Alto - Why?

A number of us a Ballyholme tried the sewer-pipe approach as a cheap way of making a snuffer for our Hurricanes when the SX first arrived (couple of years ago). Actually, sewer pipe is prohibitively heavy and we used 6" electrical conduit.

The trouble is/was that the "mouth" is too soft to take the abuse from the halyard. As the halyard chafes into the polyprop pipe it creates sharp edges which then go on to knacker your spinnaker. So you need to make a smooth and hard "mouth" out of grp or something.

I agree with your drift though. Many cats have a sock (zero volume) running from an aluminium tube ring which acts as the mouth of the chute (Landenberger market one). The B14 is a cracking boat and I am surprised that no one has attempted to make the kite-launch any easier.

Back to the thread.. The Five-0 was always the boat when I was a kid. Far too many strings, and far too fast. The Alto seems to be a good progression from that. Good luck.

Can't comment on the others but IMO the chute on the Laser2 was just too narrow to allow the kit to get in and out without a struggle. And the opening was too near the bows which is why you needed that wire catcher thingy to stop the sail going under the boat.

Bags seem to have worked fine for years on a plethora of skiff classes down-under...  A chute in a B14 just wouldn't work for various reasons.  Just learn to use a bag, it's not that hard, it's easier on the kite, and with the wings the helmsman still has provides the righting moment to drive the boat while the crew is packing the kite.

Mike