I did some of this:





Then put the kite up and did lots of this <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />




And yes it was feckin cold, but loads of fun!

Simon:

Looks like you had fun. Can't wait to get to Fla and the warmer weather year round. Looks like you need to sheet the main in more downwind with the kite. Just like going to weather, once I learned this I went a LOT faster.
Amazing how much apparent wind the kite makes.
Doug

I dunno, looks pretty good to me. Sometimes I think people have their mains on to hard.

Telltails were pulling nicely; put too much tension on and it stalls; gets lots of heel and it feels fast but it's not.

You can see from this pic that the trailing edges of the Spi and Mainsail are similar. This is fast IMO.

Yea it looks better at this angle. Guess it was just the angle that made it look like it was out further.

Doug

Huh, I think I was trimming my main in harder than that while sailing under spin. I thought it had to be in harder to provide support for the mast, but i guess as long as there is still good pressure it should be enough?

Vernon:


All I know as when I sheeted like going to weather Sun at Wayward Winds I was 4 times faster than Sat when I traveled out.

Doug

Looks a bit soft to me - but I can't say I've ever sailed one of those. I tune the main using leech tales when under spin to try and get the air to detach relatively cleanly from the main all the way up.

The "main in tight" is also a function of mast strength. Scoobys boat has a carbon mast, so he can get away with a soft mainsheet if he feels that is fart. Trimming to the telltales and the conditions is the way to go in my experience.

That is what I was trying to get at, it needs to be trimmed not just put on hard like going up wind.

With the alu mast I also trim the main instead of pulling it hard. Dangerous for the mast...?

Ofcourse, when it's blowing 14 knots and there are 1m waves I do pull it quite hard. But then again it is trimmed again ;-)

Gill

yes, looks pretty cool! How about we start a COOL sailing gallery (until it is getting warmer again :-)

Looks to me like you need to adjust your tiller about .02mm forward!!! That should make for better True North Heading (just kiddin', your killin it!)

Picture attatched of us "cold weather sailing/camping" this past weekend in Dunedin Florida. It was about 55* on friday and 80* on sat.