Cockpit

Crew Duties: Cockpit

Area of responsibility:
Your office is limited to the cockpit area forward of the helm.

Controls:
Port and Starboard traveler lines (Thin white with blue specks)
Main Sheet (White with green specks)
Boom Vang (Thin grey line)
Downhaul (Blue)
Everything in the rope clutch
 Port spinnaker halyard (White with red specks)
 Starboard spinnaker halyard (White with green specks)
 Jib halyard (White with blue specks)
 Topping Lift (Blue)

Expectations:
Trim the Main sail autonomously.
Steer the boat when over-heeling using the traveler lines.
Raise and lower the spinnaker pole using the Topping Lift and the Downhaul.
Communicate directly with the Jib/Guy crew when moving the Pole.
Hoist and douse the spinnaker.
Communicate directly with the Mast Crew when hoisting and dousing.
When short on crew, Cockpit assumes Main duties as well.

Maneuvers:
Following are specific duties to the Cockpit Position. Don’t memorize the specific actions, but rather concentrate on the the reasons behind the actions. For example, it’s easier to remember to move the pole up and back in preparation for the prefeed than it is to remember the order of lines to release, slack, tighten, lock, etc.

• Tacking
  
  Jib and Main sail are up, the main sheet is block on block, traveler centered with the boat close hauled.
  Captain says, “Prepare to come about!”
  Verify both travelers are locked with no slack and say, “Ready main!”
  Captain says, “Coming about!”
  The sail will start to luff.
  Do nothing, but prepare for your next action. Remember what that is?
  Just when the wind pushes the boom to the other side of the boat, adjust the travelers.
  Unlock the new leeward traveler.
  Quickly pull the windward traveler up to center the boom before there is too much pressure on the sail.
  A few seconds later when the boat has almost finished the tack, fine tune the boom end. It should be a few inches leeward of center.
  Lock both travelers.
  (Note there’s no hurry locking the leeward traveler. Wait until the boom is fine tuned.)Common errors:
  1. Don’t unlock the traveler before the wind has switched sides on the main sail. If you do this, the pressure on the sail will push the boom all the way to the leeward side and you will have to expend a lot of energy pulling the boom back to center. This also creates a huge loss of boat speed just when we need it to accelerate after the tack!
  2. Don’t wait to long to pull the boom to center while turning through the tack. Make sure to pull the boom to center as soon as possible after the wind has switched sides on the main sail to take advantage of the empty sail. If you wait too long it will fill with air and create a lot of pressure to pull against. You have less than 3 seconds, so timing is everything!
• Raise the Spinnaker
  (See the Spinnaker Tutorial for the full sequence.)
  Have the topping lift wrapped twice around the winch in preparation for later.
  Captain calls, “Set the pole!”
  Foredeck will call commands to you as they set up for the hoist.
  You will be adjusting the
   Spinnaker halyard
    ”Release the port halyard!”
    ”Ok, now take up the slack and lock.”
   Topping Lift
    ”Release the Topping Lift!”
    ”Ok, Topping lift on! Pole up!”
    Release the downhaul and raise the pole horizontal with the Topping Lift and lock.
     Lock the downhaul.
  Prepare the correct halyard (port or starboard). Wrap it twice around the winch and the winch handle inserted for later.
  Captain calls, “Prefeed the guy!”
  The crew will prepare and then prefeed the guy.
  When they start the prefeed, immediately unlock the downhaul to prevent a tug of war against the Guy.
  When the prefeed is complete, pull all slack out of the downhaul and lock.
  Immediately prepare for the next step! Remember what it is?
  Captain calls, “Hoist away!”
  Pull the spinnaker halyard (port or starboard) hand over fist as fast as possible before the wind catches it.
  The higher you get the spinnaker before it fills, the less cranking required.
  When the pressure is too much to pull, lock the clutch and crank the winch as fast as you can until Mast yells, “Made!”
  The crew will roll in the jib.
  Now work with Jib/Guy as they trim for best speed. Whenever the guy moves the pole, the downhaul needs adjusting as well.

  Common Errors:

  1. Not thinking ahead. If you are prepared for the following command, the hoist will go exponentially faster with fewer mistakes. For example, if you are waiting for the, “Release the Spinnaker Halyard!” command but you hear the wrong command, “Release the Jib Halyard!” from Foredeck, you will be immediately ready to reply, “Confirm release the Spinnaker Halyard?”
• Douse the Spinnaker
  (See the Spinnaker Tutorial for the full sequence.)
  The captain says, “Unfurl the jib!”
  The crew deploys and trims the jib.
  The captain says, “Prepare to douse the spinnaker!”
  Wrap the spinnaker halyard twice around the winch in preparation for the douse.
  Foredeck will prepare the foredeck and say, “Ready!”
  Jib/Guy will move the pole foreward to Foredeck at the pulpit, but it will be a few feet above his head.
  Carefully slack the topping lift to lower to pole within reach of, but above Foredeck.
  The captain says, “Release the Tack!”
  Do you know your next action?
  Foredeck releases the tack sending the sail to leeward.
  Immediately start lowering the halyard to the bag on the foredeck.
  Work with Foredeck during this process! Go as fast as possible without putting the sail in the water.
  Look for snags, help relieve pressure on the line when needed, yell advice at the foredeck, do anything you can to help get that sail down!
  We can’t tack until the spinnaker is clear of the jib.Common Errors:
  1. Don’t just release the topping lift’s rope clutch when moving the pole to the foredeck. This causes the pole to fall in an uncontrolled manner hitting the foredeck fiberglass, dropping the pole in the water, or dropping it onto foredeck’s head. Make sure to wrap the topping lift twice around the winch before releasing the topping lift!