Spinnaker

[captainseasick]

Today, I was able to find an O'Day daysailer spinnaker in a garage sale a block from my house! It was built in 1967 by MANCHESTER YACHT SAILS in Dartmouth MA. It looks like it has hardly ever been out of the bag, and after an hour soaking in soap suds in warm water, and a good rinse with a garden hose, the sail looks almost new. (I paid $50 for it) I hung it up from my deck to check the shape, and it looks great. My question is if anyone knows about the "ZIP-R-TURTLE" launching system that it was originally built for? I looked on the net, and could only find information in french on this system. From what i can figure out, it was designed by Eric Tabarly in the 60's for his ocean racer PEN-DUICK V.
The system uses two very small zippers that run down in parallel from a foot below the head to a foot below the foot. The zipper tapes are sewn on to the sailcloth, right down the middle of the sail! This particular sail is missing an actual zipper pull, so I can't imagine how it was suppose to work. I will use this sail for practice and cruising, as the zipper tapes are so light and small, and carefully sewn on that they don't affect the shape. If the sail is competitive, I will probably remove the tapes, but if anyone knows how they were supposed to work I would like the info.
Mike