deanmacg
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I have a sail for my kayak, does that count?
Anybody here sail?
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SAR-EMT40
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How well does that work? I've seen them and I was wondering how well they work?
Keith
DougPaul
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A kayak is a very tender (easily tipped) craft and therefore cannot take much rolling force from the sail (and keel/centerboard/leeboards). Thus it can run (sail downwind) and reach (sail across the wind) fairly well. However, it cannot beat (sail toward the wind) well because the rolling forces are too great (unless it has an outrigger). And if it does not have a keel/centerboard/leeboard, it will have almost no hope of beating because it will just slide sideways downwind.
A canoe sails a little better than a kayak because the crew generally has more freedom to move side-to-side to use their weight to counteract the rolling forces.
Lateen rigs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateen are popular for kayak and canoe sailing rigs. While they are simple, they are aerodynamically inefficient. The triangular sail (as found on the Tech dinghy in the tutorial referenced in my earlier post) is more efficient but a bit more complicated.
I have sailed both Sunfish (lateen rig) and Lasers (triangular sail). Both have one sail, take a crew of one, and are about the same size. The Laser can sail rings around the Sunfish, in part because of the more efficient rig.
Doug
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deanmacg
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I used to sail a Laser on the Hudson (tides) and you really had to plan to get back where you started. With the kayak sail you have a motor (you). Great fun it is - more exciting reaching than running. I use it on a boat with a rudder and then apply a bow rudder as a leeboard when reaching. Running downwind and paddling is like drafting with a bike - less effort. I took it out on a bay in NJ with real steady wind and was getting the thumbs up from the people on Hobies. Get one.
ALGonquin Bob
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I have never sailed my canoe or kayak, but I was rail meat for a summer...
sardog1
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It's too bad these guys aren't still around to offer some tips. Fridtjof Nansen and Hjalmar Johansen, somewhere between Russia and the North Pole, in 1895 or '96, on the Fram expedition to the Arctic:
(And yes, they made it back, after overwintering in a stone hut roofed with walrus hide -- a little north of 81 degrees N, about the same as the far northern end of Greenland. Did I mention that the hut was 6 x 10 -- feet, not meters.)
(And yes, they made it back, after overwintering in a stone hut roofed with walrus hide -- a little north of 81 degrees N, about the same as the far northern end of Greenland. Did I mention that the hut was 6 x 10 -- feet, not meters.)
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deanmacg
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It's too bad these guys aren't still around to offer some tips. Fridtjof Nansen and Hjalmar Johansen, somewhere between Russia and the North Pole, in 1895 or '96, on the Fram expedition to the Arctic:
(And yes, they made it back, after overwintering in a stone hut roofed with walrus hide -- a little north of 81 degrees N, about the same as the far northern end of Greenland. Did I mention that the hut was 6 x 10 -- feet, not meters.)
And I was fretting over kayak camping on Indian Lake this coming weekend (with snow possible)
DougPaul
Well-known member
A story of a more recent trip involving the use of a sail on a single kayak whose author is still around: "Arctic Crossing", by Johnathan Waterman. http://www.amazon.com/Arctic-Crossi...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255364163&sr=8-1
I found it to be an enjoyable read--you might too.
Doug
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Paradox
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A bit off thread, but maybe not... The America's Cup has come back to the U.S.A. 
Jay H
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I don't sail, nor do I follow sailing... Is America's Cup actually really back in the US? I didn't even know the race was on...
Jay
Jay
Paradox
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Stan
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It seems so long that the Cup has been in the US that I'd forgotten, or repressed, all thoughts of it. The race is held every three years in the home country, usually the homeport, of the previous winner.
For many years, seemed like it would last forever, the NY Yacht Club held the honors and elected to hold the race in Newport, in September, at which time the winds are most consistent and the weather most glorious ... just like the nautical traditions that beget the fastest boats and best sailors in the world.
For such a young country we were upstarts in the maritime world but have proven it time and again in war and in peace. The clipper ships were the epitome of our seafaring domination, the fastest ship under sail and dominant in world trade. I wish I were a billionaire ... I'd rebuild a replica of the clipper Great Republic and invite all of ye lads and lassies to come aboard and set sail, holystone the decks and splice the main brace!
Argggh, mates, behind me back hanging over me desk is a large framed photograph of the two finalist sloops off Newport in 1967. They are dead ahead on opposite tacks, gray ghosts in a fog with a stiff breeze and choppy seas. And I swear by my tatoo, when it's windy out I can feel the spray on me back and sooner or later must clean the salt off me specs ...
Meanwhile ... back to reality ... here is a picture of my friend Charlie with his spinnaker:
