Hi All, I have been reading this thread with interest. Some of the older PW correspondents may remember my description of my Klepper sail rig, [ for my single ], but I have been intrigued to read of those who carry the larger, traditional, or the Balogh designs. For some years now I have used what we call the Tasmanian rig; which is basically a lugsail on a free-standing mast, ie, with no stay supports, no leeboards, and no pontoons. Folks with hardshells down here in Australia and New Zealand invariably use variations of this design, usually with the mast on a hinged step and the whole rig can be lifted or de-mounted in moments. No-one I know down here has either the standard Klepper rig, or the Balogh. I use the standard Klepper mast step with a short hollow tube [ a piece of carbon fibre paddle shaft actually] which rises a couple of inches off the top of the mast step, and is held firmly to the baseboard bottom mast mount with shock cord. My mast slips inside this shaft. I simply slip my mast with sail attached into the mast step when I want to sail, and de-mount it when I don't. Rigging and de-rigging this set-up takes seconds. It gives me the ability to convert from sailed kayak to paddled kayak in mere seconds. I have a 'wardrobe' of three sized sails, fair weather, moderate weather, and what I laughably call my Force Eight... and I take one or two, or whatever I think will suit the weather on the day, or trip. My mast is made of ... wait for it... bamboo!!!!.... cut down in a secret location not far from where I live... and carefully trimmed and fitted. Bamboo gives me an ultra-light wooden mast with built-in watertight compartments!, with great flex, ... and if the going gets too tough, the ability to break without breaking other gear. I get a couple of seasons use out of a mast, and keep a couple spare ready for use. If I break a mast [ and I have only once, in the surf!!] it costs me .... nothing... to replace it. This all began as an experiment, designed to produce the most efficient kayak sailing rig for the least amount of dollars. I even used cut-down windsurfer sails, bought second hand and ridiculously cheaply, for my sails, thinking that if the idea proved OK, I would get some made up by a sailmaker. I haven't seen the need for this. It is all shockingly low tech and simple, but somehow it seems to suit the Klepper ethos... without paying the big bucks for their rig. Of course it would be fun to try out the Balogh rigs, but they are also prohibitively expensive for non US buyers. As for actual sailing: people often ask about lee slippage when on a tight reach. Yes, you do get some, but not as much as you might expect. Once you get the feel of a Klepper under sail, you can 'dig' the lee sponson in, and use your lee rail to reduce slippage; so much so, that I don't find marked inefficiency. Given the extra mucking around that leeboards, and pontoons mean, I am happy with trading off slight sailing inefficiency for quick and dirty rig and de-rig. My sailing is always on an open ocean, so for me the ability to down sails quickly if neccessary, or even de-power the boat by dropping down a size in the sail [and vice versa of course,] has proved a boon. I write this in some detail in case there are new Klepper owners out there who are interested... Happy to receive feedback, thoughts etc... as I write, I think of folks with doubles and perhaps how they could set up a twin mast-sail rig... it has been done!!! An end note: the weakness in my set up is the standard ' river ' Klepper rudder which I still stubbornly use. I have my own home-made deeper fin rudder design in pieces in my garage, waiting for final inspiration and energy to get it going. Obviously the standard rudder has limitations in rougher waters and higher winds and higher speeds. Yawing and rounding up in a big swell with a decent following wind is the dead give-away of an inefficient rudder... I hope this is of interest to the 'sailing' fraternity... Regards, Peter Rattenbury, Wollongong, Australia. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
> I simply slip my mast with sail attached into the mast step when I want to > sail, and de-mount it when I don't. Rigging and de-rigging this set-up takes > seconds. It gives me the ability to convert from sailed kayak to paddled kayak > in mere seconds. I have a 'wardrobe' of three sized sails, fair weather, > moderate weather, and what I laughably call my Force Eight... and I take one > or two, or whatever I think will suit the weather on the day, or trip. > My mast is made of ... wait for it... bamboo!!!!.... cut down in a secret > location not far from where I live... and carefully trimmed and fitted. > Bamboo gives me an ultra-light wooden mast with built-in watertight > compartments!, with great flex, ... and if the going gets too tough, the > ability to break without breaking other gear. I looked at slip-in Tasmanian designs and one hinged design. There is a commercial line http://www.vision.net.au/~jennings/sail/sail.html , would cost about half of small BSD rig without floats, even after costly delivery to Canada from over there. They are relatively small - up to 1.5 sq.m, and with high CE, - not really lug sails. There are short videoclips on their website , including capsize :-). 1.5 sq.m. is probably be the largest size that hardshell kayak can carry witout an outrigger. I think its upwind capabilities are not too good, and low boom VS a need to have a mast within your reach seems to be hard to combine. Hinged design is better, 'cause can be installed farther fore, and easier to rid and de-rig in a narrow boat. I might still cobb something similar to Tasmanian sail, 20-24 sq.ft. (1.8-2.2 sq.m), to supplement my aft 32 sq.ft BSD instead of buying another BSD (USD 500 for 24 sq.ft sail + mast + deck fitting). Jeez, I've bought a whole kayak once (old Folbot Aleut) for that price. With a Klepper you sure can use larger sail without floats. I'm curious what is the largest of sails that you have, what is the mast diameter, and what is the smallest that still provides for some upwind sailing. My impression was that both Tassie rigs and hinged designs ranged from 1 to 1.5 sq.m. allow beam reach sailing at the very best. Just don't have any detailed info on that, no intention to critisize. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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