I have a Necky Amaruk Tandem kayak, it is 18’ long and 28.5" wide. I have been thinking about rigging up a sail to use on it occasionally. The sail that I would use is 30 sq.ft. or about 2.8 square meters and is exactly like the one pictured here: http://members.cox.net/bcwest99/cha.html. The kayak is very stable and would have occupants in both cockpits while sailing. My question is, do you think I will need to rig up some outriggers for stability? Or should I be able to keep it upright with some leaning and maybe some paddle bracing? Just wondering if anyone has experience with this size of a sail on a kayak.
Will be fine
I use a Batwing BDG ( i think) and it works fine without outriggers. Can’t tell from the photo, but I have lines to control all the controls of my sail. I can raise and lower… In a case of Oh S*&$#T, I can drop it fast. The kayak I have is a Grand San Juan from Eddyline. A tad longer and wider than yours but you should be fine. I have a keel board as well. Without that you will have trouble going up wind on a good line. Have fun getting to know your set up and be ready to get wet.
Maybe
I sail a 30" wide canoe (no outriggers) with anywhere from 20 to 50 sqr foot of sail. With 30’ up and a fresh breeze I’ll be hanging out the windward side pretty good. Likely more than would be easy from a kayak.
Much more than a fresh breeze and I’ll be reefing or dropping the sail completely.
Outriggers will let you carry more sail in the same wind but if it blows up enough it will knock down anything.
In your situation I’d be inclined to try it with no outriggers in light air. Then I’d decide if I wanted to try more wind or add outriggers.
Be safe and have fun!
Thanks for the responses,
The only thing I am concerned about is that if it really starts kicking up, with this type of sail I can’t furl it or take it down from the cockpit. I think I’ll wait until the water warms and try it in light winds to see how she acts.
sail
do you allready have the sail?? If not I really suggest looking into one that you can drop on the fly. I have had to drop the sail more then once.
Just an idea.
Kayak sails
– Last Updated: Mar-06-10 10:15 AM EST –
I posted some photos of a Kayaksailor sail rig on my Kaskazi Pelican kayak at
http://www.kayakfishingstuff.com/community/showthread.php?p=856207#post856207
I plan to use this 1.6 square meter sail rig just on my Tandem Kaskazi Duo kayak for longer trips, the Pelican setup was just a trial to verify my mounting setup.
Note unlike some other kayak sail rigs, it can point upwind, can be reefed, and lashed down flat against the front deck.
It does need a sturdy mounting to the front deck to resist the wind force through the shrouds, so I had to remove the front bulkhead to be able to bolt the webbing eye straps.
Ihad a sail with a step mast
I had a sail with a step mast on first sea kayak.
While you could still take the sail down it was rather tricky when the wind picked up.
If the sail you intend to get can’t be taken down, consider it to be used only very close to shore/mild conditions.
I have since outiftted my kayaks with sails (admittedly much smaller: about 1 meter square) that can be lowered and stowed away on deck.
For a detailed description of a safer sail: http://gnarlydognews.blogspot.com/2009/03/shop-diy-sea-kayak-sail.html