Hi Tim & Darryl, here`s my take on how it all works : The spinnaker doesn`t have a tendency to make the nose dive for the following reasons: - When sailing with the spinn, you sheet everything in tight as if you were going upwind, and sail your apparent wind, in effect you are "beating" into the apparent wind, your course to true wind direction is of course a broad-reach to a run. Because of this the resultant force is trying to make you capsize sideways more than go nose-over. In the MANY capsizes with spinnaker that I`ve had(And I`m the undisputed champ here) , I`ve never pitchpoled, but lost it sideways only, simply overpowered. When you could have trouble with going nose-over is in short, steep chop where the back beam hits a wave, the nose goes down & submerges, the boat slows or even stops, then the spinaker`s power pulls you over if you don`t throw the sheets away quick enough. I think this is what Tim means when he says letting it flog. I`ve had the bows go under until the front beam is submerged, foam all over the trampoline, just bear off hard, DON`T ease the spinnaker or main, and she pops out without a hassle. I`ve found easing the spinnaker only powers it up more, so I tend to keep it in or even sheet in when overpowered (break the airflow over the spinnaker, stalls it & depowers). I find the Mozzie very forgiving even when you do stuff the bow hard, she has a tendency to slow down a lot, but seldom pitchpoles. What we found is that it`s safer to hoist the kite than to go downwind without it, even in 20 knots, up to 22, seems to lock the boat into a groove, just have to watch the waves carefully. Attached pic : 10-15knots, Mozzie F16 SA Solo Champs. I`m flying a hull in my own little private gust.
