Spinnaker Luff Tension

Hi there from Sunny South Africa.

In all the reading I've done, the only reference to spinnaker luff tension suggests grabbing a handful of luff and being able to take up slack around your hand by rotating your hand to 90 degrees....

Is there no other advice for optimal luff tension in different wind strengths?

Best regards
William

That's pretty much it, although many sailors are going even tighter these days (only turn hand about 45 degrees).

The only time you would ease off a little bit (and it's the tack line, not the halyard that gets eased) is when you are trying to sail higher to make a mark.

That's the best reason I know of to have a separate tack line / halyard.

I sail with a pretty tight luff. I do not think I could twist the fistfull to 45 degrees. That is in anything that is between 6 and 15 knots. Above or below that wind range you can crack the halyard off 2 to 4 inches.

Later,
Dan