A race with the Big One

After sitting on shore in no wind and fog for a day and half during the recent Florida Midwinters, someone suggested that Larry Tuttle and I should race the last day with the big kite. After discussing this with all the competitors I could find (everyone I asked agreed we should use it), we flipped the boat (KISS Rondar 8734) on its side, and Larry drilled and tapped two #10 by 24 holes in the mast so we could bolt an eye strap and a high-load Harken bullet block to the mast at the maximum proposed halyard height.

Only one short race - the final - was held on Sunday, so we had limited experience with the big kite.

In a sometimes-hiking-on-the-beats-but-not-trapezing breeze, we were able to carry the kite on both reaches. After rounding the windward mark a close 5th, we were able to power up and carry the kite high to get somewhat above the rhumbline and above the teams in front of us. The boat felt "strapped", with a lot of power, but most of it was pulling us sideways. We carried almost full board to counteract this. Larry -- all 155 lbs -- was on the wire and in what passed for puffs we were almost planing, I don't think any of the other teams came close to trapzing on this leg. We passed one boat by sailing past them above their course and pulled right up to the next. I had expected to struggle a little to get up high, but gain when we eased off and came back down to the rhumb line, but the extra power seemed to disappear the moment we bore off a little, and we were not able to roll the next boat. Feeling a little guilty about sailing over one competitor, and being very close to the boat ahead, which was quite determined to not let us go over them, we were content to sail the rhumbline on the second reach, slightly blanketed by the boat ahead.

The boat astern stayed with the two of us, so that all three boats were within a boatlength all the way down the leg. No gain for the big kite, but in circumstances where it was hard to imagine being able to pass. In retrospect, sailing low of the rhumbline might have worked with the big kite. We closed on the three boats ahead of us on the next beat, and rounded the last windward mark 3rd (within 3-4 boat lengths of the leader) after having to take a long duck behind Nelson/Alarie (starboard) who rounded 2nd. While everyone near us gybe set, we chose a bear away set to avoid blanketing any of the other teams. After a short run out on starboard we gybed to port and were able to lay the finish line if we sailed low. We experimented with various angles, finding that the power came on very quickly as we headed up. We were clearly quicker on the run (broad reaching) than the other leaders and easily gained the 2-3 boatlengths that we had been behind by at the weather mark to open a noticeable lead. Even a last shift that favoured the boats to the left and had us running dead downwind to the finish line was not enough to make up for the lead the larger spinnaker had given us. We crossed the line perhaps 3-6 boatlengths ahead of 2nd place.

The reach in was the best test of the kite, as it was close. A team that doused the kite and two sailed in was first, while two other teams flew conventional spinnakers. We were forced well low of their course and had to douse early and beat up to the harbour entrance. Larry was on the wire, and we were fully powered up in the light air conditions. The force from the spinnaker pole and halyard was straightening the mast considerably, tightening the main leech. We concerned that in a decent breeze the rig might not stay in the boat, or at least would be quite hard to control due to the mast tip being pulled forward.

Our preliminary conclusions are that the greater area gives quite noticeably more power, but that the cut of this particular kite may be less than optimal, at least for the conditions we used it in. The maximum proposed halyard height is frightening on a Proctor D mast. While we intend to test quite a bit more before trying another spinnaker iteration, my strong suspicion at this point is that we want a less than 1 meter increase in the luff lengths, we want to lower the spinnaker pole fitting to the top of the ram track, we want to lower the halyard hoist height rather closer to the current setting, and we want a slightly flatter sail in the middle panels, with a slightly shorter foot.

Ali Meller