With respect to the spinnaker, it definately pays to start at 10 knots, rehearse the procedures of setting and retrieving and than work your way up to 20 knots or so. Doing it by hand may feel awkward in the beginning and cumbersome but with a little practise you work out a way of doing things that will work very well. Only problem you will be faced with each time are the jib sheet lines on the Taipan. I've worked with snuffer before and they are handy but please don't think that a snuffer is much easier all of the time.

I tie my halyard to the mastfoot or an eyeled near the mast and through to loop over the back. An alternative I've become to use more often when signlehanding is to drop the halyard on the tramp as I go and never touch it again. Often it lies on the front part where you don't move about anyway when signlehanding. Than when retrieving I uncleat the halyard and it smoothly runs through the cleat without any knots. Trick is the not touch it, tie it up or move it about with your knees or feet between sets and drops.

for my own boat I working on a pully system that will pull away the halyard together with the double block near the spi pole or the tack of the spi itself. I'm confident that that will work.

What kind of bag are you using, with zippers or velcro, hobie style or side load style ? Have you pulled your crew trapeze wire afte to the sidestay ?

Best maybe is to perfect the manual setting and retrieving when you sail the boat without the jib. Let your crew focus completely on the spi.

It is really nice to see you and your brother having so much fun !

Wouter