[AdamLein]

In principle you can do anything you want. Also, on the old tall ships, they rigged "flying sails" as well -- however these sails were cut much flatter than a spinnaker.

One thing I would miss if I tacked a symmetrical chute to the bow would be the ease of gibing. In 10 - 15 knots in a small boat, it's a snap to move the pole end-for-end to the other side of the boat - the sail never moves. With the sail tacked on, I'd think there'd be more of a risk of the sail getting tied up on the forestay and possibly tearing. Would probably make sense to run the lazy sheet in front of the stay instead of behind it like a jib.

The other problem I could see is one of helm balance. With a pole you have the option of bringing the sail in front of the boat, whereas tacked on the sail is always "beside" the boat. This would probably give you some weather helm on a dead run, possibly increasing the risk of broaching.

That said it's a neat idea, one which has occurred to me and which I've tossed aside. Mostly I pictured the poor sail looking all lopsided and decided it was not a good idea. Give it a try in easy conditions and let us know how it goes.

 

[AdamLein]

The article about the Tacker mentions something I forgot: I was going to suggest tacking the sail down with a pennant, but using the pole downhaul (or foreguy) is even better. However, the foreguy may be pulling entirely at the wrong angle -- mine goes to a turning block secured to a padeye in the middle of the foredeck. Just move it to a turning block attached at the bow.

Once you've done that, the "tacker" seems pretty unnecessary unless you have a furling jib. Just a shackle with a big ring on it should be sufficient and you could hank it right onto the forestay. What damage this might do to the forestay, which seems to be designed to support loads that are spread out over the stay (like a hanked-on jib), I could not say.

 

[AdamLein]

... it is one of the things we do for race practice as after exploding a carbon pole it became pretty important to know how

How does it compare to simply swapping in, say, a lightweight 155% genoa? In terms of performance, I mean.