Sails & rigs
Spinnaker: symmetric vs asymmetric
The big downwind sail — with a pole and two identical sides, or without one.
DutchSpinnakerour Dutch loft →
SpanishSpinnakerour Spanish loft →
A spinnaker is the light, full sail you set downwind. Both kinds are built from gores fanning from the head.
A symmetric spinnaker is mirror-image: neither edge is the luff until you decide which. It needs a pole, and to gybe you move the pole across. That is more string and more crew — and it runs deeper downwind than anything else. Mid-girth around 90%.
An asymmetric has a defined luff and leech, and its tack is fixed to the bow or a sprit. No pole. You gybe it like a big genoa, and two people can manage it. It won't run as deep, so you sail hotter angles and gybe down — which on most boats is faster anyway, and always easier.
Shorthanded cruisers: asymmetric, nearly always.