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Old 08-08-2012, 08:13   #1
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saw some friends in the park messing around with a kite sail

Guy on the right is from Australia, on a mid 40's Hunter. Headed to Mexico then across the Pacific. He said these are pretty normal in Australia, apparently flown off the bow. They were having a tough time keeping it up in the 5-10 knots that generally blows around here. But that's like 10-15 knots true for downwind then.

Anyone ever use one of these things? Seems insane to try to raise / douse.

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Old 08-08-2012, 08:26   #2
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Re: saw some friends in the park messing around with a kite sail

Rebel, never saw one like that ! but have seen some Old parachutes being used years ago sorta like spinakers! I always wonderd how the heck they got em down or up for that matter !! LOL big crews I guess. This was in oz 20 25 yrs ago and they were racing ! or trying to LOL Looks like a lot of work to me !!
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Old 08-08-2012, 08:36   #3
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Re: saw some friends in the park messing around with a kite sail

It's being used more and more on cargo ships, e.g. SkySails GmbH*-*SkySails Propulsion for Cargo Ships

It saves tonnes of fuel. First time seeing it on a small pleasure craft (outside kitesurfing).
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Old 08-08-2012, 08:45   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rebel heart

Anyone ever use one of these things? Seems insane to try to raise / douse.
I spent a long day on a buddy's Erikson 36 trying to get one of those rigs to behave itself. It seemed to want a crew of five to sail it properly. Even though we had a manufacturers rep on board, we could never go more than a few minutes before the thing started shrimping.

At the end of the day, nobody ordered one.
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Old 08-08-2012, 21:34   #5
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Re: saw some friends in the park messing around with a kite sail

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bash View Post
I spent a long day on a buddy's Erikson 36 trying to get one of those rigs to behave itself. It seemed to want a crew of five to sail it properly. Even though we had a manufacturers rep on board, we could never go more than a few minutes before the thing started shrimping.

At the end of the day, nobody ordered one.
That's kind of what I'm thinking. Seems like a neat idea, sort of, but the hassle factor seems really high.
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