Re: [Paddlewise] kayak sails

At 09:40 1/04/98 -0800, Doug Barnard wrote:
>>On Wed, 1 Apr 1998, Mark Balogh wrote:
>>
>>>>
>>>>At the risk of blaspheming, I want to survey the list on the subject of
>>>>kayak sailing.  I have been monitoring the list for some time and rarely
>>>>see the word "sail" so I have avoided mentioning the "S" word until I
>>>>saw someone else post it today. Just for my own curiosity, how many of
>>>>you dedicated kayakers or canoeists will admit to sailing their HPV's.
>>>>Thanks for your assistance and for the interesting list.
>
>I think that you need to be a paddler, or a sailor. It's tough to be both.

Doug, 
I don't agree. Getting a boost from the wind adds another fun dimension to
kayaking. 

Does the ability to do "14 different kinds of roll" diminish in fun, just
because it doesn;t take us anywhere

>If you're with a group, everyone needs to have about the same sailing rig.
>Otherwise, the paddlers are making a pretty much straight line to the

On the first open-sea trial of my new sprit-sail rig, the two paddlers with
sail rigs had no trouble staying with the group. Group cohesion was
affected by following seas, skill levels and 25+ knots of wind, not the sails.

>destination, and the sailors are tacking all over the place. There's also
>rig up/rig down time, and carrying around all that junk that you need. The

For safety's sake, on a narrow flighty boat, design a sail rig with minimal
rigging time (mine is under ten seconds both ways) and with the capacity to
step and un-step the mast under water. You will capsize at some time!

Previous to the sprit-sail rig, I had a spinnaker. I would typically
capsize two out of three attempts to step the bloody thing. It demonstrated
the importance of judgement (should I sail?) above skills (can I recover
with this sail?) above equipment (what, is this a sail?).

Anybody want a second-hand spinnaker?

>wind has to be perfect for your setup; being either under or over powered
>isn't much fun. I've seen guys using a golf umbrella, and that seemed to
>work fairly well in a narrow band of conditions. 

Underpowered? Take the rig down. You don't have that option on a dinghy.
Overpowered? Reef the sail or take it down.

At the NSW Sea Kayak Club's annual "Rock and Roll Weekend" the sail race
was nearly won by a paddler with a golf umbrella! The marker buoy (yours
truly) did not keep his position very well (despite the sea anchor and
GPS!), so the golf umbrella lost on the broad reach to the finish.

>
>It also takes a lot of modification to make a kayak into a mean sailing
>machine. As a former high-performance windsurfer, I'd rather be paddling
>than putting along in a mild breeze and having swimming ducks casually pass

It's cool to have swimming ducks pass you. They see you as no threat, and
are happy to swim close. Take one paddle stroke and they're off!

>me. To do it right, you'd need pontoons to put up some serious yardage. I

Mr Ingram's sponsons are of little use under sail. When the kayak heels
over, the downwind sponson digs in and the kayak turns around it, downwind.
I can broad reach without them, only sail downwind with them. Real
outriggers are the way to go. Check back-issues of SeaKayaker for a
hydrofoil outrigger called "K-"something.

Anybody want second-hand sponsons? They're the green, high-denier model.

>have no idea as to how you'd get a kayak with a big, fixed sail upright
>after tipping over, either. Which you'd do a lot. Remember how unstable

Try this method:
* after capsize, let the kayak settle
* reach forward, uncleat the sheet
* take the mast in one hand, pull it out of the step
* furl the sail around the mast
* stow the rig in the sail tube on your fore (or aft) deck
* roll (with or without sponsons - they make *no* difference!)
* pull the rig out of the sail tube
* step the mast
* sail away

Does your rig, and your skill level, allow this? If not, you must
reconsider your sailing platform.

Have a close look at the sail rigs used by the Maatsykker Canoe Club
http://www.tassie.net.au/~lford/
for touring kayaks and rough conditions.

>kayaks are just to sit in?

>
>IOW, if you want to get serious about sailing, get a sailboat. You could
>probably pick up a used sailboat that could blow the doors off of any kayak
>for a couple hundred bucks. If you want an occasional free push from the
>wind, get the most minimal rig possible, 

It's a free push, that's all. 

Mark Balogh's sail rigs are different. They seem to be meant for sailing as
the primary propulsion, so you really do seem to need the right boat for
the rig. I suspect that suitable boats for his rigs have compromises which
work against ordinary paddling:
* time spent rigging the boat on land
* extra resistance from outriggers and hulls with more form-stability
* large cockpits, so you can rig the sail and lean out
* extra weight and 
* extra on-land handling, on and off the car
They look like fun, if paddling is not the primary objective.

>and be prepared for the ire of
>your paddling partners as you diddle around with it.
>
>Though putting a windsurfing rig (a full universal joint at the base of the
>mast) on a sit-on-top might be an interesting thing. You'd sail it standing
>up. Hmmm...
>

I was very impressed by the sail rig on a sit-on-top that came out to
Broughton Island (about 20 km offshore) with us two weekends ago. This
paddler had a Scupper-Pro. It looks like a dog of a boat, but with a fit
paddler it kept up on the upwind leg. This paddler had built a  mast step
just behind the fore-hatch, and modified a very small dinghy sail and mast.
Because the Scupper-Pro has a distinct and fairly deep keel, he was able to
tack up between two sets of rocks (complete with breaking waves) while I
could only reach back and forth in front of them. Even though his is a
loose-footed sail, it was more versatile then my sprit-sail. I would have
to attribute this performance to the design of the boat.

>
>________________________________________________________________
>Doug Barnard                                   Virtual Acreage
>Agoura, California (near L.A.)        Visualization in 2D/3D/4D
>http://virtualacreage.com                    818-991-9328

Happy paddling _and_ sailing
Andrew
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