Kite retreival

[Michael Gravitt]

What is the easiest way to douse the kite on these boats.  I know that I have the old style kite but still it should be easier than it is. At the HPDO I lost alot of  positions at the leward mark trying to get the kite down. Is the new kite that much easier to get down?

[Jay Harrell]

What is the easiest way to douse the kite on these boats.  I know that I have the old style kite but still it should be easier than it is. At the HPDO I lost alot of  positions at the leward mark trying to get the kite down. Is the new kite that much easier to get down?

Take a look at this thread --- http://forum.viper640.org/index.php?topic=436.msg3275#msg3275

The take down typically gives newcomers fits at first.  The easiest approach is to get an experienced person to sail with you and work on technique until you "get it" - after that it comes easily.  And yes, it should work easy enough even with an old kite (I know, I have 10+ year old North that I still use for day sailing)

[Lee Shuckerow]

A quick run down of dousing.
An old kite is way easier to pull up and down.
A kite with holmenkol on it is easier to pull up and down.
When dousing the two crew involved usually the middle and front guy have to be ready.

When dousing on starboard (spinnaker flying on port side of boat)
1. Retrieval line taught
2. Front guy smokes halyard while middle guy pulls as quickly as possible. When the kite retrieval patches are pulling into the bow sock the foot starts to get tight to the spin pole
3. Front guy blows the tack/pole line and then makes sure spin sheets are clear of feet, cleats or whatever

When dousing on port (spinnaker flying on starboard side of the boat)
1. Start by blowing the starboard spinsheet and the bow guy pulls the port spinsheet as fast as possible as if you were trying to jibe the kite without turning the boat. If the clew of the spin gets caught then blow the halyard and continue pulling the clew back until it's at the shrouds. Then follow the steps above.

The biggest key is that the retrieval person is ready and cannot abandon his position. The kite douse is always ugly from on the boat but as long as the spin pole doesnt get released early thenit shouldn't shrimp.
I did notice after sailing in rye, NY in the HPDO with 35 vipers, all of long island sounds shrimp are completely gone. 

[Drew Harper]

Nice rundown Lee. I'd add that on windward douses I (driver) pull the kite around to weather. This gives my trimmer (now douser) time to get the dousing line completely clear of a-holes and still lets bow guy focus on halyard/bow. IME, it's the a-holes that screw up 90% of the douses...LOL

Left gate/port tack, mexicans are our fav (if that gate makes sense). There's no delay on the rounding. Kite stays drawing to the mark.

We almost never to leeward douses but if you do, make sure you get a second of deep as you douse. Keep the hole on the deck under the kite and it slides right in.

Holmenkol goes a long way to making the kite very slippery and lets it just sort of pop into the chute. Also a little millionaires tape on both sides of deck chute.

[Joe Healey]

I'll be eating shrimp for weeks!!!

[Jason Hyerstay]

The best douse is to have Jeff Jones pull the kite down. When I raced with him and Dan at the 09 NAs, I was looking backwards for wind and when I would turn around for the mark, the spinnaker was always gone! ;)

[Justin Scott]

Two quick pointers :-

1. The old style, pre-2007 kites are harder to dowse, because they have a longer foot length. Thats why the class changed the dimensions. The current spinnakers are faster thru the gybe and easier to dowse.
2. In the early days with your Viper, try to avoid the leeward (starboard gybe) dowse.
Practise (a) The windward (port gybe) dowse and (b) The Mexican (dowse during the gybe from stbd to port).  The leeward dowse is more prone to the shrimp because you are bringing the kite in underneath the foot of the jib.
Windward drop and Mexican will handle most situations.