Spin set

Here is a Facebook post of a Club Swan 42 approaching a windward mark and setting a spinnaker on a bear-away set at the offset mark.  Good crew work here!   This boat has enough crew for a bow person, a mid-decker, and a mast person.  

Some things I noticed:

• The boat tacks from port to starboard within the zone and all crew get to the rail quickly to balance the boat.
• The boat passes the upwind mark (black tetrahedron) and bears off to a close reach.  
• Soon after the upwind mark and well before reaching the offset mark, the mid-decker and bow person come off the windward rail and start pulling the spinnaker material out of the forward hatch.  It looks like the spin halyard is already attached.  
• Someone in the cockpit extends the bowsprit while the pit person pulls the tack to the end of the sprit at the same time. 
• The bow person stations on the bow and guides the tack to the end of the bowsprit.  He is holding the material below the head in his left arm to keep it from filling.  
• The mast person, with pit person tailing, takes the halyard up about 20ft. or so and holds.  
• The mid-decker continues pulling spinnaker material out of the hatch and piling it on deck.  
• The spin trimmer in the cockpit has the spin sheet in hand, ready to trim.  
• The big bald-headed guy on the weather rail is holding the slack lazy spin sheet out from the boat, making sure it pays out cleanly.    
• The mast person is in position ready to jump the spin halyard the rest of the way to the top.    
• You cannot see the offset turning mark in frame, but the crew is raising the spinnaker full speed before the boat turns downwind.  I bet they are fully set and drawing within 2 boat lengths downwind of the mark.
• It looks like the spin trimmer has over-trimmed the kite while the jib is being pulled down.  The footage concludes, probably just as the spin sheet is being eased and the boat turns down to course. 

This is your gold standard for a bear-away set, mates!

Might want to give some thought to how we apply these practices to our situation on Volant, with potentially one fewer crew on foredeck, and without the luxury of an offset mark leg to get ready to hoist!