Chris,

I watched you guys for a couple races last weekend. I did notice that you were a little slow getting your spinnaker up after rounding that mark you guys were using for A mark. I think the single line spinnaker system is better because it involves one less step. It appears Tim has gotten used to his system and likes it fine. I don't know if he has tried the single line setup. BTW, that was the first time I have seen the Blade and it really reacted well to the wind gusts I thought. It appeared to accelerate very fast with those oscillating winds you guys were dealing with. Also, the guy you were racing has pretty much perfected his spin set and drop from having had the boat for sometime now.

I had a spinlock mounted to the forward beam that controlled my single line system on the F17. We (F17 sailors) also have a bullet block mounted on a line attached to the rear beam to keep the halyard tight to avoid tangles etc. Unlike that diagram Tiki posted, F17 guys normally have the halyard simply going from front to rear parallel to the hulls about 3" - 4" to the right side of the mast which allows for a very smooth halyard movement.

Tom