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 *************************************************************************** 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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