A spinnaker pole is a
spar
SPAR, originally DESPAR, styled as DE SPAR, is a Dutch multinational that provides branding, supplies and support services for independently owned and operated food retail stores. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932, by Adriaan van Well ...
used in
sailboats (both
dinghy
A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or towed by a larger vessel for use as a tender. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor. Some are rigged for sailing but they differ from sailing dinghies, which ...
s and
yachts) to help support and control a variety of
headsails, particularly the
spinnaker
A spinnaker is a sail designed specifically for sailing off the wind on courses between a reach (wind at 90° to the course) to downwind (course in the same direction as the wind). Spinnakers are constructed of lightweight fabric, usually n ...
. However, it is also used with other sails, such as
genoas and
jibs, when sailing
downwind
Windward () and leeward () are terms used to describe the direction of the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e. towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point of reference ...
with no spinnaker hoisted. (Since the load on a spinnaker pole is very light on this
point of sailing, sometimes a special light spinnaker pole called a whisker pole is used in these circumstances.)
The spinnaker pole is rigged to run from the base of the
mast
Mast, MAST or MASt may refer to:
Engineering
* Mast (sailing), a vertical spar on a sailing ship
* Flagmast, a pole for flying a flag
* Guyed mast, a structure supported by guy-wires
* Mooring mast, a structure for docking an airship
* Radio mast ...
, where there is a special fitting for attaching one end of the pole, out to
windward
Windward () and leeward () are terms used to describe the direction of the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e. towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point of reference ...
over the side of the boat. There, one of the control
lines of 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 the
guy, or brace, and the corner is the
tack. For other headsails, such as a jib, the line would be the
sheet
Sheet or Sheets may refer to:
* Bed sheet, a rectangular piece of cloth used as bedding
* Sheet of paper, a flat, very thin piece of paper
* Sheet metal, a flat thin piece of metal
* Sheet (sailing), a line, cable or chain used to control the cle ...
, attached to the
clew.
A special line, the
topping lift
The topping lift (more rarely known as an uphaul) is a line which applies upward force on a boom on a sailboat.
Part of the running rigging, topping lifts are primarily used to hold a boom up when the sail is lowered. This line would run from n ...
, runs from the middle of the spinnaker pole up to a
block on the mast, and is used to support the weight of the spinnaker pole. Another line referred to as the
downhaul or
foreguy runs down so that the height of the pole is under positive control at all times.
{{Sail Types
Sailing rigs and rigging