>>having troublw with the sail catching in water and going under the bows. We were vary carfull to lower slowly as w pulled sail into the bag,


Slow is wrong. Right is

Pull retrieval line tight before uncleating the halyard
then pull (at least the first halve) into bag quickly with a few continious and quick pulls
Second halve may require some more force but by tis time the spi can nt go anywhere else and you can do it more gently although quick is always best.


>>so my question is, Where are the umbilical patches on your guy's sails?


All along the line going from top to middle of foot of spi.

Lower patch about 1 mtr of the foot (about 3 foot)

Top patch about 2 mtr from the top ( = just shy of 7 feet)

Middle patch is halve way in between these two.

This should work well enough and give you a spi that will snuff in a sack of only 2 mtr length.

Works for my spi and that is a 17.5 sq. mr. by 8 mtr luff spi. Should work okay for an F18 spi as well

Wouter