Wednesday, December 30, 2009

A interesting kayak sail rig from Tasmania

Here is an email I received from Laurie Ford of Tasmania.
He has been kayak sailing for 20 years using his  Sea Leopard kayak with Sails.
Notice the hull of his sailing kayak.
He says he can sail 45 degrees away from straight into the wind.

www.falconsails.com is working on making several sails of similar design.

Patrick,
This is how my kayak is set up, as are most kayaks in Tasmania. However I doubt that this is any use to the sort of paddlers you would be catering for.

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First of all most of our kayaks are V bottom, or rounded V bottom - not flat like just about every sea kayak on the market today.

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My normal sail.

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The sheet goes under a cord across the deck before leading back to the cleat. This keeps it out of the way for paddling.

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A high cut boom which is even more out of the way.

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When the sheet is cross cleated the sail is in the middle of the kayak and you can use it 45 degrees into the wind.

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Like this.

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Or this.

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The sail stays on the mast permanently.

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And slides into our sail holders.

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Like this.

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Both sails up.

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Rear sheet arrangement.

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Cleated next to the cockpit.

Cheers,
Laurie Ford

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

The start of my first kayak sailing post

This is the 1st post to my kayak sailing blog.


We have been working hard on our kayak sail rig
www.falconsails.com