I carried parafoil kites of one size or another pretty regularly for several years. I can count the good rides I got on the fingers of one hand. (Mind you that includes a very spectacular afternoon riding on the Beaufort Sea, that made it all worthwhile.) The problems with kites are: 1. The window of windspeeds for a parafoil is pretty narrow. You need a minimum windspeed to launch the thing and keep it airborne - a few knots faster than you would on land because the forward motion of your boat reduces the apparent windspeed on the kite. From a kite-launchable windspeed to a way too exciting windspeed is a diffrence of perhaps 10 knots. 2. If the kite falls in the water, you have many feet of thin, tangly string to reel in. If you are swept by the kite, it becomes a sea anchor. 3. Unlike all the previous problems, I've never experienced this one, but the thought is daunting: If you did have to do a wet exit, and lost your grip on the boat, it will keep on sailing (unlike with regular sails.) I can imagine few things more depressing than surfacing to see your boat already yards away and receding faster than you could possibly swim, while far from shore in stormy seas. Over the last several years, I've been using V-sails, and I get a lot more sailing done. My current configuration is both a Pacific Action sail (http://www.pacificaction.co.nz/) AND a mount that I can fit with the small or large Spirit Sail as needed (http://www.spiritsails.com/). One sail good; two sails better; five possible sail configurations best. The two sail combinations work best sailing slightly off the wind, where the aft sail doesn't steal the wind of the foresail. Just this year, I've added a small tossed leeboard to the set-up. It lets me sail further off the wind. With the five possible configurations, I can sail at a worthwhile speed in anything from light airs to about 20-25 knots, depending on how developed the seas are. Have fun and play safe, whatever option you choose. Cheers, Philip FYI, plans for a homemade sail that looks functionally very similar to the Pacific Action sail are here. http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/grantglazer/Kayak/Hintssail.htm "Paul Ash" <AshP_at_sundaytimes.co.za> wrote: >Hi, >Does anyone here have experience of using a kite to tow a kayak? (Or a golf >umbrella, for that matter). I'd be interested in any comments. *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sun Apr 24 2005 - 16:35:12 PDT
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