FX One & Pitchpoling

Can someone give me guidance on pitchpole prevention of the FX One? This boat is so prone to pitchpoling without warning. I round the reaching mark with the spin up and bam, I'm over. I pitched it 4 times in a regatta over a weekend, and it's getting tiring. I'm always fighting the bows diving. I've yet to trap out while flying the spin, but wonder if that is the only way to keep the bows up. I have yet to experience the "lifting" effect of the spin. And yes, I can pitch it without the spin up, but usually due to something I did.

Could the pitchpoling downwind with spinnaker up be due to need for more rake or too much board in the water? I have just repaired the boat and put the mast back to the middle of the chain plate. But, I'm almost 200 lbs and should not need the mast raked so far back, resulting in the loss of a neutral helm. I have been told I may be tripping over my boards, but just can't believe that could be the case, especially since they were cut down by the prior owner.

Any advice, suggestions or pointers would be helpful.

I don,t have a fx one ,but a F18 wildcat ,every time we hoist the spi the daggerboards are halfway up to prevent diving/pitchpoling
We have marked the boards with a marker every 4" And with a moderate or strong wind we lift them some times either further up

My idea is mark them and lift the daggerboards half way up when using the spi

And how much shorter are your boards from originial

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F18 Hobie Wildcat sail nr NED 066 & NED 1111
F18 Hobie Tiger sail nr 973 sold
Hobie 16 sail nr 104195 sold
470 sailnr NED 560 sold

I just received one of my new boards, but waiting on the other which is backordered. They are a little 1.5 feet shorter. Based on your instructions, I would think I could still go up a bit from fully down in the wells.

Another thing I noticed when I purchased the boat and got it put together, the owner prior to the seller (the prior owner did not sail with the spin) had the spin pole bridle dropped a couple extra inches. I did not use it in this configuration, and installed as it was intended. Is there dialing in that can be done with the pole? I felt like the pole in the lower position exposed me to dunk the spin sock when the bows did dip.

Sorry, just at a loss on how to dial this thing in. Its fast and furious, but at 50 years old, pitchpoling is taking a toll on my body.

Boards up, weight back. Make sure your main traveler is centered, and sheeted accordingly. Too much twist in the main will force the bow down when you slow down from the bow stuffing, making matters worse.

Raising the spin pole could help too. Turns some of the forward pull into lift, but at the cost of not having as much speed. I never tried it on my FXone because I didn't know that until after I had switched to a different boat. You'll have to adjust the luff tension as well. I don't remember how the bail was rigged on that boat. I'd ditch the wire bridles for the spinnaker pole and just make them out of dyneema. I'd probably switch attachment points as well from where the main rigging attaches, to a hole in the bow. Better angles, less line, less load on that single point as well.

Trapezing downwind helps a lot to keep the bows up.



The toughest thing about single-handing a spinnaker boat in bigger wind is that you do not have enough weight, or leverage to really get the apparent wind forward when going downwind. Every time you slow down just a little bit the wind is coming from basically straight behind you, once again, making matters worse.


Don't pull the boards up all the way though. I tried that one day screwing around, and those flat bottom hulls will just skid every time you twitch the tiller. That is an odd, creepy feeling having a boat slide.

Thank you for the input Karl. Going out this afternoon in heavier winds. I have been out twice now since I repaired the diamond wire. With the mast raked back further, I feel more control and did experience lift with the spin up. I do, however, feel speed is lacking due to the rake, but will take control over the marginal speed difference. My body will thank me for it.