+xDan, I had a Parasailor on my 38 footer which I bought ( v expensive here in the UK) for my jaunt down to Cape Horn. I thought it might be the answer to my largely single-handed downwind passages. It is a beautifully made bit of kit but I've never ben a fan of big kites and I always had at the back of my mind that this could easily get out of hand as I was often on my own. However, if you've got crew I think I would recommend it - once flying it's nicely stable and I never failed to drop it when I needed. But in the end I sold it.
Hi Dan,
I have no experience with a Parasail, but do have thoughts on what makes for a good offshore kite that may pertain to a Parasail and give you some alternative thoughts. Interestingly, in 20 years or so of offshore sailing and hanging around offshore sailors, I do not remember a conversation about parasails nor any boat carrying one. May not mean anything.
Downwind sailing can be a challenge for cruisers as they are often a couple and, even then, often single-handing as one is off-watch and in need of their sleep. I find that most sailmakers underestimate this (they are often young and racers) and sell their customers sails that end up too big and are, therefore, more difficult, even scary, and end up being rarely used.
The PO of my boat had an asym spinnaker that was a challenge coastal cruising and scared me offshore. My solution is in the Forum, second page of the Sails area and titled something like “An Offshore Asymmetrical Spinnaker, design and use”. Please read the PDF at bottom as the formatting got all messed up by the Forum’s formatting.
Somewhere else in the forum you can find my thoughts on another sail/rigging combination that is often seen by cruisers as too much bother or too scary in swell and higher winds: using a whisker pole and going wing and wing. Its name is something like “Taming the Whisker Pole”.
Come back with questions/thoughts/comments,
My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy