I am looking to try and put a spinnaler on my boat but need more info. Can anyone offer some ideas??
Try www.dart18.com - they have a forum, think it`s under "Chat" I know the Dart class had a spinnaker kit for the boat, but it never became popular - you might be able to buy one from one of the UK sailors who doesn`t use it anymore.
I believe the Dart didn`t take too well to the spinnaker becuase of it`s deep v-shaped hulls and what a friend of mine fondly refers to as "spades" for rudders. ie it is not responsive enough to steering to bear down quickly in gusts. I never tried a spinnaker on mine so I can`t verify that, but it sounds about right. Good luck with it.
Cheers
Steve
Steve is correct. 5 of the Irish Darts bought spinnaker kits in 1998. I had moved on to a Hawk, but my son Neil won the Open Champs sailing the Dart 18 with spinnaker. It was not really successful and within a year, none of the Irish Darts were using them. They never took off with the UK fleet either. Laser designed the spinnaker kit to be easily removed from the boat, so that it would not affect its "one design" status. Everything was "tied" on. It was also a very small spinnaker compared to later types. There is a photo from the original brochure at: www.lasersailing.com/
Andy Morse at www.cat-bitz.com was working on a kit and may have developed it by now.