Peter Lynn kites for a get home rig

[jfoster]

For those of us enchanted by Chris Humann's kite cam videos

here is a tutorial on several variants of camera mounting.

His choice of Peter Lynn kites is appropriate for kite cam work from sail boats in that when you let go the control lines, with the control bar tethered to the boat, the kite does an auto zenith and waits quietly above the boat till you take control again.

If I ever become courageous enough to venture far offshore, it makes sense, to me, to bring along a 20 sq meter (or so) sized Peter Lynn kite to get me home (slowly) should I lose my rig. Auto zenith would allow me to snooze as required.

After all Dave Culp used a much larger Outleader kite to tow a large dismasted yacht from well down in the West Indies to the US West Coast, so it can indeed be done.

John Foster
Blueberry, Nonsuch 22, sail #48

 

[Thom]

Snooze with kite up?

Why not just reel it in to take a snooze?

I'm planning on experimenting with a "Powersled" (about 70 sq ft) single line kite while in Tahoe in a couple weeks. I'll let you know how it works out. I chose a single line kite because all I want to do is go pretty much dead down wind and do not want to work at keeping it flying.

I had one of Dave Culp's Outleader kites on my boat for an experiment quite a while ago. It was "much safer" for a trimaran since the force was "up" at the bows instead of driving the bows down like an asymetric spin with mainsail. The problem, for me, was that it takes at least three people to fly the kite and drive the boat. And those people have to be pretty skilled. With practice maybe two people could do it on long stretches. But honestly, the control systems were too labor intensive and I could just picture the strings getting tangled into a Gordian knot of mammoth proportions.

There is an F242 video of someone who replaced their mast with a kite system in Hawaii. I'm pretty sure I won't do that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnACybMhPs4&feature=related

 

[AlanH]

I've also used an Outleader kite as you all know. After many, many outing with it, I decided not to use it on the SHTP because it was just so labor intensive. The things are wicked fast when the wind gets up over about 12 knots, but they are a lot of work. in a three-up distance race where one guy is resting while two guys are on deck, I think it'd be do-able. Anyway, I still have mine and will be using it whenever I get the next "big" boat.

I have to say that a smaller, say a J-24 sized (400 sq ft) Outleader would be really easy to deploy on a 27 - 30 foot boat. It'd make a great get-home rig. However, while they are more powerful than a standard-sized spinnaker once the wind is up, there are limits and a half-sized kite isn't gonna give you the oomph of a full-sized one.

I've had in mind to build a 16-foot traditional-looking beach-cruise sailor for a while, and I'm seriously tempted to put one of these on the boat just for yucks.

http://www.funwithwind.com/store/viewItem.asp?idProduct=4432&idparent=