Hi Garry,

So I just rebuilt a set of spin sheets myself to replace the ones I made that were a bit short (oops). Originally I went 3/8 warpspeed 2 at 54 ft (2 X boat length) and tapered at 22 ft. They were a touch short on lenght and the taper was a touch long to boot.

The new sheets are 61-62 ft (I got the end of a spool). I went a bit longer this time and I did an 18 ft taper. I used alpha ropes (we have a local distributor in Hood River) that was 9mm diameter, so just a tiny bit smaller than the 3/8 warpspeed 2. The warpspeed 2 is a longer lay on the core and as such you may see more of the cover coming out of the taper splice if you don't treat the splice with something like maxi-jacket (Polyurethane rope coating).

The alpha ropes was a shorter lay on the core and didn't seem to have the same issue. I still coated with maxi-jacket though since I already had it from some tapered halyards I built.

For my sheets, I just use knots at the clews for inland racing. If I was doing any offshore racing, I would likely consider a shackle of some sort but I would be inclined to go with a snap shackle for safety reasons vs a soft shackle. A personal preference but if all hell breaks loose for some reason, I like the idea of quickly dropping one sheet/guy.

Anyway, that is what I set up. I am sure there will be other opinions though as well :-).

Jason

:: Crew wants new spinnaker sheets. Any suggestions or
:: advice?

:: Are boats stripping and tapering the covers? If so how
:: far do they strip?

:: I am considering using soft shackles to attaché to the
:: clews. We currently use New England Flight Line and tie
:: to the clews.
::
:: Appreciate any advice