Ok, now we're going to get a bit more complicated. Before you start trying to get your head round this, it's useful if you understand the way that the pump system works for boats with bags. Read the relevant page on this site and try to have a look at one in the flesh.

Now, the good news here is that you still use a continuous halyard in this system, and you don't need anything like as much elastic as the pump-up system for boats with bags. Hurrah !

Start off by copying a conventional pump-up system up to and including the northfix cleat. So:

Halyard starts at the top of the kite.

<-------

Goes up to the mast sheave (red rope pictured) -------->

Comes back down inside the mast and pops out at the foot. Goes round a pulley. It's the white one. So far, big deal, but note the red elastic on the other pulley.....

Now it gets more interesting. It heads for the back of the boat and past the cleat to the usual floppy block and pump system (below). And there's that red elastic again.

And then, Fwoooorgh, is that sexy or what !

So, blue handle pumps it up, green handle pumps it down again, red elastic tensions the whole lot, and you're done.

Except that the tension of the red elastic, which you need when pumping up or down, puts a crimp in the kite when it is flying by pulling on the downhaul all the damn time. So you need to be able to de-tension the red elastic when the kite is flying, which you do by uncleating a bit of rope.

Red elastic goes from the back to the front, round a block and back again to the middle of the boat, where it ties off to a bit of white rope.

And this bit of white rope then goes round another block and up to a cleat (not shown). So we release the white rope after pumping the kite up, and pull and cleat it before pumping the kite down.

The beauty of the pump system is that it can be operated with one hand (no more steering with your knees), and one good pull can be enough to get the kite all the way up. Frankly I think you are better off with bags, but if you must have a chute, this is the way to do it.