James Farrelly mentioned on Paddlewise (just before his vacation) that he planned to buy a Pacific Action sail rig for his kayak. I seem to recall that he used it in a race recently and wonder what thought he has on it now. Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
The Good I am very hard to impress and at a price of about $350 US taxed and shipped for the 1 meter sail I turn into impossible to impress. The sail impressed me. A lot, frankly. All components are of the highest quality. Workmanship is flawless. The design is right on and is a snap to learn to use. Easy to set up and take down, I have trained a 12 yr old and a 15 yr old to use it well with just a two minute class. Most of that two minutes was spent impressing the importance of speed in striking the sail and securing it to the bungie. My wife who is a surgeon and a full Colonel in the Army was a bit harder to train as she is used to being in charge but we got through the class well enough. Everyone I have taken out sailing in my Shearwater double baidarka has been a non paddler and absolutely had a blast. It is especially cool when the hull starts to make that gurgling sound as water passes under it. I went out on a test sail in very high winds and the kayak rocketed along comfortably. If I had the money I would buy the 2 meter sail for light wind days. Maybe next year. I was advised to modify the rig a bit and did. I replaced the original sail control line or sheet with two ten foot pieces of sheet material. I installed two deck clamcleats. All of this really helped and cost an additional $30. Sail control was simplified, became more precise and physically easier. The Bad The only strong criticism of the PA sail concerns the instructions for installation. As a person who has built four kayaks from kits and a Melonseed sailboat from a line drawing and not much else I found the PA sail instructions almost useless. I went on line and looked at photos of installed PA rigs to wing it as best I could. A critical step to pay attention to is mounting the twin sail posts that hold the sail erect. You must ensure that the twin posts, which look like your fingers making a peace sign, are spread out as far as possible so the sail sets flat. This will take two helpers or some jury rigging to hold the posts away from each other. The posts are then permanently set at this angle with a pair of screws bisecting the posts. Get it wrong and you either have to redrill the posts possibly weakening them or live with your error. The Ugly My Mother-in-law I would spend the money again in a heartbeat. Jim et al On Jun 18, 2008, at 12:29 PM, Craig Jungers wrote: > James Farrelly mentioned on Paddlewise (just before his vacation) > that he planned to buy a Pacific Action sail rig for his kayak. I > seem to recall that he used it in a race recently and wonder what > thought he has on it now. *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Make your own and save $300. Rebecca Heap came up with the original design and used to give away plans and take workshops at symposiums. Pacific Action used these plans as the basis of their (??) design. The link below is for Rebecca's plans. Very cheap & easy to make, it performs just as well as the commercial version. http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/grantglazer/Kayak/Hintssail.htm Cheers Grant James Farrelly wrote: > The Good > I am very hard to impress and at a price of about $350 US taxed and > shipped for the 1 meter sail I turn into impossible to impress. The > sail impressed me. A lot, frankly. All components are of the highest > quality. Workmanship is flawless. The design is right on and is a > snap to learn to use. Easy to set up and take down, I have trained a > 12 yr old and a 15 yr old to use it well with just a two minute > class. Most of that two minutes was spent impressing the importance > of speed in striking the sail and securing it to the bungie. My wife > who is a surgeon and a full Colonel in the Army was a bit harder to > train as she is used to being in charge but we got through the class > well enough. Everyone I have taken out sailing in my Shearwater > double baidarka has been a non paddler and absolutely had a blast. It > is especially cool when the hull starts to make that gurgling sound > as water passes under it. I went out on a test sail in very high > winds and the kayak rocketed along comfortably. If I had the money I > would buy the 2 meter sail for light wind days. Maybe next year. I > was advised to modify the rig a bit and did. I replaced the original > sail control line or sheet with two ten foot pieces of sheet > material. I installed two deck clamcleats. All of this really helped > and cost an additional $30. Sail control was simplified, became more > precise and physically easier. > > The Bad > The only strong criticism of the PA sail concerns the instructions > for installation. As a person who has built four kayaks from kits and > a Melonseed sailboat from a line drawing and not much else I found > the PA sail instructions almost useless. I went on line and looked at > photos of installed PA rigs to wing it as best I could. A critical > step to pay attention to is mounting the twin sail posts that hold > the sail erect. You must ensure that the twin posts, which look like > your fingers making a peace sign, are spread out as far as possible > so the sail sets flat. This will take two helpers or some jury > rigging to hold the posts away from each other. The posts are then > permanently set at this angle with a pair of screws bisecting the > posts. Get it wrong and you either have to redrill the posts possibly > weakening them or live with your error. > > The Ugly > My Mother-in-law > > I would spend the money again in a heartbeat. > > Jim et al *************************************************************************** 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 remember this page. Saw it first time may be 4 years ago, before buying PA rig. After some thinking, decided to spend $300. Yes, it is possible to make, if you have time and desire to solve some little yeat inevitable problems. PA provides straps with buckles to attach the mast base to the hull - these straps require sewing machine or a bit of work with upholstery thread and needle. PA provides "hull mounts" - small brackets to attach to the hull, may be you can make similar brackets or buy it somewhere or use something different. Some things you just have to know - like those small inline cleats (called "dog cleats", and there ar other names too) - I have never used such things before, and wouldn't even know what to look for in marine stores :-)... Otherwise, after you've got all the parts, everything can be done at home in a few days. Rebecca suggests one idea that commercial PA has completely overlooked - foam padding around the mast base, to prevent the deck scratching. I used commercial PA (1 sq.m. size = 11.3 sq.ft), it has its pros cnad cons. Wind has to be at your tail within 70-80 degree angle to your course - with a beam wind you'll drift to the lee too much. It tends to unfurl somewhat (when stowed on deck) and then it is catching the wind and flapping annoyingly. It is a bit far forward in the bow, and has more capsize potential than similar size Spirit Sail. It requires more attention than Spirit sail, because it is rigid, doesn't spill the wind, which increases both perfrormance and capsize potential. But it does perform better than Spirit. Largely, due to bigger size (small Spirit is 8.5 sq.ft). Other factors contribute less, in my opinion - though PA's ability to be instantly raised and lowered is amazing. > Make your own and save $300. Rebecca Heap came up with the original > design and used to give away plans and take workshops at symposiums. > Pacific Action used these plans as the basis of their (??) design. > > The link below is for Rebecca's plans. Very cheap & easy to make, it > performs just as well as the commercial version. > > http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/grantglazer/Kayak/Hintssail.htm > > Cheers > Grant *************************************************************************** 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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