Sail Rig with Windsurfer Sail

About 3 years ago, wjk64 posted a kayak sailing video on Youtube of a kayak with a CLC sail rig and a North windsurfer sail, mast, and booms.  Having been a windsurfer for about 30 years, I have masts, booms, and sails galore, and the setup looks extremely efficient.  From the video, I can detect some kind of shroud set-up and sheet blocks, but not much else.  (Also the fact that he has to get out of the boat to tack, but that's another story).  Has anybody elso done this, or know any details of how he did it?


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RE: Sail Rig with Windsurfer Sail

Well the good news is it works. I tried tracking down Madison300 on YouTube as he had a windsurfer rig on his double and it truly flew across the water. Before that I know Chris Kulzycki (spelling) sailed a craft called the TRIKA with it and went so fast he claimed 20 knots - he reached no such speeds but suffice it to say he sailed so fast he broke the standard kayak rudder he was using. 

 

I couldn't nail down any details but both Madison and Chris didn't leave the cockpit to tack and they both appreciated the bendy carbon fiber mast spilling off excess wind. I wod google around and ill see if I can't dig up Madison for you . I think his YouTube channel is gone. Too bad really.

 

pete

RE: Sail Rig with Windsurfer Sail

Ok here's a fella. I'd eventually get the 70sqft reefable sail if I were you but if the windsurfer sail gets you started then all the better. At 60 sq ft though you are going to want to reef that thing at some time  soon!!!

 

ask this fella and I'm sure he ll help:

 

http://www.brushwoodstudios.com/cedarstripkayaks.html


pete

RE: Sail Rig with Windsurfer Sail

Thanks for the suggestions.  Found a couple of Youtube videos for a Trika sailing kayak/trimaran.  Very nice, but more than I'm looking for.  Brushwood did an interesting version of a triamaran/windsurfer, with no cockpit.  He describes it as a wet and scary ride, and it looks like it would be, as you have to stand on the deck without the benefits of footstraps, and still handle the sail like on a windsurfer.  The wjk64 video looked decidedly simpler, with the sailor sitting in the cockpit and handling the sail with what looks like a sheet block with built-in cleat, litke on a catamaran, and a small set of shrouds leading from the side rails of the kayak to about boom height on the mast.  But any other details, such as rudder or leeboard, mast foot, etc, are impossible to make out.  The eficiency of a modern mylar fully battened sail is what draws me to wonder about this, not just as a way to use equipment I already own but as a way to maximise the sailing potential of the boat.  Maybe I'll have to build it and play with it.  But I didn't think it would hurt to ask the people with more experience than I.

RE: Sail Rig with Windsurfer Sail

That's a different TRIKA. The one Im thinking of was an Andy Singer design - I could be wrong-      and it had one single MASSIVE aka connecting both amas amidships. It looked dynamite but I'm told it was a bear to set up and take down. The TRIKA in those vids is a different animal. The sail rig looks like it came off a LASER  and with all the accompanying bother of putting it together, plus the akas are double and as a result not that massive wing that the other used. 

 

Ive tried in vain looking for the TRIKA as it was one of the FIRST sailrig commercial available trimaran rigs based around a kayak hull. There is of course the famous TRIAK - though I understand they are belly up perhaps . Another one was the FULMAR 19 that actually had a pre-hobbies pedal drive somewhat reminiscent of a bicycles chain cog drive.  Through all this CLC had their sailrig - the first generation.  Things were different on it compared to today's more thought out successful MKII and MKIII, but it was the vanguard into that new domain in blueprint firm and then kit and the rest is history.

 

Im so sorry the TRIKA footage isn't up. I wouldn't doubt Mark Balogh having some laying around if he were shooting the Trikas performance that day he was with Kris Kulcycki - designer of the original clc sailrig.

 

good luck in your endeavors.

 

pete

 

 

 

RE: Sail Rig with Windsurfer Sail

I just replayed those TRIKA vids - lol - that is so NOT it. The rooster tailing transom ended akas and VAKA were NEVER part if the TRIKA design. Suffice it to say the original one, massive aka wing and all was one ELEGANTLY conceived craft. I'd bet the MKIII is better than both, but in its time it was quite the craft . And STRONG too. A fella I used to stay in touch with on Long Ziskand had a Trika with this amazingly bright fluorescent pink sail!  He took his TRIKA out during a small craft advisory high wind day - he buried an AMA do deep into a wave he feared it'd come off! Didn't though and it sailed through it all.

 

lol - sorry for the TRIKA reflections - it was the dawn of kayak sailrigs in the commercial sense - and yes it was a windsurfer rig - even had the handle thing you'd grab onto (terminology shortage sorry) but he sailed it sheet, blocks etc. wish I had the details.

 

again my warmest wishes in your endeavors.

 

Pete

RE: Sail Rig with Windsurfer Sail

Long Island, sorry , typos.

 

p.

RE: Sail Rig with Windsurfer Sail

Thanks, Pete, for all the input.  I'm still working this out mentally, and at this point am leaning towards stepping the mast on deck in a standard sailboard mast foot, which I will through bolt onto the deck (with reinforcement under the deck, of course) and extend a support from under the deck to the bottom of the hull.  This could probably be made to be removeable when not using the sail rig.  I am also considering running the shrouds from the forward ama up to the boom height on the mast, rather than from the kayak rails, as this will be a more secure angle to support the mast.  Like I said, just thoughts at this point.  I can already see problems with keeping the mast upright without a forestay, and that might not be a good way to stress the hull, so the mast foot may have to rest on the bottom of the hull and let the mast pass through the forward ama like on the normal rig.  I'm going to startt construction of the kayak (WD12) within the month.  Fingers crossed.

Peter

RE: Sail Rig with Windsurfer Sail

Well typically the way all the Chesapeake Sailrigs dealt with mounting the mast to the kayak was relatively the same...

 

theres the hole in the chamber peak of the deck itself. I reinforced this hole with a sculpted piece if pine 1/2" thick shaped into this speedy contour. There's glass ontop of the deck here and underneath as far forward as the fore bulkhead. I overdid it but (shrugs). If you don't glass too and bottom your loading the deck chamber with too much torsional stressing in any number of directions depending. Glass - and not a crazy amount solves this issue. The cap of 1/2" not only looks cool but it spares the thin 4mm plywood from chipping and crack stresses. And it's so simple to make. That's the deck.

 

The mast footing is a veritable socket for the mast to sit in. My MKII plans (I highly recommend MKIII) basically have this square of laminated wood with a hole saw drilled middle to facilitate the mast bottom and its screwed through the bottom panels of the hull. This is where my hackles stood up no matter how much I flipped the problem around in my head. Simply Peter, I couldn't bring myself to drill through my hull bottom. It's a purist bent, I don't know but I chose another path and preserved the clean lines of my hull bottom...

 

I increased the footprint of the mast footing so more total epoxied area was anchored to the bottom panels. Yes technically it's a little heavier, but nothing you'll ever notice - it holds like iron and its unobtrusive. Entering and exiting , this keel line step never interferes ever. 

 

Because my sailrig is schooner rigged now  the same is behind the seat as well. It's heavier and more bother and a little less efficient than a single 70sq ft sail  being 38-32 sqft respectively, but I like dispersing the stress loading over two points plus the endless fun if fine tuning two sails in tandem!!!

 

I wish you much luck and success on your new build coming up. No better way to spend the colder months.  When the time comes feel free to email me with any sailrig queries should they arise at [email protected].

 

Best of luck .

 

Pete

RE: Sail Rig with Windsurfer Sail

Well typically the way all the Chesapeake Sailrigs dealt with mounting the mast to the kayak was relatively the same...

 

theres the hole in the chamber peak of the deck itself. I reinforced this hole with a sculpted piece if pine 1/2" thick shaped into this speedy contour. There's glass ontop of the deck here and underneath as far forward as the fore bulkhead. I overdid it but (shrugs). If you don't glass too and bottom your loading the deck chamber with too much torsional stressing in any number of directions depending. Glass - and not a crazy amount solves this issue. The cap of 1/2" not only looks cool but it spares the thin 4mm plywood from chipping and crack stresses. And it's so simple to make. That's the deck.

 

The mast footing is a veritable socket for the mast to sit in. My MKII plans (I highly recommend MKIII) basically have this square of laminated wood with a hole saw drilled middle to facilitate the mast bottom and its screwed through the bottom panels of the hull. This is where my hackles stood up no matter how much I flipped the problem around in my head. Simply Peter, I couldn't bring myself to drill through my hull bottom. It's a purist bent, I don't know but I chose another path and preserved the clean lines of my hull bottom...

 

I increased the footprint of the mast footing so more total epoxied area was anchored to the bottom panels. Yes technically it's a little heavier, but nothing you'll ever notice - it holds like iron and its unobtrusive. Entering and exiting , this keel line step never interferes ever. 

 

Because my sailrig is schooner rigged now  the same is behind the seat as well. It's heavier and more bother and a little less efficient than a single 70sq ft sail  being 38-32 sqft respectively, but I like dispersing the stress loading over two points plus the endless fun if fine tuning two sails in tandem!!!

 

I wish you much luck and success on your new build coming up. No better way to spend the colder months.  When the time comes feel free to email me with any sailrig queries should they arise at [email protected].

 

Best of luck .

 

Pete

RE: Sail Rig with Windsurfer Sail

Ahhhhh forgot...

The aka itself has a mast partner- very important. It holds the mast a little higher than the deck hole and relieves stress. It also reinforced placement of the rig on your deck. It's laminated okoume. I went overboard with mine and made it needlessly massive. I'm sure Ill sculpt it out a bit or something. It is a needed part in reinforcing the mast to the craft - and like everything else here - simple to do.

 

pete

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