MacGregorSailors.com

Has anyone put a spinnaker-replacement kite on a Mac?
Per the reports they can
"Pull the boat up on plane
Surf or plane longer"
See link -
http://www.kiteship.com/id2.html

Cool! I'd love to see someone fly one of these from a Mac!

They look cool, but wait until you see the price. A person from one of the kite makers posted info and an offer to do a bulk deal for anyone here who wanted one, but the price was up in the $1,200 range.

How much would it cost for a spinnaker setup for a Mac26?
Would it be more problems than the Kite?
Which would work best?

I checked on it the guys regular price for a MAC sized kite was around 2K.

He offered one on "discount" for around $1700.00

Still, IF it works as well as one would think it might be worth it.

A small one might be a good storm sail????

Bill, http://www.boats4sail.info , sells the stock mac spinnaker for $400. The one here, http://www.macgregorsails.com , is $495.

Many are now waiting to see what the new one shown in the 2005 M photo's will cost. It includes a extension sprit that mounts to the bow. Looks to be much better than the original, at least it's more colorful. The rumor is that it will also work on an X. Sounds like it may be available in March. I'm sure Bill at Boats for sail will have a good price on it just like he does for all the other mac products.

Here are pictures of the two factory sails

http://www.macgregor26.com/spinnakers.htm

This earlier thread started a discussion on the kites also...halfway down the page or so....

sailmods & Kitesail thread 15179

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Thanks for the info

Hmmmm, ya mean thats not how I'm suppose to use my spinaker???
(pic of the yellow one looks like me using mine. ( mine was a disgard from dumb or rich person, found it in the dumpster at the marina.) A little faded, but the price was right. Hard part is getting it down.

I own a parasail. It is a high end unit, very responsive. I wonder

Just some input on kites.

They need about 10+ true to fly and pull. Anything lighter than that and you end up with fighting it not flying it. I considered one for the raceboat and went out on a couple of runs to try them, and unfortunately they just don't perform the way i wanted them to under 10 knots.

You need 3 winches. One for the halyard, one for each guy. It's busy work but can be run double or single hand. You don't just throw the puppy up and it does all the work.

They are more stable than a regular chute in a breeze because it isn't "pinned" to the boat and force the boat into a broach or round-up. That was nice. Since the sail actually lifts not drags the boat you need to make sure the attachement points for the winches are solid or you can rip out the hardware out of the deck.

Overall, fun sails. Would love one to race with but where we race we don't get that many 10+ knot days of wind. It would be a hoot for when we do Vic-Maui though.