RxMarine

Mad for Kayak Sailing

15th Feb 09 - Lyme Regis

I got down to Lyme Regis at about 2pm. Steady Westerly Force 3, Sea state slight, bright and sunny. By 2:25 I was on the water, Kayak outrigger and sails all set up. As a steady westerly was blowing and I was keen to test both my sails I headed straight out to sea.

I found that with the PA sail raked right back and my mizzen hauled in I could point about 80 degrees into wind. With the PA sail down I could go about 50 - 60 degrees into wind, although at these angles it is necessary to paddle to keep a reasonable speed.

Definitely more efficient on the Starboard tack. This is because on Port tack the short ama digs in causing drag and also messing up steering balance. I think I could have easily handled both sails in those conditions without the outrigger.

Although I don't have a gps I estimate I was easily maintaining 4mph 90 degrees to the wind without paddling.

Anyway, a great day paddle sailing!

RxSailor

30th January 09

Well it's been a particularly cold winter this year and I have been itching to try out my latest ideas in kayak sailing. Finally everything came together for me to get up to the local lake this Friday, so I packed up all my clobber and headed out.

It was blowing between Force 3-4 and gusting to 6 so I decided to ease into things as normally I have a few breakages on the first test of a new system (I'm certainly not a marine engineer!)

 Although the primary purpose was to test my Bruce Foil arrangement it was a little too hairy for that so I set up my latest outrigger system to try:

Click on the image for a larger view

I set up my brand new PA 1.5 metre sail, attached the leeboard and ama and took to the water. As I was initially on a Starboard tack I carefully reached across with just the mizzen sail. Halfway across I built a little more confidence and tried pointing into wind. Wow! Shock and amazement NOTHING BROKE!! It went into wind a treat.

Now for the fun part, I went about, raised the PA sail to give me a total of 32 Square feet and went on a broad reach - Fantastic! That is the first time on a Kayak I have experienced a real rush when kayak sailing. This is certainly no Hobie AI beater or anything like it, but being so close to the water really helps to amplify the feeling of speed.

I spent the next two hours reaching back and forth testing different sail and leeboard settings. On a starboard tack things are a little more hairy as I am relying on the weight of the ama to provide the counter balance to the turning moment of the sail. I think I might load up the ama with a little lead weight to give me some extra righting moment on Starboard tack.

Anyway, my poor little Bruce Foil didn't even get wet as I was having far too much fun.

Over the next few weeks I'll upload a little more detailed info on my sail setup along with some photos, and hopeflly I'll get out to try old Brucey Foil!