My friends at Amorkite supplied a Liberty Kite from Beyond the Seas a year ago. Unfortunately pressures on my time have kept me away from kite boat projects for some years. But, after quite a hiatus, a little more activity is possible.
A Liberty kite will not provide the performance I seek in a kite boat. It's designers make no suggestion that it is expected to provide good sailing performance. It is primarily marketed as an emergency sailing system that could be used to safely provide propulsion for a dismasted conventional sailing vessel. The emphasis, as I understand, is on simplicity and stability. These objectives are achieved. So, although other systems are in development, a simple rig for the Liberty has been implemented on my proa, KitetiK, to allow single handed sailing.
The two main kite lines are secured on horn cleats on the windward hull. These were held by experimental DIY textile clutches. They worked quite adequately in the light breeze we experienced though were not set up for simple operation - they will be next time. A barber hauler on each kite line can go to any of several points on the vessel beams. These should allow sailing in a fair range of wind directions including, as shown in the clip below, allowing the vessel to shunt (ie change directions) quite easily.
The kite is somewhat distorted from around 50 seconds into the video. I suspect this is because the effective tow point separation was not well setup for the wind direction. To those of you familiar with this kite, feel free to send suggestions as to how to improve this.
Thanks to Mike and Alec for helping and in particular for the excellent beer.