It needs to be tight but it doesn't need to be REALLY tight. You can let it out some (hard to describe) without worry. I wouldn't be overly concerned about it as long as you are aware of the fact that you need some tension and it shouldn't be uncleated in a pinch. I have occasionally tripped it out of the cleat when gybing but I usually notice before really powering back up.

As you can see in this picture it's not very windy (sorry it's a bit fuzzy) so I don't have the mainsheet in too tight.

I noticed that you have your boards up a little. Do you only leave them completely down off the wind in light air? My understanding with the Blade is that you start to pull them up when you're starting to trip over your toes off the wind in decent breeze.

talking to Matt when I picked up my boat ("old" style boards, short and fat) he said with them I should leave them down all the time unless things really picked up. My boards don't stay up really well anyway. I have put a little effort into making them stay up but with the philosophy of just leaving them down I haven't had a huge amount of motivation to do so. I do pull them up in high winds, they just don't stay there very well.

My boat has longer boards than most (approx 1m projection below the hulls).

They stay fully down until about 12kts; I then slowly raise then a little as the wind comes up; over about 20 I have them about 2/3 down which is a about the same as a standard Stealth. Once in real survival conditions I bring them up a bit more; maybe 1/2 up.

On the control issue, just an ignorant question. Why is it harder to control a cat from the trapeeze downwind than a 49er, 29er, 18footer etc? What is the physical difference making it harder on a cat? Might it be that we are just a bit less skilled at it?
Two stringing downwind on the Tornado was a buzz, and we rarely did it as the VMG often went haywire, but if it was a race winner, we would have worked on it until we got the skill.

Hi Wouter,

if I had the money for a GPS I would have spent it on some new ropes or cleats or sails by now <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />.

I know it was a lot faster than when I have been clocked at 15 kts. by a rescue boat.

Hi Greg,

I had it pulled in firm, like a tight reach. Still twisted leech.

Yeah Scooby, I followed the idea that it allowed the boom/sail to gain momentum also. But when keeping it centred tipped me over I had to try something else. I think steering the S with the traveller released, stops the main from stopping hard. Certainly worked on the day boom/sail didn't bang hard once with traveller released. It did bang over with traveller centred.

All boats a above have a crew, makes a massive difference if you are not trying to play the kite, mainsheet, traveller and steer all at the same time!!!!!! (and I don't do all 4 very much at all).

Twin stringing with the kite is a breese!

Better comparison might be a MPS, and I think the difference partly that cats do plow the furrow so there is more fore/aft movement which makes keeping the tiller still, we are moving faster, but I think mainly it's a skill issue, we just need to learn to hang on better!

have double trapeze the 49-er under spinnaker as a the skipper I can tell that it certainly isn't any simpler or less sensitive then the F16. I fact it is more sensitive. As Phill likes to say : "That isn't sailing, that's ballet !"

Wouter

But surely, just steering and playing the mainsail is easier?

Unless you have three hands, I would think playing the mainsheet is second priority to trimming the spi?

Yep, but sometimes when sailing long distance races, you need to make a mark / avoid the sand...

Every year we do a long distance race from Osea Island to Clacton and back: link to google maps Clacton is ENE along the coast.

The bit along the coast to/from Calcton is usually a tight reach in one way is most years. I find that the only way to carry the kite on one of these legs if the wind is light is to be out on the wire with the Kite, mainsheet and traveller.

Small gusts you can oversheet the kite, slightly bigger gusts you can let the kite flog, but at times the only thing to do is to dump some traveller/mainsheet, but as soon as you do this, you then need to pull it all back in. (imagine you are sailing along on Starboard) I've found that if you put the tiller under your left shoulder, you can then hold the Spi sheet in your right hand and keep the traveller / mainsheet in place with your left. Big gust comes, you can bear off by moving your left shoulder back a bit and then quickly put the Spi sheet into your left hand and then let some traveller off with the right hand; this allows you to then play the traveller untill the wind settles down again adnthen go back to playing the kite; it is just about possible to play the Spi too, but not for long.

It is a high-risk game as if you get a big gust you end up on the beach and so you have to sail a few 100m offshore (in slightly less wind) to make sure you have time to come in and drop the kite if need be.

Sounds like I better start saving up for a prosthetic arm or two..