Mike,



I just came back from the Spring Fever regatta where I had the change to sail the Taipan 4.9 in the 1-up mode with spi.



I loved it. The wind was light if not really light. You had to sit really still if you wanted to pick up speed. Kirt was right in his comment in some other post. He said that the Taipan in light air must be pointed into the right direction and left uninterrupted by crew movement. With this the boat will slowly accellerate and accellerate and accellerate and after some 30 to 60 seconds we were moving with about 2,5 mtr/sec = 8+ ft / sec. I estimated it by looking how long it took for a leave or something to travel halve a boat length. And I must stress that it really was light air. Downwind under genaker , much the same thing. Kirt was sailing behind me in the 2-up configuration and when their chute collapsed a few times we saw the difference in distance that a properly sailed chute brings to the boat in light air.



I have a genaker already but if I didn't I would go for one based on this test alone. I came warmly recommend a genny in the 1-up mode.



Personally I found manual launching and retrieving not difficult especially since had removed the jib and the moved the crew trapline out of the way (to the sidestay). My about 17 sq .mtr gennaker (I will remeasure soon) fly just nicely when sheeted of the jib loop found on your trampoline.



Anyhow, I share Kirts feelings about the Guck snuffer. It looks well, is according to Kirt causing alot less windage than his EO-snuffer and might well be preferrable in the stronger winds.



The flattened sock looks much more aerodynamic than the loose EO-snuffer system.



One point of caution though. The Guck snuffer appears to be more sensitive to the size and stiffness of the retrieval line reinforcement patches in the spi. Than the EO-snuffer than is.



Contact Kirt if you want to go into the direction of the Guck-snuffer. He will help you avoid this problem.



Wouter