During yesterdays race we were using the asymmetrical spinnaker and decided instead of letting the tack line go when dousing it we would release the snap shackle at the tack and pull it into the cabin with the slack windward sheet

All went well until we rounded the last mark before the finish line and decided to drop the spinnaker

I was leaning over the front of the boat to release the snap shackle at the bowsprit and didn't realise that both of the snap shackles at the clew had released by themselves and it was only attached by the halyard and the tack

When i released the tack we ended up with the spinnaker flying from the masthead but it was behaving itself so we unfurled the head sail and sailed to the finish line with a large blue kite flying behind us

After crossing the line Jeff turned the boat so the spinnaker dropped down beside the boat and we were able to recover it with no damage

The race officers had a good laugh at us and took the photo's below but we managed a win crossing the line 46 seconds ahead on corrected time

Regards Don