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Maricats with Kites ????


john

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I currently have a maricat which I started on many years ago as a kid (back when Darren Bundock etc were sailing them). I remeber Darren trying a kite on his but it never really took off back then. Has this come back to be tried again as yet ?

Tuggerah NSW

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As far as I know there's been not much if any experimentation with Maricats and spinnakers or any other 14 in Oz in recent times but this might just be the year that some kite rigged boats start to be seen, particularly if F14 gets any momentum.

There are a few H14's and Mysteres sporting kites in the US.

http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4286759015

[This message has been edited by berny (edited 26 May 2004).]

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I have a Hobie kite that was originally made for a Hobie 17, it is very flat (unlike the kite of old) and infact looks a lot like the current style kites. I have measured it up on the maricat and it look like it will fit great. The head will go to about halfway between the hounds and the top of the mast (maybe a bit higher) and the foot extends from just behind the shrouds up to about 4 feet in front of the bow. I just have to build a pole and convince a mate to mould another kite chute for me. I reckon cat rigged with a kite is the go, besides my jib is so shithouse I reckon I will go faster without it.

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I am in the process of purchasing a Mari that has been sitting idle for a number of years,Pete and I were going to have some fun with it, maybe we should add spinaker to the list of alterations we have planned.

Keep us informed about how it goes.

Warrior

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Macca, that kite is probably going to be too big by a street. Firstly you don't want to be too far above the hounds or you'll pull the top off the mast, even a new Mari section, and secondly, it's good to be able to sheet to the chainplates. A sail with that sort of overlap would probably need to be sheeted to the rear beam (complicated). Of course the other problem is it's probably just too freekin big for the boat/skipper (well maybe not the skipper wink.gif) to handle in anything over 5k frown.gif.

Bern

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Sure it will be big, but the mast issue will be fine as long as I keep the mainsheet on hard to support the mast. The foot length is not so much a power problem, but more of a logistic issue with sheet ropes running back near the rear beam. It all should be good up to around 18kts, then it might be an issue, but i'm hoping I can just run deeper at that stage and make up the VMG. I sailed a mates Taipan 4.9 with a huge 14ft skiff kite on it a while back, it had the same proportioned kite as I now have and it worked fine, the only problem was that the kite was really full so it was no good if you needed height.

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