New Ways to Douse the Chute
New top-down furling units from Seldén and Profurl make spinnaker handling easier.
If you’re a spinnaker flyer and are tired of traditional shrimping, er, I mean, takedowns, or not pleased with using a sock to douse your shoot, Seldén and Profurl have both introduced top-down furling to their lines of sail-control products. Seldén’s is called Seldén GX; Profurl’s is called Spinex.
Details of the two systems differ, but basically, top-down furling systems use bearing-filled swivels at either end of a high-strength cable around which the spinnaker is furled. The cable is hoisted to the masthead and tension is put on it using the halyard. Unfurled, an asymmetrical spinnaker is flown in the normal way. But when it’s time to douse it, the furling line turns the top swivel, essentially collapsing the chute as it rolls up.
If you’re headed to a boat show this fall or winter, you’ll no-doubt find demo models at the companies’ booths.
What else is new this year in Annapolis? Check out our U.S. Sailboat Show page here.
