Chuck-
<br>I plan to come from Arkansas. As for the Tornado snuffer- not sure which one you are referring to- Marstrom Tornado has his "snail" installed on the pole- Problem w/ his setup appears to be it gets in the way of the self-tacking jib so the jib had to be modified. W.F. and Matt's boat has an interesting variation of the Inter/Seaman snuffer- basically an E-O snuffer "head" mounted midpole at the bridle/pole connection with the snuffer "bag" extending back under the tramp- So it's sort of a cross between the standard pole w/ bag on tramp and the standard E-O snuffer. I know Lars and Peter had experimented w/ a similar setup (it sounded like from their description to me) on a 4.9 and at least one other 4.9 owner in that area has also tried something similar but with the snuffer opening at the rear of the pole.
<br>I have tried a "conventional" Inter-type pole end snuffer on my boat but was not very satisfied w/ the weight and especially the windage so something like the Marstrom snail or the midpole or rear of pole snuffer is going to be more ideal IMO, so I, like you, am still "looking" and "experimenting" w/ different setups-
<br>I think for Formula style racing a snuffer as described and pole-tacked self-tacking jib, especially on our "small" boats, will be the ideal.
<br>We are planning to have the first F 16HP regatta at Lake Hartwell, GA end of March and I hope you can make it up there also!
<br>Should be interesting at Tradewinds if we can get Rick to bring his Hootered 4.9 vs a snuffered 4.9 and bag launched 4.9-
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<br>Kirt<br><br>Kirt Simmons
<br>Taipan #159, "A" cat US 48