10 creative ways to trash a spinnaker

Anyone who has ever raced a yacht in anything above a Force 2 will appreciate that the spinnaker has a mind of its own – especially when it's time to pull it down and head upwind again. Take a look for yourself in this compilation of mostly-spinnaker-related disasters filmed at an industry regatta in the Solent.

 

 

The Little Britain Challenge Cup is organised by - and for - the Construction and Property Industry with racing overseen by the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes. Typically attended by around 100 boats, the fleet completes four races over two days and is divided into numerous classes. According to the event website (www.littlebritain.co.uk): "All of the major architects and contractors send teams to the event and most participants are high-level industry professionals and big decision makers."

The relaxed atmosphere of an event such as this, with inexperienced crew on large boats explains why there were quite so many sail handling errors. Larger boats can squeeze more people aboard, however the sails – and spinnakers in particular – are, of course, that much bigger.

This year's event was an extremely light-wind affair in early September when only one out of four races was successfully completed. Next year is scheduled for 10-13 September.

For more unusual sailing footage from boats.com, see: Sailing dog: amazing trapezing Collie or Video of the Week: Guitar Goes Sailing.