Eric,

As you know I've just swapped my Cat rigged Taipan for a sloop with spi. The guy that I swapped with sailed his sloop on a number of occasions cat rigged with spinnaker. He launched the spi out of a bag on the tramp.

To assist him in this endeavour he did this:

On the tiller cross bar on the opposite side of the bar to where the tiller extension attaches he attached a button the same as the buttons on the underneath of the rear beam that the tramp attaches to.

He also attached a piece of bungy about 35cm long to the rear beam each end of which is attached to a (different) button on the underneath of the beam such that the piece of bungy lies against the rear beam with the ends equidistant from the centre. The bungy is only so tight that it just sits there without sagging, hardly under tension at all.

At the centre of the bungy (which is of course at the centre line of the boat) he has put a loop in the bungy which is just the right size such that when slipped over the button on the tiller crossbeam it stays on the button but is easily attached and removed.

When it came time to hoist or lower the kite he slipped the loop over the button on the cross bar and this would hold the rudders straight for him while he did the business.

I thought this was an excellent idea! Much less restrictive than trying to sit on the tiller to keep the rudders straight. You may be doing something similar already but I thought I would share this with the forum as you asked for hints.

Rob.
Taipan 4.9 AUS135 "Blackadder"