I just got a chance to look at the youtube clips posted earlier. In all of them, they seem to be types of kites used by kitesurfers and the likes. I think that for those kites, you're flying a kite and just happen to be on a boat.
Alternatively the Outleader kites are spinnakers that are flown off the boat, the control lines are lead through the regular blocks and onto the spinnaker winches already on the boat. These are much more like sails than the other wing kites with inflatable frames. With an Outleader kite, the experience is much more like sailing with a regular spinnaker, you aren't constantly manning a control bar or rig like the ones in the videos. The Outleader also has a reasonable launch and retrieval process that is more like a conventional spinnaker. The Outleader kites we're designed specifically for powering sailboats all the way up to tankers. In 2004, they held the world record for flying a 420 sq meter kite from a 8.5 tonne keelboat near Sydney.
Two different solutions, but similar in that they are only attached to the boat with lines.
Fair winds,
Eric
Marina del Rey, CA
--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, Dave Kellogg <inganear1@...> wrote:
>
> Eric, that statement about the lost mast and a kite may becoming a life saver is
> one of the reasons I just wanted to experiment with mine a little..... One
> never knows how many arrows you need in your quiver... Dave K
>
> ________________________________
> From: Eric <ewdysar@...>
> To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Tue, March 29, 2011 5:15:29 PM
> Subject: Re: [Electric Boats] Traction kites
>
> For those of us that are youtube deprived (at least at work) I'm guessing that
> the conversation is focused on the spinnaker replacements that were developed
> about 10 years ago.
>
> Dave Culp, in the SF area, hasa been promoting rule-legal soft kites for
> pleasure sailboats for a decade. His main website is KiteShip
> http://www.kiteship.com/ and the one for our types of boats are Outleader
> kites. There were about a half dozen people that were flying them on F-boat
> trimarans, they all said that the performance and handling under kites were
> pretty impressive. However, they are not for short-handed crews and they do
> seem to be more of a novelty rather than a regular part of a boat's sail
> inventory. What they seem to be exceptional for is as part of one's safety
> inventory, there's probably nothing better to deal with losing your mast in the
> middle of an ocean crossing. Packs small and light, this type of kite could
> save your life.
>
> Here's a link to Dave's speedsailing site: http://www.dcss.org/speedsl/ Older
> info, but still a good read...
>
> Fair winds,
> Eric
> Marina del Rey, CA
>
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