Build you own Kayak Sail. Cheap.
Capt Jack put this Zew Zeland info in to poor old inches and feet for us country boys.
I have a commerical version and like it and can get beam reach or a little better with paddleing.
Jim
Build you own Kayak Sail Cheap
Build you own Kayak Sail Cheap
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Gordo-wannafish
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CavassoCruiser
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Gordo-wannafish wrote:How do you achieve the 40 degrees of tack? Will a yak rudder do that?
No idea, but it's 40 degrees off the wind to either side, or jibing thru 80 degrees. Tack would be upwind, and believe me, that's no upwind sail! As for boat controls, rudder would probably be fine but I don't know..
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Gordo-wannafish
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CavassoCruiser wrote:Gordo-wannafish wrote:How do you achieve the 40 degrees of tack? Will a yak rudder do that?
No idea, but it's 40 degrees off the wind to either side, or jibing thru 80 degrees. Tack would be upwind, and believe me, that's no upwind sail! As for boat controls, rudder would probably be fine but I don't know..
As you can see I know just a bit less than nothing about sailing...except that I want to know more
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Lollipop
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I have an upwind sail mounted on my Tarpon 140. If anyone would like to try it out, let me know and we will arrange a time on Boerne Lake. With a good wind, Mrs B sailed across the lake at close to the speed of sound. At least her scream moved across the lake at the speed of sound. She traveled about a mile in about 5 minutes. That is fast enough to make kayaking scarry. Ask her about it. She decided to head back to Houston and face a hurrican rather than take another change with that sail.
Besides a main sail I have a jib. Lee boards on both sides. To give better control, I added a rudder. Without the rudder I could not do more than a beam reach (90 degrees from upwind). When the wind is steady I can tack into the wind at about 50 degrees off upwind. That allows me, by tacking, to move upwind. Not as good as a wine glass wherry, but good for a kayak.
Without looking it up, I believe the main sail is 18 sq ft and the jib is 12 sq ft.
When the wind gets over about 15 mph, I lose interest in tacking upwind with a single kayak.
If you are going to do anything but sail down wind, you have to be very careful where you mount your sail and your lee boards. The sail needs to be just forward of the center of lateral resistance of the hull. You can change the center of lateral resistance by where you place your lee boards and whether you lean forward to sail or lean backwards. My kayak looks like someone shot it with bird shot I've adjusted so many times.
The best advice I received was to buy and study a very basic book on sailing. I got the Complete Sailor by Seidman and Handbook of Sailing Techniques by Braden. There may be better books out there but Seidman's was simple enough to understand, and then I moved up to Braden's.
One of the more enjoyable trips was when I had two young ladies with me, one who had never kayaked. The wind came up so we lashed the three kayaks together and tacked for 3 miles about 60 degrees off of up wind. On that trip we had white caps breaking over the kayaks. My friends would not have had a very good time if they had been paddling in that mess. For that matter, neither would I.
Lollipop
Besides a main sail I have a jib. Lee boards on both sides. To give better control, I added a rudder. Without the rudder I could not do more than a beam reach (90 degrees from upwind). When the wind is steady I can tack into the wind at about 50 degrees off upwind. That allows me, by tacking, to move upwind. Not as good as a wine glass wherry, but good for a kayak.
Without looking it up, I believe the main sail is 18 sq ft and the jib is 12 sq ft.
When the wind gets over about 15 mph, I lose interest in tacking upwind with a single kayak.
If you are going to do anything but sail down wind, you have to be very careful where you mount your sail and your lee boards. The sail needs to be just forward of the center of lateral resistance of the hull. You can change the center of lateral resistance by where you place your lee boards and whether you lean forward to sail or lean backwards. My kayak looks like someone shot it with bird shot I've adjusted so many times.
The best advice I received was to buy and study a very basic book on sailing. I got the Complete Sailor by Seidman and Handbook of Sailing Techniques by Braden. There may be better books out there but Seidman's was simple enough to understand, and then I moved up to Braden's.
One of the more enjoyable trips was when I had two young ladies with me, one who had never kayaked. The wind came up so we lashed the three kayaks together and tacked for 3 miles about 60 degrees off of up wind. On that trip we had white caps breaking over the kayaks. My friends would not have had a very good time if they had been paddling in that mess. For that matter, neither would I.
Lollipop
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Gordo-wannafish
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Lollipop
- TKF 2000 club
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Gordo-wannafish wrote:Pictures man...I'm "sailing lingo challened"
I was too.
"The best advice I received was to buy and study a very basic book on sailing. I got the Complete Sailor by Seidman"
I have problems hanging over the side of the kayak far enough to get a good photo so I had to park it infront of my garage.
The Jib is the sail in the front.
The Lee boards are those things that hang down that are not wheels.
Lollipop
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You can turn the sail with the two lines
You can turn the sail with the two lines but it is still good for close to beam reach. Use the rudder, turn the sail and paddle and you can get better.
The v sail can be turned by using the two lines that attach to each upright of the v.
The v sail can be turned by using the two lines that attach to each upright of the v.