On my N20 I have been trying to experiment with adjusting the amount of slack in the spin halyard. I have problems with retrievals as my boat had about 6' extra. When un-cleating the spin, their is plenty of slack to allow the spin to drop into the water much faster than I could ever pull the retrieval line. I have had issues trying to find a sweet spot, what is an ideal number?

Also, is there any tricks to try and make the spin start snuffing before all of the patches are tight against each other? Mine does not start drawing into the bag until there is about 1' of retrieval line still out of the snuffer.

I have a mid-pole with a separate tack-line if it matters.

tug the spin retrieval line before uncleating the spin halyard to take up the slack and keep the spin from shrimping.

If you tie a figure eight knot at a particular spot between the patches (varies between 2 and 3 patch systems) you can get the snuff started before all patches are bunched up together.

You'll have to experiment with where to put the knot, as having it in the wrong spot will keep the spin from snuffing completely.

i run about an 8 inch pigtail on the tie off point on my kite

I tie a 8" bowline knot at the top patch, and add a very small stopper ball. this ball and "loop" pulls the middle patch in ahead of the top patch. you may have to play with the correct size of the loop depending on your bag length

I'll use that tip, only thing I will add is if you tie a figure 8 as the stopper make sure it is bigger that your patch hole when tight or if it goes through the hole you cant get the spin fully up or down. Don't ask me how I know

Once the halyard is released and tension is on the retrieval line, the skipper need to start heading up, the blows the kite across the lee side of the boat instead of it dropping over the front