Welcome to the fraternity of sailors that like to go fast on downwind legs as well !

Almost as the feeling when you first stepped on a catamaran and experienced its speed for the first time, Not ?

>>The spi unfortunately is not F16 compliant as it is 21sqm. A smaller spi will have to wait for another day.

Best start with what you've got and upgrade when you find it is the hardware holding you back. I guess you are sheeting of the rearbeam. (Nobody has done it differently with a spi of that size on the taipan)

>>We are launching our spi out of a bag on the port side of the tramp.

Works well for the beginning. I still believe that manual launching and setting is a skill that any sailor must master even though eventually all go for a snuffer sooner or later. Manual handling does allow you to keep the kite in good condition for many years.


>>We are having a problem with the section of line that pulls the tack out getting twisted.

Never had that problem myself. Maybe take the line out completely, took out the twist and run it through the blocks again. If the line run straight from block to block or block to cleat than it is theoretically impossible to twsit the line. The line can only twist when it is lead around to make a special kind of loop that me look normal but rotates the line itself as well. However you must have a pretty weird setup if this is the case. I have never had this problem over the years while sailing several different spi boats. Itis not a typical problem and hence I don't think a swivel is required to solve it. Something is causing your spi halyard to behave differently, find out what it is.


>>We are throwing the halyard over the back of the boat before we drop. Any suggestions? We thought about putting a swivel at the tack.

I found that this cause noticeable extra drag when pulling the kite down. There is another way but it requires good crew work.

As the front man pulls the kite he just drops the halyard in the tramp. When the spi is raised both sailors NEVER touch it. Leave it as it fell. Don't tidy it up or its will form knots. The line will slide a little bit over itself but that is not a problem. When it is time to lower the kite. Graps the halyard near its cleat and let the line pass through you hand gently when passing it to the free hand of the skipper. Now coordinate your actions. Front man goes to the sheet to pull the kite down and on his mark the skipper uncleats the halyard and let the line run through his hand, shaking out any loops and knots that may form.

This all may sound awkward but it was the way it was done before the advent of snuffers and with a little practise you'll find you can get quite handy and fast like this. Skipper needs to pay attention to what he is doing though.

Another possibility is tho fit a two doublesheaved block underneath the trampoline. One fixed to the rearbeam the other to the end of a tensioned bungee cord. This will tack up the halyard when the spi is set. The part of halyard on the tramp is only some 7 to 8 mtr. And the trampoline length is about 2 mtr. or 2.6 when diagonal.

I alwaysed used the let lie on tramp approach. In distance races where you have more than enough time to accidently kick the line about and thus cause it to loop and knot up I always threw it overboard before lowering the kite. Normally it takes a few seconds for the line to untangle once in the water. The line behaved differently in the water than in air. In air the loops tighten, in water the tend to run themselfs to the end like a snake. This is not full proff though and the skipper still needs to guide the line and shake out any remaining issues. However it always did work fine for me. This is may sound complicated by with a little experience works well enough.

A 3rd approach that I thought up but never tried was to lead the halyard to the rearbeam then under the beam towards the spi pole under the bridles and than back again to the top of the kite. Now when the kite is raised the top of it will take the excess halyard with it without tangling with the jib.. You probably will need to take out some slack somewhere by using a bungee and ring or block.


>>We are also finding, as I mentioned in the other thread, that we don't seem to be able to sail much higher than a broad reach without the luff curling and the spi wanting to collapse. Any suggestions for this one?


Tighten the luff some more or accept that the low aspect 21 sq.mtr. kite with the given sailcut won't go higher. As said in other posts the leaner 17.5 sq. mtr. spis are cut flatter and their aspect ratio allow them to be carried higher. In the F16 class we quickly dicovered this but still a few larger kite were ordered by Aussie sailors. This is legacy.

I know from the sailmaker that some kites were recut (but I think those were intermediate sizes liek 18.5 and 19 sq. mtr.) and proved to be noticably better and I believe a little faster as well. If you hook up with other F16's I would argue to let you race as I really don't believe that the 21 sq.mtr. has an advantage over the F16 sized spi.

Still most is between ears anyway. I remember REM race 2001. Where I sailed a Prindle 18 with 17 sq.mtr. kite. I had the time of the day on the long Downwind leg (50 miutes). I can still see the turning head of the F18 and several F20 crews about having a Prindle 18 with a (much) smaller kite right among the front 15 % of the fleet. We overtook some 15 boats on this leg and were overtaken by only 1 tiger. I waste it all upwind as I completely F*cked up my diamond settings. All could trapeze upwind while we had to sit in. We were passed upwind like nobodies business. The day after I competely changed the settings (reduced prebend, lowered the tension by a factor 3; who set up this boat in the first place ?) and the boat came alive upwind. That was the last time I ever said :"How much difference can 5 turns on diamond wires make ?" Well that much especially if you combine it 5 turns on the spreader rake as well.

Anyway back to spinnakers


>>At the moment we are hanging the head of the spi directly of a saddle rivetted to the mast. Is this being a bit optimistic in expecting the saddle to take the load?

The saddle with take it. Saddle = eyestrap ? I'm more worried about your mast underrotation as a result of the spi load. This is not good, some say this may make your mast more receptable to breaking. It is defiantely not good for your mainsail aerodynamic. It sounds as if your taipan has been setup like a skiff. Large over sized and full cut spi with nothing more than a saddle as spi gate. This works on skiff that typically point much lower with a spi and will NEVER pull a spi close to beam reaching. It also assumes that your mast is not of the rotational type.

I would replace this setup with one decribed in the tech corner of the F16 webpage. You'll find the link somewhere more down on the whats new page. It show drawings and pics. Of the setups from which you can choose.


>>>By the way, we got the boat moving beautifully on a broad reach - what a hoot!!!

Yeah, Now do this in a tight racing fleet. Or like that Aussie crew did in a large mono, big cat regatta. I forgot the name of that event. It is in the public history corner of our F16 webpage.

F18's have as slogan :"Because life is too short to sail slowly !"

>>Perhaps 30 secs for drops and 20 for launches. I don't think I would bother with a snuffer as I'm sure we could improve on these times with practice.

You should be able to do this in 10 second with a little effort. Meaning from coming out of the trapeze to getting back out with spi set. With alot of practice you can come under 10 seconds. But that required close cooperation and coordination between crew and skipper. The boat becomes much more of a team effort with the kite. That is one aspect I really like about it.

On hint. If you ever want to do some racing with it than practise leeward mark roundings a lot ! It is not that it is difficult to do just that timing is ludicrously important here. Dropping a kite 1 or 2 second later easily wins you some 30 meters distance on your competition. With kite is feels like approaching the mark with jetfighter speed so you tend to drop the kite rather sooner than later to be safe only to find out that the boat bogges down immediately taking you some 15 seconds or more to even get to the mark let alone rounding it. Any competition more practiced will take several places by dropping the kite at the right time and almost right on the mark. Practicing this is alot of fun. Because being to late will put you 10's of meters past the mark which looses you time as well. Performing a clean and on the mark C rounding will give you a buzz. Truly !

Best way to round sound is wait till you're scared as hell. Drop is quickly and possbley a little low to the mark with the skipper staying in the trapeze or not depending on conditions on the expected upwind leg. Skipper helps crew with halyard. As soon as the crew has the kite fully in his hand the boat must round the mark. That would be perfect. Skipper stays out and starts on the upwind leg with the sail a little out. Crew pulls jib tight right after rounding the mark and before stuffing the spi. In the first meters of the upwind beat the crew stuffs the spi in the bag, tidies up quickly, Stuffing the spi sheet under the spi bag (that was what I did) and out of the way. Than pulls on the mainsail outhaul as needed. Maybe adjust rotation than moves out to the luff hull or trapeze while the skipper pulls the main in.

This is the fastest manual approach.


>>David was having some trouble holding the spi sheet which is why I re-read this thread. I think 2:1 for our boat may be on the cards.

Another option maybe to keep the 1 to system and have two fully encircled ratchetblocks on each side. This won't lower the reuired pull in force but will make holding it easier.

However a low aspect and full cut spi sail will remain a hand full no matter what.

What I normally did on F18's after a while of no spi sailing. When muscles has tuned down a bit. Was to have the spi sheet once over my upper arm (right above the elbow) than go back towards my hand and hold both pieces of line in my hand. Moving my elbox back and forth would give me just enough travell length to trim the spi. It is a much more powerful methode. Downside it that when the skipper stuffs up and read the oncoming gust wrong or is too late steering than you have to let go. Pull the spi back in and wrap it behind your arm again Which takes time.

Like I said earlier it all comes down to crew skipper cooperation and coordination. Both can bring the other into trouble and make life much easier for the other.

This should get you going for now.

Good luck and have fun !

Wouter