auto.

Hopefully this works as an effective guide for those planning to do mast on any J/105. The most painful aspect of being a mast man is getting through TSA screenings.