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General Gear Reviews Newbies The Hookup Foiling Lost & Found WA NSW QLD SA VIC TAS

echostorm

QLD

1245 posts

echostorm

QLD, 1245 posts

8 Nov 2006 6:59pm

Hey guys,

I have a 14' capercat... exactly the same as this one,
/images/misc/forum-image-missing.gif

I was thinking about rigging my kite to the base of the mast and am after some suggestions about doing so. My idea is to get a sling and wrap it around the steel bracket at the bottom of the mast and attaching a carabina to the end of the sling. Then I will hook my chicken loop to that. I have a slingshot turbo deisel so I can control the power quite smoothly and by having the front lines attached to the cat things should be relatively safe... shoud they? It will need 2 people to operate, someone to control the kite and the other to control the mainsail and helm.

Any hints or suggestions?

JAKE123

QLD

314 posts

JAKE123

QLD, 314 posts

8 Nov 2006 7:49pm

turn it upside down and use it as a slider

lol

echostorm

QLD

1245 posts

echostorm

QLD, 1245 posts

8 Nov 2006 9:18pm

quote:
Originally posted by tobes

yeah, like this!
~~http://www.kiteboat.com/kb_videos.html~~

Hmmm no mast at all. How awesome does it look. Wonder how going upwind would be?

kitecrazzzy

2184 posts

kitecrazzzy

WA, 2184 posts

8 Nov 2006 7:22pm

maybe the same as kiting... just a guess

stamp

QLD

2800 posts

stamp

QLD, 2800 posts

8 Nov 2006 9:28pm

it will stop the bows nosediving, you will be able to hold heaps of power when you reach

grumplestiltskin

2331 posts

grumplestiltskin

WA, 2331 posts

8 Nov 2006 7:58pm

a lot of the big Sydney to Hobart style yachts use kite style spinnakers, i.e. flying free from the mast.
Seems to work well, no reason why a cat would be any different.

Splaat

NSW

131 posts

Splaat

NSW, 131 posts

8 Nov 2006 11:12pm

Hi, I have done some Cata-ma-kiting at hawksnest solo. take off the mast. tie a rope from the front of the mat to the end, this allows you to not get yanked of the cat, and also slide the kite attachment point arount the cat. Katamakiting is great as you can put your family on the cat and head off, tacking can be a problem when you turn down wind faster than the kite can. Any questions let me know, happy to helo out.

it can be tricky stering the boat and the kite at the same time when tacking.

Uncle Rico

NSW

200 posts

Uncle Rico

NSW, 200 posts

9 Nov 2006 9:40am

you will have to remove the mast for sure - how would you get around all the stays?

Splaats rope down the middle idea is great, maybe add a big pulley to the line so it slides freely, even a locking one so you can stop the movement a bit when you get comfy?

there is some outrigger kiting here too...

~~http://www.kitefilm.com/video/doninterview1.wmv~~
www.kitefilm.com/video/doninterview2.wmv
www.kitefilm.com/video/doninterview3.wmv
www.kitefilm.com/video/doninterview4.wmv
www.kitefilm.com/video/doninterview5.wmv

echostorm

QLD

1245 posts

echostorm

QLD, 1245 posts

9 Nov 2006 10:14am

quote:
Originally posted by Uncle Rico

you will have to remove the mast for sure - how would you get around all the stays?

Splaats rope down the middle idea is great, maybe add a big pulley to the line so it slides freely, even a locking one so you can stop the movement a bit when you get comfy?

there is some outrigger kiting here too...

~~http://www.kitefilm.com/video/doninterview1.wmv~~
www.kitefilm.com/video/doninterview2.wmv
www.kitefilm.com/video/doninterview3.wmv
www.kitefilm.com/video/doninterview4.wmv
www.kitefilm.com/video/doninterview5.wmv

Hey Rico, How do you access more of those videos?

Uncle Rico

NSW

200 posts

Uncle Rico

NSW, 200 posts

9 Nov 2006 1:04pm

try right clicking and

Firefox: Save Link As...
Internet Explorer: Save Target As...

Munter

NSW

210 posts

Munter

NSW, 210 posts

9 Nov 2006 1:19pm

quote:
Originally posted by grumplestiltskin

a lot of the big Sydney to Hobart style yachts use kite style spinnakers, i.e. flying free from the mast.
Seems to work well, no reason why a cat would be any different.

AFAIK only one boat carried a kite-spinnaker and they didn't really use it much in the Syd-Hob. I believe they have now been banned by sailing's governing body partly because they were considered dangerous.

If you're going to use it on the cat, think carefully before making a solid connection between the kite and the boat. Too much power could easily lift the boat and you don't want to be anywhere near a piece of flying fiberglass & aluminium as big as a 14ft cat.
Maybe try with just the rider hooked onto the kite until you get a better feel for the dynamics of the boat?

Uncle Rico

NSW

200 posts

Uncle Rico

NSW, 200 posts

9 Nov 2006 1:38pm

i agree,

however, the forces placed on the person involved would be severe - esp when tacking..

my advice would be to definately use a bow, make sure the qr is attatched to somewhere - boat / person? not sure... and to select location and wind conditions carefully.

look at how these issues are addressed when buggys are used - this may give you an insight.

hsojmars

VIC

49 posts

hsojmars

VIC, 49 posts

9 Nov 2006 2:42pm

i've seen this done down in geelong a mate rescued two squeeling sailors who had lost there mast and fliped there cat. he sailed the cat back upside down sitting on the rear beam.
I race an 18 foot cat and i think I will try and fly it with my kite.
I'm going to take the mast of and hook the chicken loop to the dolphin striker. If I get in trouble I'll pull the saftey bobs your uncle. probably want to use a kite with five lines just so its easy to relaunch if need be.
good luck I'd love to see pics of you getting some boost on your cat.

stamp

QLD

2800 posts

stamp

QLD, 2800 posts

9 Nov 2006 1:46pm

be careful putting sideways pressure on your dolphin striker, theyre not supposed to take force that way. you might end up with a creased beam

kitebored

NSW

593 posts

kitebored

NSW, 593 posts

9 Nov 2006 2:49pm

quote:
Originally posted by echostorm
Hey Rico, How do you access more of those videos?

echostorm if you mean how do u get more videos try just going to
www.hugedomains.com/domain_profile.cfm?d=kitefilm&e=com

Uncle Rico

NSW

200 posts

Uncle Rico

NSW, 200 posts

9 Nov 2006 4:25pm

lol, should have read more carefully :)

echostorm

QLD

1245 posts

echostorm

QLD, 1245 posts

9 Nov 2006 7:16pm

quote:
Originally posted by kitebored

quote:
Originally posted by echostorm
Hey Rico, How do you access more of those videos?

echostorm if you mean how do u get more videos try just going to
www.hugedomains.com/domain_profile.cfm?d=kitefilm&e=com

Found them, I could only find ones i had to pay for before...
www.kitefilm.com/eng/weeklytrick.asp

peanuticus

NSW

341 posts

peanuticus

NSW, 341 posts

9 Nov 2006 8:43pm

you should be fine but just consider that the mast on a boat pushes its force downwards, by using the shrouds you are moving the load to the hull. You are going to attach a kite that will trasfer pressure upwards rather than downwards into the hulls (that's why your cross beams are sat on top of the hull with little support on top) now this said the forces that you'll get going pitch-poll at 30 knots doesn't wreck a decent boat so you should be fine. I wouldn't recomend using your new inter18 for the mission, nor anything made by hobie! I also wouldn't want to pick up a wrecker from the beach and try it it huge wind. #13;#10;#13;#10;if your in Sydney I'll fly it for ya, years on boats and rigging up stuff.

Splaat

NSW

131 posts

Splaat

NSW, 131 posts

10 Nov 2006 9:18am

We had a 28 meter built for catamakiting and also where testing a 50m for catamakiting, at the end of the day I preferred a 12m in about 10 to 15 knots.

One crazy idea we had was to have 15 meters of line from the center of the cat, attached to the kiter, who was attached to the kite. The idea was that one person steers the cat, the other hovers a few meters above the water flying the kite. Special safety had to be taken into account. we never got to trying that, but it would have been interesting.

echostorm

QLD

1245 posts

echostorm

QLD, 1245 posts

10 Nov 2006 9:25am

quote:
Originally posted by Splaat

We had a 28 meter built for catamakiting and also where testing a 50m for catamakiting, at the end of the day I preferred a 12m in about 10 to 15 knots.

One crazy idea we had was to have 15 meters of line from the center of the cat, attached to the kiter, who was attached to the kite. The idea was that one person steers the cat, the other hovers a few meters above the water flying the kite. Special safety had to be taken into account. we never got to trying that, but it would have been interesting.

Didnt someone die doing that???

peanuticus

NSW

341 posts

peanuticus

NSW, 341 posts

10 Nov 2006 3:14pm

yeah that sounds pretty stoopid.. one wave or hitting something solid like a whale would pretty much screw ya.. I've been around the front of a few trapese boats in my time and it ain't pretty. The naish guys did this on thier dvd with a hawaian dug out canoe, they had that thing out the water when jybing!

Splaat

NSW

131 posts

Splaat

NSW, 131 posts

10 Nov 2006 10:44pm

Yeah, like I said it was a crazy idea, I heard some one (a kurnellian) busted there spleen getting towed behind a boat with a kite, somthing broke and they fell into the water realy hard. very stoopid.

We had a great time taking the family and solo cata-ma-kiting at jimmys beach, flat water and clean wind, we also did it at muddys with double line lengths (52 ft lines) and a 18 meter. The double line lengths give you so much more power.

Good luck with your cata-ma-kiteing, hope I gave you a few new ideas. Try it in light winds first like 10 ish knots before you try 20 knots.

Its easy to outrun your kite with a cat.

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