Spinnaker pole

A spinnaker pole being used to set a conventional symmetric spinnaker

Aspinnaker poleis asparused insailboats(bothdinghiesandyachts) to help support and control a variety ofheadsails,particularly thespinnaker.It is also used with other sails, such asgenoasandjibs,when sailingdownwindwith no spinnaker hoisted, sometimes using a special light spinnaker pole called awhisker pole,possible since the load on the pole is very light on thispoint of sail.

Rigging

The spinnaker pole is rigged to run from the base of themast,where there is a special fitting for attaching one end of the pole, out towindwardover the side of the boat. There, one of the controllinesof whichever sail it is to be used with is run through a fitting on the other end of the spinnaker pole. This allows for more precise control of the corner of the sail to which the line is attached.

For a spinnaker, the line attached to the pole is theguy,or brace, and the corner is thetack.For other headsails, such as a jib, the line would be thesheet,attached to theclew.

An uphaul is a line run from the middle of the spinnaker pole up to ablockon the mast, and is used to support the weight of the spinnaker pole. Adownhaulorforeguyruns down so that the height of the pole is under positive control at all times.