How to attach the gennaker

Hi,

My name is Bjørn Ludvigsen and I’m co owner of a Hanse 350 placed at Bohus-Malmön, Sweden.

I’we read about Bjoris’s debut at the regatta scene with the 350, and I wondered how you attach the gennaker (tack line) at the bow? Do you have a bow sprit (gennaker pin)?

We ordered the anchor windlass and a gennaker package from the Swedish dealer for our 350 #78. When taking delivery of our new boat in Greifswald at the 29^th of April, Hanse told us that they didn’t have a standard bow sprit (gennaker pin) ready for Hanse 350 yet. We were a bit disappointed because we were quite eager to test the gennaker on our trip back to Sweden. Hanse told us that we could attach the gennaker to the bow roller, and they drilled a 10mm hole at the starboard side to let us use a snatch block. When testing this solution in 3 m/s wind the bow roller flexed quite a bit and we felt that we had to take the gennaker down in order not to damage the bow roller.

I wonder if the reason for not having a standard bow sprit is due to our bow roller for the anchor windlass or maybe our early slot number (I think it is the 67^th Hanse 350 produced)?

We are generally very happy about the boat and we did not experience any major problems on our sailing trip from Greifswald to Sweden. We obviously have short list of shortcomings, and we too have experienced the same problem with a broken hose between the water pressure pump and the bathroom sink (luckily we were in the cabin when it happened).

Thank you Conundrum,

Is it just welded to the standard forestay fitting? Did you do this yourself or did the local dealer or Hanse do it?

The problem with the standard gennaker pin from the Hanse shop is that our 350 don’t have the standard pin fittings at the stem – so we are not able to attach it.