Hi everyone,

These are our first action pics.
I don't know if you can really see the shape of the spi but we tend to loose places going downwind.
These pics are taking with 2/3 beaufort.
Any comments?

Regards,
Gill

another one

That spin luff looks a little tight to me....

IMHO the spi looks fine, its just collapsing but thats pretty normal. I cant tell from the pictures but was the traveller centered and the mainsheet tight?
Have you tried sailing with the crew on the leeward hull, with the skipper sitting far forward? (Near, or in front of the boards(Depending on your weight)).

What kind of boats are you losing places to? Other F-16s of the same make with the same sails?
Are the boats set up alike?
Are you sailing the same angles and is your crew weight similar?
How does the skill level at downwind sailing on cats with spis compare?

There is a lot of skill involved in downwind sailing under spi, especially in the lower windrange.
Your spi remind me a lot of Tornado spis, I guess Landenberger is transfering technology. Funny shape at the tack, almost looks like it have stretched? I dont agree with John that the luff looks a bit tight (I like it), but is the spi set up according to Landenbergers recommendations?

Id say the shape of the Spi looks OK.

However, you don't have the windward hull flying quite high enough;

I'd always say 3 inches too high is better then 3 inches in the water !

As Rolf asks who are you loosing out to ?

HEAT IT UP HEAT IT UP HEAT IT UP. That's all I have to say.

also just noticed it looks like the mainsail traveller is not centered

Technique technique technique which = practice practice practice. The spi looks fine to me. The better guys are able to work the waves and take every opportunity to steer down wind a foot or two each time without loosing any speed.

Tiger Mike

Pole needs some prebend in it, it looks from the pic to be way to straight and if anything bent up abit. Then adjust the luff tension my adjusting the halyard length. Thats what we do on the F 18 and the N 20.
Capt. Kirk

Yes, traveller looks like it is in 'depower' position.

We dont adjust luff tension with the halyard, but with the tack line if we want to depower or head higher. But for normal downwind sailing we have the luff line inside the spis luff tape set up with the tension we want.

It's interesting that you cat guys talk about depowering the kite, or for pointing higher under kite, by releasing luff tension.

On dinghies we would lower the spinnaker pole to flatten the kite and enable higher pointing and for depowering.

I need to investigate further...

100% drop the halyard to de power and flatten; just try it on land - it's so obvious its great <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

guess it would make sense that if you drop the halyard insted of the tack then you keep the same heeling moment rather than increasing it. Harder to see how far the halyard is down though- much easier to see how far the tack is out

Thanks for the replies guys, I'll try put some things into practice.

It is true indeed that I still need to practice practice practice....

Is pre-bend so important? Now the boom is straight and not under very much tension. I always thought, that when you pull the mainsheet, there will be extra tension on the boom, which should be enough....

Gill

Pre-bend on the spinnaker pole is important to avoid breaking the pole, and to keep it fixed. With some pre-bend, the loads from the kite put the pole into compression and the tip of the pole is well braced.

Paul