Performance Sailcraft Europe (The Laser Centre) decided in 1998 that the Dart 18 needed to follow the trend towards spinnakers. They introduced a kit which could be fitted to the boat without drilling, cutting or fitting parts which could not be easily removed and therefore upsetting the one design ethos of the Dart 18. The chute was strapped on the tramp and the sail had to be dropped on the port side. My son Neil won the Irish Open Champs that year and a distance race the following year, using the kit, but it never took off in the UK and the 4 Irish Darts which had fitted it stopped using it at events also. I only sailed with it once. It was naturally faster than the standard Darts off the wind, but the narrow fine hulls of the Dart are not suited to doing the "Wild Thing" and therefore not really suited to spinnaker sailing.
I believe that Andy Morse of Cat-Bitz in the UK is developing or has developed a newer version.
http://www.cat-bitz.co.uk 
