Jake, thats the feeling Im getting also. If you cant tell when that chute fires up, theres something else going on. I think that the tells may have ben flowing so crew thought the chute was running, but it was still stalling. I told him " when in doubt, let it out". I think he was still stalling the sail.
Once the sail woild start to run,the luff would fold up, so I guess he needed to sheet it in faster. We were racing with non spin and they would just about keep up unless I really heated it up by going way high. Then we had other problems, like swating dolphins with the tip of the mast.

I have never crewed for anyone on a cat before, and I dont know many people here that I would trust with my tiller, or that are experienced whatsoever with headsails in these parts.

Lee, I sent Matt an invitation to skipper/crew for the RPC regatta over this last weekend, never got a response. I think he may be the only person that I would trust to skip and show me the ropes here in the valley. I beleive that the last time he was on a cat was when he did the "Border Run" two years ago on his Tiger.(and left us in the dust.) Thought he may want to get his eye sockets wet again.
There may be one other person that I sail with on a regular basis that may be able to handle the boat, but he is not experienced with a chute.
I think this will turn out to be a case of needing to get the same experienced person on the boat repeatedly so that I can figure this bad boy out.

Lee - Coming out for the boat show? Get in touch...

There is going to be a degree of the crew having to bring the kite in as the boat accelerates out of the gybe. The trick is doing it AS the boat accelerates. The better the two of you get at gybes, the faster you can turn, then the less the boat decelerates and the less the spinnaker trim will change during the maneuver. Until then, soft set early, trim quickly with acceleration.

Hey Kitty I used to own that boat and it is one of eight built for the Worrell. When I had it it had a kevlar main with the number 8 on it and a hugh spinnaker with big shoulders. If you are looking for someone to help you with the spinnaker you might look up Mark Corby. He had a beautiful Nacra 5.2 with spinnaker, a P19 with hooter, P19MX with spinn, and a Tornado with spinn.
Buzz

Sounds like a blown out spinnaker on a boat that isn't designed for one. Not a good combination
Throw some money at a new spinny that will have a more open leech

It still had its Kevlar main and jib when i got it. The sails were like new. Mine carried #37 on the main, I kept the sail # with the new sails. the kevlars went down hill pretty fast, delamination and 23 years. I still have the Spinnaker. When I bought the boat I had to check it out, and I believe that I was the first person to look at it since it was folded up at EP. it came with all of the rigging to run the spin , lines, blocks, haulyard, sheet,, cleats, and a hand sketched diagram of how it should be installed on the boat. everything still in its original pacaging. I would love to fly that spin sometime, ned to have patches sewn on and see if it wil snuff. It's a monster. I believe its 350 sf.

I do talk to Mark now and again at his store in Glendale. Bought a mast caddie from him and have talked cats a bit in the past. Maby I'll bring it up next time I need bolts.

since we're talking about spinnakers & trimming correctly, how would you generalize good trim from a crew perspective?

Originally I had suspected that trimming it so the luff was near collapse (but not so) when headed down was most efficient. Is this still the case, or are spin cuts so different these days (versus 5 years ago) that you fly them entirely different?

This boat was in a warehouse not to far from you when I looked at four years ago.

Keith, I had to deliver a Zodiac to Oxford for the Opti Regatta. Non stop drive from Houston then to the airport.

Azcat, one other thing to consider is lengthening your bridal wires about 3 inches to get some more rake in the mast. This may help balance the rig out more now that there is a spinn on it. PM me and I'll give you Anthony Aquilla's number. He lives in phx and used to be my number one crew. I wish I could have got him to do the Tybee with me atleast once. Matt may be pretty busy right now with the new baby and all, dont take it personal. When I come through Phx again maybe we can rig it up and go for a sail. I should be coming through early Nov.

Just make sure you get my Inter 20 to Ventucky first!!!!!

Let me know when you are going to be in town, I'll reserve some time. As far as Matt, I figured he was up to his ears.