Pete,
Go to ahpc's site and look under the viper's page and look at the manuals. One of them will have diagrams of how the halyard is sit up. It shows both ways, the single line and the seperate line system. In my opinion the single line system would be better for singlehanded and or inexperienced crews. I use the single line sysytem that's shown and will stay with that, unless I get a pretty steady crew. To me, there's way too much stuff going on for single handed people to have the seperate line system. I do have to admit though, the seperate system that is in the diagram is pretty slick compared to others I've seen.
You'd think that, but you'd be wrong. After doing both the seperate lines are easier. Pull the tack out 10-15 secs before rounding the top mark, or on the way to the offset. Snuffing if its set up so the halyard pops the tack, then there's no loss in the retrieval. Hoisting takes way less effort as well since the sail is just about free of the bag once the tack is pulled.
Pete- Buy an SNU. I haven't used the ring that came with the Viper, but when I changed from the factory Hobie unit on the FXone, to the SNU it was noticably easier. I'm about positive that Jill is a dealer.
The new mesh bottom SNU's are sweet, but the mesh does create some drag over the slick bottom versions. I haven't tried doing the Holmelcoat (sp) stuff on it yet though.
