Dousing Sock

Black-hulled racing yacht surfing downwind under dark sails, seen from above

The dousing sock was designed to help a shorthanded crew handle the cruising spinnaker or gennaker. The sock takes the place of several long-armed crew members by encasing the sail during sets and douses to keep the sail under control. In fact, this is the system that is used by the singlehanded around the world racers who set spinnakers on 60-footers by themselves.

Crew hauling down a red, black and grey striped cruising spinnaker toward its sock — A Jeanneau 57 with a cruising gennaker and a Hydranet Radial roller furling mainsail that has vertical battens.

Aerial view of a cruising spinnaker being gathered down into its dousing sock — ***Above****: When the cruising chute is flying, the dousing sock sits on top of the sail.* ***Right****: The internal dousing sock halyard cannot tangle with the sail since it runs through its own section of the sock.*

Close-up of a UK Sailmakers dousing sock collar with the spinnaker's clew label visible

After hoisting your cruising spinnaker in the dousing sock, simply raise the sock and tie off the sock’s control line at the base of the mast. By pulling on the sock’s internal halyard, setting and dousing becomes a controlled maneuver. You’ll find you have more confidence in your cruising boat handling that you’ll use your gennaker more often.

The dousing sock, also called the UK Sailmakers Stasher, is an inexpensive addition to your sail inventory that will make you ask yourself why you didn’t purchase one years ago. Note that you can order a Stasher with a hard fiberglass mouth or soft plastic mouth. We recommend that you order your Stasher without the hard fitting as the fiberglass mouth is heavy and could scratch your mast and the inside of your boat.

Diagram of a cruising spinnaker dousing sock system labeling halyards, tack and clew

Diagram of cruising spinnaker rigging labeling halyards, sheets and tack pendant

Dousing Sock

Dousing Sock

Spec it with your sailmaker