the
launchable whisker pole |
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| The above material is
borrowed from the National
12 website in the UK. It does a lovely job, especially in the
article directly above. Below, you will find pics we got at the
Albacore Ontarios this past weekend. As near as I can tell without
having used it myself, this nifty system consists of three main parts: 1. a hollow whisker pole tube with end protectors and an eye strap close to the inboard end (have yet to find anything like this on line except as part of an Albacore kit at www.sailboats.co.uk - Get 'em made by Nickels Boatworks or Dave Nickels himself? 2. the downhaul: a thin, light, abrasion-resistant line that starts in the jib clew grommet (along with the sheets), runs through the inside of the pole. After exiting the upper end of the pole, the downhaul then comes down along the mast through a (spinnaker) pole eye to a turning block and a cleat with an eye on the deck. See pics below.    3. a shock cord that will haul the pole back up to its vertical position when the downhaul is uncleated. From an eye strap near the pole's upper end, the shock cord goes through a turning block on the front of the mast that is a bit higher above the deck than the length of the pole, hence the name "dangly pole" above. The longer you can make this shock cord, the longer it will last and the thinner it can be. See pics above and below. |
 The crew has pulled on the downhaul after the helm has winged the jib. Crew keeps pulling until the inboard end of the pole is stopped by the pole eye on the mast, and then cleats the downhaul. Et voilà, the pole is launched and locked. - click here for larger image |
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| The lower part of the upper
image shows the downhaul starting at the jib clew and heading off into
the pole. The fancier systems have the downhaul tapered so that the
part that exits the bottom of the pole and hangs around the clew of the
jib while the pole is not in use, is as thin as possible. Of
several perceived attachment methods, I would lean towards using the
method shown immediately above: Put a stopper ball on the jib-clew end
of the downhaul, double the line and shove through the grommet, then
insert the ball through the created loop as shown in the image
immediately above. |
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| Downhaul being tensioned.
As the crew pulls the downhaul, the top of the pole comes down until it
is stopped by the pole eye on the front of the mast through which the downhaul is threaded. Note the ball attachment method in use on this boat. - click here for larger image |
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| - click here for larger image |