Berny, Didn't your 430 appear in "catamaran sailer magazine" some time ago? To answer your question, yes the set up of the spinnaker on the Alpha Omega 4.4 was quite simple. It was very much like the F18's today - a small diameter pole attached at the front beam under and forward of the mast step, a very fine multi flex bridle from the front of each hull rising to the forward end of the underside of the pole, and a top wire attachment between the point of joining of the mast's fore stay and the main bridle. The front bridle to support the pole down against the lift (and the side ways load) of the kite and the second one to support the pole upwards against the downward (and side ways) transfered loads. The halyard ran inside the mast to an outlet approx' 2' above the hounds and to the head of the kite, but then it continued on down the inside of the kite to a location point approx' in the middle of the kite and further down onto the deck attached to the tail of the halyard (making the halyard a continuous sheet for setting and retrieving the kite and having the absolute minimum excess sheet on the deck) The centre attachment to the kite meant that the kite was halved in "lenght when retrieving. It was stored in a bag attached to the trampoline. As it was set with the halyard the tack was automatically pulled out to the end of the pole. Very simple and very easy to set and retrieve one up. You made a few "large" statements when describing the performance of your 430 ie "The fastest 14 in Australia" I would question that a little as, likewise, I think that the 4.4 Alpha Omega was the fastest - it nearly always BEAT the H16 around an olympic, triangular course, not "almost kept up with them" But that is history. What I do know is that our new Alpha Omega 4.3 "Tora", which we prototyped for three years here could be the cat to hold the claim of "the fastest 14 footer any where". Over the prototype time it has proven faster than the H16's (except on a two on wire trapeze reach, but then there still isn't much that can beat a H16 on that point in those conditions even today), and has competed over a vast range of courses and conditions, almost on an even footing with the Hobie Tigers (we have all the records and times to verify this). Still to my way of thinking "whos the fastest etc" is fairly unimportant, the most important thing is to develop and formalise a "formula" that defines "just what is a 14' cat" then we can all get down to the real business of building and racing all under the same umbrella and not fragmented by "classes" and "yardsticks"
Yours Darryl J Barrett
