Stupid Viper newbie question #1

[Jay Harrell]

I remember my first Viper regatta...absolutely NO one would tell me how to rig the kite. Took a few tries to get it right...in the middle of the race...lmao!

Wait a minute there... Really?  You must have been asking the wrong people.  When I first got my boat, I had an endless stream of people telling me how to rig it.  Then Kay went sailing with us in St Pete and sorted out everything, and we've never had problems since.  It's one of the things that sold me on the class.

Full disclosure, we all screw it up a times: Somehow we got the jib halyard on the wrong side of the spin halyard this past Saturday.  Didn't notice until we were putting the boat away - the effect was some really bad attempted port-gybe douses.  What was amazing was how well it all worked even rigged that badly. We did much better on Sunday with things rigged right...

[Justin Scott]

Just try telling Drew how to rig his boat and see where it gets you.
Refer to mainsheet thread (smiley face!)

FWIW, you only need a small length between top and bottom patch to prevent bunching. Even 6" will work if you are having problems getting head of kite in throat after dowses.

[Jay Harrell]

Just try telling Drew how to rig his boat and see where it gets you.

Oh yeah, that explains it....

[Scott Ellis]

Going with the chance of sounding totally stupid here...wouldn't be the first time...doesn't the knot inside the pole also control how far the tack line comes out and therefore how far the tack is off the pole (ie 2 ft like a mentioned earlier).
I might just be not getting it....wouldn't be the first time for that either!!
I was our guess that the patches on the kite, be it from the same sail maker or not, are not always exact.

Garrett,

On the tack line, there is a bowline tied on to the mast step, that is what controls how far out the tack line and pole can go.  I moved my stopper knot inside the pole on 129 about two feet aft and the kite now douses with a nice 12" bowline in the retrival line all the way in the tube. Works like a charm. 

-Scott

[Olaf Bleck]

...However, there is a knot inside the pole on the tackline.  If that is in the wrong position, it will stop the kite from dowsing completly also.

There is...? (!)

On my Mark I boats the tack line goes from the bow eyelet through one side of the tip of the pole, through a block, through the other side of the pole, and gets tied to the tack.  The block is attached to a bungee (which goes through the pole plus a couple of lengths back and forth under the deck), which does a combination of sucking slack tackline into the pole when doused, and putting some retracting force on the pole when fully extended (and the kite pulls the pole in too at the end of retrieving.

Is this incorrect?  Perhaps we're talking about MarkII+ poles?  Curious.

-Olaf

[Ben Steinberg]

mark II and III poles only olaf

[Lee Shuckerow]

As far as newbie questions in the Viper fleet, there are no stupid questions but you sometimes get stupid answers. I haven't come across anyone who didn't want to share techniques or want to talk about their boat yet. Just bring a Dark n stormy and and ask away.