[Paddlewise] Adding a Mizzen

Hi all,

It was Mel Lammers that thought a mizzen 
could be nice on a Klepper Aerius II, I think, 
and now we know!

The last few days we have tested the very
home made mizzen on our folder - 
for the sail's general design see:

 http://foldingkayaks.org/gallery/Mizzen

[Since then we have deleted the lower spar
(the one made of aluminium)], to make it 
easier to pack away.

What is our verdict? Mel was right, 100%
right! We tested it with the S4 jib, with
the complete S4 sail set: main, jib and
leeboards, and alone (with the S4 kit
packed away). 

The mizzen makes the boat want to turn 
up into wind a little, if hauled tight, just as 
we wanted and when used alone the boat
became easier to handle in really bad weather -
after taking refuge on shore we recorded
3 Beauford - and even that is pretty much in a
small lake. The sea was amazingly heavy and
the rain was constant.

The mizzen slides onto a steel pipe tied to
frame # 6 and secured from ripping the frame
forward by a line looped around the pipe
and tied to the stern.

One line raises the mizzen and another tightens it -
that's all there is to it!

First we sailed with just the jib and the mizzen up
(with my wife steering as usual) and it felt very
neutral, if not blistering speedy. No vices of any kind,
but we couldn't sail very high into the wind, so I
added the main, that now has aluminium boom
that goes from about a third up the mast to the
rear reefing point, and the lower, original boom
is replaced by a batten (the kind you can by in
any ship chandler's. Now we picked up speed
a lot, of course, and accidentally ran aground,
as my wife misunderstood my command (me
sitting on the hikeboard makes her more or less
blind forward. No damage, and after a few minutes 
on land, on the little island we had close encounter 
with, to steady my wife's nerves, we pushed off again,
this time without the main up.

Again it worked like dream, so we're going to do away
with the mast stays, somehow (probably by getting
a new, one-piece mast), and make a new main
similar in form to the mizzen, or a bit like a Balogh sail.

Paddling back to civilisation today was a chore, as the high wind
and the heavy seas were most of the way going the wrong way, 
but eventually we turned to the west and the mizzen gave us
a helpful push all the way to where we had parked the car.

Nevr imagine that a cruddy sail like our mizzen could work 
so well!

As it is made of polyethylene tarp it is rather stiff and thus
doesn't flutter much, and yet easy to pack away. One day 
we might make a new one in proper sail cloth, but the one we
have works better than I hoped it would, so we'll keep it!

Possibly the S4 jib will be replaced by a bigger jib, or genua,
say from Long Haul, but that will have to wait!

And the outrigger will definitely be moved forward!

Yours,

Tord
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