Larry Koenig wrote: > > All sophistry aside (entertaining though it may be), unless the list > excludes info on sailing by rule, I'd love to hear more about what can be > done with the wind to move a kayak. > Larry Koenig First, let me say that I am having some problem relating to my e-mail. I don't know if there is a problem with my e-mail client regarding the reply or reply all buttons or if my rather undependable ISP is misrouting mail. My computer and e-mail client are old and may be suffering compatibility problems. I am also getting excessive Java error messages on the browser. I have sent a reply to the list that seems to have be received by some and not others, something that Jackies says may not be possible. Now I have heard from a list memeber that I replied to directly who says my personal reply went to the list for which I am sorry, it was not addressed to the list when it left my desktop. The one that went to the list never made it back to me on the list so I am not sure what the problem is. With this in mind, I am going to go inactive for a day or so while I try to work this out. This is the only list I am having the trouble with as far as I can tell. Meanwhile here is the text of one of the troublesome postings and reply to above, that a list member has been kind enough to return to me. Sorry for any trouble this has caused. BTW this is reply all so a copy should go to Larry and the list just to test. Mark It would be helpful to me if your stated interest was less broad so please let me know if you have a specific type of kayak sailing in mind. You can sail a kayak on any point of sail. Considering that most were not designed with sailing in mind, kayaks as a class sail pretty well. As you would expect, the more serious the sailing one wishes to attempt, the more serious the gear one would need. As unpopular as it is in some places, a rudder is normally used for most kayak sailing that I am aware of. Of the thousands of sailing kayaks that I personally know of, all or most all of them have rudders. You can keep adding gear until the kayak will sail in most available sailing directions relative to the wind. You can sail to windward with many types of sails and to some extent with the newer traction kites. You can sail just for recreation or for touring or cruising. My personal kayaks range from a 9.5 ft whitewater kayak which is my primary daysaling boat, for small kayaks I am also rigging a planing hull Kaos SOT surf kayak for high performance traction kiting, up through several hardshells and one other folder sailing kayak to my Nautiraid Grand Raid double which is suitable for inland or ocean cruising. The Nautiraid has a screened bivy tent type cover for the cockpit area for sleeping aboard at anchor in bad weather or bug country and is being adapted for longer crossings solo under sail and paddle. So you can see that the range of uses for a sailing kayak is fairly wide. Some reasons why someone might want a sailing kayak beyond the pure fun of it might be for the benefits of extened range and speed on cruises or the safety of alternate propulsion when ill or injured. I know a man who sailed home through a gale across an estuary to the mainland with the flu when he was way too sick to paddle. With the gear I use, my normal wind range for sailing starts at 5 to 8 knots and tops out when the gusts reach about 45 depending upon water conditions. The fastest I have sailed in a kayak was probably near 15 though in good conditions, sustained reaching speeds of 5 to 8 can be considered common. Hoever my traction kite powered Kaos might break new ground next spring. That is the best basic broad answer I can give you, is there any specific part of kayak sailing you might be interested in? I hope this is helpful. Mark *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Dec 01 1999 - 05:18:15 PST
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