Has anyone tried one of these? I’ve only tried the ubiquitous umbrella, but I wonder if you can do anything but sail downwind with one of these rigs.
The Spirit Sail company only claims
them to be downwind sails. Whether they can ever serve as crosswind sails, much less to tack into the wind, would depend heavily on the cleverness of the user.
We’ll bump this post to the top and see if someone has used them.
Pretty Much Downwind
I’ve used them in the past and have a homemade one that I use on and off. Mostly just a downwind sail as the company states. What I like most about them is how small the whole setup breaks down to.
I have one
and yes, it is mostly a downvind sail. Since it uses a Scotty universal socket for a mast step uou can adjust the angle in 30 degree steps to make best use of a wind that is not perfectly astern.
As Doug said, it’s advantage is a very compact kit, to which I will add that it is simple to set up and demount.
I suppose that one could sort of tack with it, but it is not designed to “come around” when one changes tack. Of course that assumes that your craft is equipped with a rudder and a daggerboard.
Jim