International Telstar Owners Association

What furler do people generally choose for a screecher furler? Do you use a foil style, or do you use a halyard with a swivel? Do you use a drum or a single line?

I installed the Rollgen furling spinnaker system from Bamar for my asymmetrical spinnaker. Easy to use and works well especially since I one man sail my Telstar.

gary g

There's a heavy wire sewn into the luff of the screecher. The furler does not use a foil, but it does have a swivel at the top that's connected to the halyard. You've got to pre-tension this wire by turning the drum before attaching the tack to the drum. About 6 turns on my boat did it, but every sail and boat is different. Without doing this, you could have problems rolling the sail back in.

Most of the the new fancy (and expensive) spinnaker furling systems are made to handle a true asymmetrical (code 1 thru 6) that has much more of a curve in the sail than the screecher (also called a code 0 spinnaker). They would probably do the job, but are definitely over kill. I've also got a code 2 asymmetric that I raise and douse with a sock, but am very tempted to try out one of the new furlers.

I think I have a screacher, it's a large light genoa made of dacron with a wire. It is a single line drum with a swivel at the top. It usually works good, but the line gam in the drum some times, had to take the sail down once.

Michel -
Sure looks like a screecher (code 0 spinnaker) from this angle. The line is probably jamming in the drum because it's rolling in too loose. Make sure you keep some tension on the line when you roll it (and any other furling head sail) out. Also make sure that the line is approaching the drum at just about a 90 degree angle. More or less will get it to roll too heavy either on the top or bottom half of the drum. This will also cause jams. A had to add an extra lead block on one of the bow stancions to get the right angle.

I tend to keep a reasonable amount of tension on the furling line or the 2 sheets when the sail is going in or out.

Thanks for the info guys! I contacted Dave Bierig, and he will quote me a sail for next season. That will give us this season to sort out the boat before adding more complexity. I think a screecher will be useful on the Finger Lakes. I am anxious to see how it sails with one. I am already impressed with the performance in light air with the genoa.

Does the boat have the optional bow sprit? If not, I'd forget about the screecher (or any asym spinnaker for that matter). They work much better when they're well in front of the bow, further away from the main.

Ron -

You are right, the rolling was too loose. As you can see I modified the system and now it works much better. I also added a sheet block on the genoa furler.

How far do you extend the bowsprit? Do you have control lines for the bowsprit to extend and retract it? Do you have a stay attached between the screecher and the bow eye?
I have the bowsprit, but the PO had removed it and used it for a radar tower. I would much rather have a screecher!

Extend it all the way. There are control lines in the anchor locker to move it and lock it in place. I will set a bob-stay if the expected wind speed is over 10 knots. 16 or above will usually get the screecher rolled up. With my kevlar 150 genoa I don't really need it at that wind strength and it could become a safety issue. Iv'e used the asym spinnaker at somewhat higher wind speeds but only when I'm on a broad reach or deeper, and I have some more experienced crew aboard. The boat has a significant amount of standard sail and you don't need these larger sails in higher winds.