I assume all the boats have snuffers? Mid pole or the old school end of the pole toilet seat?

Make sure they bear off to nearly dead downwind before they hoist, and hoist as fast as humanly possible to keep the kite out of the water!

On the drop, again bear off but not as deep or the sheets might wrap around the snuffer hoop and jam up the works, and don’t release the halyard until you’ve got the retrieval line in hand ready to pull and again, snuff as fast as humanly possible to keep the kite out of the water.

Shrimping is slow.

When flying the kite, be ready to quickly bear off and ease the sheet with every gust, and keep your weight near the back of the boat or you will stuff the low bow and go swimming. You have to sail looking back over your shoulder for the next puff and be ready to bear away quickly when it hits. Keep the kite trimmed so the luff is just about to curl, constantly ease and trim to keep it in the groove.

Apparent wind is what you want to generate so once the kite is up, sheet in and slowly head up to build speed, once you accelerate ease the sheet and then slowly bear off as the boat accelerates to keep the apparent wind in the sweet spot, just forward of 90 degrees. Oh, and open the jib up so the jib slot isn't choking off the backside wind flow. You don't want the jib flapping, but eased enough so the airflow through the slot is smooth.

Last edited by Timbo; 07/30/19 09:14 AM. Reason: spiritual clarity

Blade F16
#777