Bob Austin says: >The concept of kite sail assist for merchant vessels has been around >for some time. One of the problems is that you have to have >extremely heavy gear to handle the kite sails. They are >assistance--not primary propuslion--and will increase the effeciency >of a trip. However there are a number of limits. As with any sailing rig, yes there are. However, kites offer advantages to powered vessels not available with any other sails; such as the ability to sail without a mast, without ballast, and without heeling the boat--at all. KiteShip's OutLeader spinnaker replacement kites fly from ordinary spinnaker handling winches--and no other gear. period. The kites place less--sometimes much less--strain on all its gear, and the boat's structure, than a spinnaker does. > >The traditional sailing community is rejecting this concept. At >this point the kite sails are outlawed for conventional racing. The >issues involve both safety and right of way. I believe you've been misinformed, Bob. Hi, I'm Dave Culp, President of KiteShip Corporation. I've been putting kites on boats--from little beach cats to 25 ton yachts--and yes, onto power vessels, for 27 years. There are many types of kites--just as there are many types of sails. Kitesurf kites are not appropriate for boating usage--they offer very large variations of power and are most difficult to control and to launch/recover in large sizes. The largest ever built is a bit over 1000 sf; the largest commercially available are less than 300 sf. We are currently building and delivering, at retail, OutLeader kites as large as 4500 sf, and have sold several dozen larger than the largest prototype from our nearest competitor. OutLeader spinnaker replacement kites have most certainly NOT been either "rejected" or "outlawed for conventional racing." We are having kites rated for PHRF, PHF, ORMA, and a number of multihull ratings bodies all over the world. They were entered (but not flown) in both the recent Sydney Hobart and Round North Island (NZ) yacht races (625 and 1500 mile offshore races--in both cases winds were upwind all through the race--and OutLeader kites are spinnakers, food from square reach to dead downwind) Several ratings bodies have "provisionally" disallowed them for racing, including IRC (only in the Northern hemisphere--they're being raced under IRC in both Australia and New Zealand as we speak). Americap is "standing by" for the same reason; both these rating bodies require formulaic modeling of a sail's abilities, and KiteShip kites are too new to have this information available. The RORC, the world's largest sailing racing and ratings body, is officially "neutral" about spinnaker replacement kites, as is the ISAF, who are waiting for sufficient sailing experience to take a stand--just as they should do. Last summer we returned a dismasted 50' racing trimaran from St. Maarten in the Caribbean to Still Pond, near Annapolis--nearly 1600 miles--100% on engine and kite power. We hit speeds to 25 kts--with no mast or sails at all; just the kite. As to safety, there have been some issues with safety and kitesurfers. Kitesurfers are the "japanese super-motorcycle" of kite sailing. Rigs to 300 sf are carried in winds as high as 30-40 kts aboard "boats" weighing less than 10 pounds. Kite sailing is as different from kitesurfing as yachting is different from windsurfing. There has NEVER been an injury--hell nor a single incident--involving safety, collision or right of way with a KiteShip kite; though we have upwards of 60 on the world's oceans, bays and lakes. We have never suffered a damaged or destroyed kite--by any owner--to date, and we have had zero gear breakages amongst all of our customers (barring the occasional undersized block or shackle!) For more information, I invite you to our web site: www.kiteship.com or I invite you to email me personally with any concerns or questions: dave@kiteship.com Thanks! Dave Culp

Interesting! Do you think using one of your sails would be appropriate for get-home power for a Krogen 42? What size, mounting equipment, etc.? Keith __ Destroy the Borg? Upload Windows 95 ! ----- Original Message ----- From: <dave@kiteship.com> > > Last summer we returned a dismasted 50' racing trimaran from St. > Maarten in the Caribbean to Still Pond, near Annapolis--nearly 1600 > miles--100% on engine and kite power. We hit speeds to 25 kts--with > no mast or sails at all; just the kite. >