I know that this is considered blasphemy by some of you but may I ask if anyone has experience with Spirit Sails?
If so how do you like the product? And did you use it on a boat with a rudder?
i had one for about 3 years
i bought it for an extra toy for my scupperpro. it is easy to install, uses a regular Scotty fishing rod holder bracket, which i already had on my scupperpro since it is rigged for fishing. no problems with workmanship. it is designed to spill wind gusts by bending forward, i have been out in winds over 20mph on tampa bay with the sail & while it was over powered by the winds i was still able to stay in control (almost). i really like the way that the sail does not have any guide lines, so one is still free to use their paddle for control, direction, extra speed. on a downwind leg with the wind in the range of 10-12mph i would guess my speed while still using the paddle goes from maybe 4mph to close to 6mph, it gives me a really nice bow wake that i can never get with using only my paddle.
i also have a Scotty mount on my QCC600. while i have not done a GPS track on it yet, i would have to think my speed is very close to double digits on the ICW with a 12-15mph breeze on my back. there have been times where for 20-30 minutes i was only spinning my paddle because my cadance couldn’t keep up my with the boatspeed. it’s alot of fun downwind (i always seem to have a headwind going home) but with a price over $200 i feel its a little pricey. but, no one ever said speed was cheap!
Their largest sail with a 15 foot canoe
Worked just fine. They “self-adjust” by spilling heavy wind over the top because of their flexible stays/battens … whatever you’d like to call them. When it’s blowing really hard, I like to mount it on the front seat or floor rather than up at gunwale level … for a point of lower power transferance and less heeling drama with gusts. No guylines … so it’s ultra simple sailing. I may devise a rotating mount for easy adjustment of the sail aspect solo from a few feet away (maybe with some sort of bellcrank). How one “directs” the power is up to you … ruddering can be done with a paddle or a rear-facing oar set-up. For a fast kayak … it must be a very fine speed boost. Decent with a canoe, but not scary fun like with larger sail areas.
There’s also a review…
…under “Product Reviews-Accessories”, on the left side of your screen.
watertribe.com
there is a very nice article/review in the archived articles of www.watertribe.com, look for “a class 1 sail rig”
i use this rig with my nordkapp (no rudder) and i’m moderately satisfied with it
it works very well downwind with wind speed between 10 and 20 knots but i don’t come across these “ideal” conditions too often
i guess it would work much better with a more stable boat equipped with a rudder