I have three basic problems:

1) hoisting the spinnaker quickly and efficiently
2) steering while hoisting (and dousing)
3) dousing the spin

I've seen a lot of Uni sailors do those things well, but none of them are as quick and efficient as a sloop. Surely there is better way to steer than with a "butt cleat".

Getting back aboard is also more of a problem for Unis than sloops. I think that prompts a lot of Uni sailor to be more conservative, especially on the down wind.

regarding your second question:
Has your boat lee- or weatherhelm when hoisting or dousing?
I drop the traveller and open rotation and downhaul. My boat has leehelm with this setup. I can leave the tiller while hoisting, the boat will not turn to the wind, has no risk to capsize.
Upwind, the boat has slight weatherhelm.

Why is getting back on board a problem for uni sailors? Two people need twice the time to get back, I would say. Or are you saying that it goes faster when one helps the other?

Cheers,

Klaus

My boat has very slight weather helm, almost neutral. I too drop the traveler down (when I remember). And, if my timing is right the boat tracks okay. Still, I haven't seen any of the Uni guys perform this operation nearly as quickly as a good sloop crew. I would say, on average, a Uni looses 5-10 boat lengths on this operation alone.

Getting back on board is a big problem for short fat people. But, even for others the boat can some times pick up headway immediately after righting and in such cases it is easy to get overpowered and end up being dragged along behind the boat. With the sloops, the best crews can board the boat as it rights, hold the tiller up into the wind and help the other member aboard.

Pete, those are the tradeoffs when you race Uni. Naturally a crewed boat can get the spinny up faster as the crew is already pulling the tack and hoisting while the skipper is driving to the offset mark. Same with the douse, the skipper can hold a high line and trim in the main, going fast, while the crew snuffs it, then resets the rotator, downhaul, boards down if they were up, etc.

The "payback" when sailing Uni? It's more of a challenge, when you get it right you can feel good about yourself.

And when you swim...well...you can't blame the crew!

I would prefer to have a 5' tall, 100lb. super crew who could do all the hard work, all the time, while I just drive. But since I don't know anyone like that...I'll continue to sail Uni and be happy when I get it right.

BTW, as I'm watching the evening news right now, and they just said Zach and Matt Lynch and their Viper are going to be featured on Fox Ch. 13 out of Tampa "Coming up Next"! Turn on your TV to Ch. 13 Fox out of Tampa if you get that.

"Tradeoffs". I'm not convinced anyone has come up with THE BEST system for Uni sailing. Call me Don Quixote...

I don't know about you but I've only got two hands, so there's only so much I can do at once, at A Mark.

Right you are! I think the spin hoist/retrieval systems being used are designed for sloops. I use the single line system with spin lock (which I love), but it just seems awkward, even after all this time.

Just saw Matt and Zach on TV,and they had a few words from Robie too! Nicely done for a change.

Greg and/or Brett, you should get a copy of that and use it for promotion.

My capsize recovery technique solo:

- Place the boat with the wind coming in between the mast and the hulls (see "Cat sailing for the 90's")
- Pull on the righting line (tied to the mast base, gone over a hull)
- As soon as the mast pops out of the water, duck, grab the main beam and let go of the righting line
- Continue puling on the main beam
- As the hull come down roll over the main beam and the mast
- As the hull touches the water you are on the trampoline and the boat is facing the wind.
- Grab the tiller and the main sheet, get some speed up, jump on the trapeze, you're on your way again.

Aka I'm never in the water with my boat upright pulling me around. A variant of this technique was demonstrated to me by MarkP along time ago, and I've been practicing since then... I believe Mark ducks under the mast and climbs on by the lower side. I've tried that and got caught on the spi bag everytime.

AHA! I've tried that but never quite made it. I'd almost given up but will have to keep trying.

I don't know how it'd be done differently.

I started standing while hoisting, you can really rip on the halyard then.. The boat wants to round up just a little bit, once the spin is out of the bag it seems to balance out nicely until I can get hold of the tiller again.

I'm to drunk to talk right now but if I'm ever sober I'll chat about righting a capsized 16.....hic...uop

There are some options if one is open to some different ideas-
1) Marstrom "snail"- potentially used with a "spring" which is "wound" on drop or hoist with purchase system to reduce amount of "pull" necessary to hoist/drop
2) Furled spi (if furled horizontally could then drop/fold furled spi ala "A" sails on some monoslugs) - could "furl" vertically- potentially around a "cage" or lightweight CF "drum"- ideally this would be stored in the leeward hull- especially if the spi was flown off a bridle between the bows ;-)
3) Large "wheel" under tramp to "roll" spi up on quickly w/ minimal "pull" on line attached to wheel- could also be spring assisted- Spring could be wound on upwind leg perhaps?
4) Use a collapsible small "parachute/sea anchor" on halyard/retrieval line to provide motive force/assistance to launch/retrieve or wind spring
5) basket style "snuffer" ala monoslugs that slides up spi to "launch" and down over spi to "douse"- could then drop/fold snuffed spi at relative leisure.

No matter what this process will always be "slower" IMO than comparably equipped sloop due to fewer hands, arms,eyes, brains, attention span, etc.

Kirt

A conservative sailed uni which does not capsize is always faster than an agressive sailed sloop which capsizes.

I sailed regular single handed dinghies, some with asymmetrics. It is a good training for your reactions. After sailing those boats (and capsizing to lee and windward, gybing during hoisting and all the other nastiness and then going back on a catamaran, I simply do not capsize or pitchpole. The capsizing or nose diving of a catamaran feels slow compared to a dinghy and gives you ample of time to react. It is just a matter of perspective, if start looking from a crew cat, sailing uni is difficult.

Coming back on board for shorter people may be difficult. You can't get taller, but you can train your arms to pull you up quicker. But it is maybe easier said than done.

And the end it is all about training... and very satisfing

The ideal solution exist already. Look for a hooter, Rick offers them. The point is that the sail doesn't fit in the mid girth rule. Basically it is a shame with those rules... they just prevent development

Agreed. And I like Pepin's solution to righting: 1) get the boat oriented properly so it doesn't try to sail away and drown you. 2) I gotta learn to get on the boat as it comes over.

Well, the chupacabra (or however was is called) was a big dud at the last olympics so I'm sure if much performance related development is to be found here. Meaning, yes it will be easier to deploy and douce but may still be overall slower then a spi with a slow set and douce. A modern flat asym. spinnaker is a pretty powerful downwind wapon and while sailing 1-up you already have more then enough power without a hooter.

With respect to the reason for having this midgirth rule, that is not at all to prevent development but rather to prevent the F16's from being killed in handicap and other event rules. A hooter is seen by measurement handicap systems (Texel, Schrs) as an oversized jib and rated accordingly.

It is simply no fun racing F18's in open class events at a rating of 84 to 101. There is simply no way a F16 can outperform a F18 by 20%, not even with the best of hooters. This would have been a promotional problem for the F16 class, among other things and hence the midgirth rule was included.

Personally, I would waver any crew using a hooter in F16 events (not open class racing). I'm convinced these are not faster over a wide range of conditions not even for single handers.

As far as I know an invitation to bring a hooter to an F16 race has been outstanding ever since the subject was brought up in 2002. No-one took up this offer. You can be first Smiths_cat !

Wouter

Wouter; the Mid-girth rule is used to define a Spi; check the ISAF definitions.

Currently SCHRS rates a hooter as a jib; the group started to look at rating these sails under my chairmanship; and this work continues.

My sails (Goodalls) are just fine, as is the rest of the hardware.

However, I've been advised to change the routing of the spin halyard to that used by the Vipers. I'll have to add a couple of turning blocks to do that.

What spinnaker routing are you other Uni guys using?

[My spin halyard currently runs under the tramp to the rear beam, througt a block, then across the top of the tramp, at an angle, to the spin lock mounted on the forward beam.

I've been advised to alter this so that the halyard does not run to the rear beam.]