Re: [Paddlewise] sail rigs

Ralph wrote;


----- > I am glad someone brought up sailing with the Klepper jib alone,
> although it did not seem to work all that well for Matt's fellow kayak
> sailors.  In my experience, and from what I know from other sources, jib
> sailing can be a very effective sail even for beam reaching (90 degrees
> to the direction of the wind) and works well on a broad reach (45
> degrees or so off downwind) and straight downwind running.
>

(Large SNIP)

Ralph's comments remind me of Bill Luders. Bill took great glee in tweaking
the rule writers and enjoyed playing with rigs. He once rigged his Luders 44
(a beautiful cold molded mahagony ocean racer) with a single very large
genoa jib and no main.  Not super successful in racing but it did work and
hinted at possibilities. Needless to say the rule writers changed the rules
to put an end to experimentation.

One can easily think of some pros for a jib (or genoa jib a the case may be)
as a kayak sail.  Roller reefing, simplicity, easily removed and stored
mast, ease of setting the sail, light weight with minimal spars and no
battens, etc. One can also think of some cons. Not such good downwind
performance, difficult to keep a tight luff without some extra rigging, and
probably some problems with balance on a kayak. having the tack on  line at
deck level might help with some of this stuff.

Anyway, as Ralph found out, it does work even if it ain't perfect. One can
fairly easily (and inexpensively) make one of these sails at home so it
makes nice sail to play with. If you make one be sure to keep the foot well
above the deck. Kayaks have such low freeboard that the sail can scoop up a
lot of water off the bow wave and send you into an out-of-control bow down
situation.

Cheers,

John Winters
Redwing Designs
Web site address, http://home.ican.net/~735769



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