Had the light sail rig (carbon masts and rip stop sails) out for some testing last night on the canoe catamaran. I was definitely cringing when a couple of the gusts approached 20 but so far neither of the carbon fiber masts have snapped. 5 mph in roughly 10mph of wind ain’t bad performance...
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Video: Rowing and sailing the canoes
My life is lived in tiny adventures. A couple nights ago it was 15 minutes upwind and 7 minutes back, this time with Liz and I sailing separately. The easiest way to sail these canoes with the rowing rig attached is just to let the oars trail in the water leaning back in the...
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Video: Another clip from Sunday evening on the water.
Another clip from Sunday evening on the water. Full details in previous post. I like the sound on this one....
Video: Testing the new canoe catamaran, oar, and sail rigs
Tested the new canoe catamaran, oar, and sail rigs on the river last night. It’s very easy for canoe rigs to become unusable contraptions so I’m pleased that this whole setup felt tight and clean on the water. I got the idea for the new catamaran boards from Uwe, who built a couple of...
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Video: Early morning rowing tests
After this morning’s appallingly early 5am rowing test (to catch the right light for video) I think I have the info I need to start on the next generation of outriggers and oars. I’m finding that with the outrigger mounted conveniently at the rear seat hanging block location the boat hunts just a bit....
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Video: A quick sail test with the rowing outrigger installed
While I wait to carve the next oar I grabbed an older set and a newer version of my outrigger and brought them down to the dock for some testing on the medium size boat. It was blowing about 12 when we got there so I rowed upwind for 10 minutes and then sailed...
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Video: A rainy evening test paddle
Yesterday evening we said goodbye to our local urban paddling spot, Smith and Bybee Lakes, which will be an unnavigable tangle of weeds by the end of the week, and then a slow transition to dry land until next winter. Nestled between the railroad tracks, the freeway, and adjacent to the airport landing approach,...
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Video: Just a couple quick clips from the rowing test of the new canoe
Just a couple quick video clips from the rowing test of the new canoe. Here you can see the massive difference in thrust between paddling a canoe and rowing one. Kind of a neat evening on the water, pouring rain, a huge double rainbow and a single flash of lightning and thunder clap. Now...
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A quick report from our test row of the largest canoe
I’m a little short on time to put together a video post today, but I wanted to throw up a quick report from our test row of the largest canoe of the triple nesting set. The short answer here is that this thing had us grinning from ear to ear the second we put...
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Video: Some clips from the recent canoe launch
Here’s a couple of video clips from the recent canoe launch. There are full construction details about this boat a couple posts back AND I just posted a detailed video about it on the Cape Falcon Kayak YouTube channel, with a lot more information than I can write here. Being a novice canoeist I’m...
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Video: Sailing the pack canoe
When I was designing the pack canoes I came up with the idea for a little pop-up sail that would hinge off of the lower part of the stem, using the end of the canoe itself as the mast partners. It folds unobtrusively out of the way and stays in the canoe all of...
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Video: Final scraps of footage from the recent canoe launch
Final scraps of footage from the recent canoe launch. This one is dedicated to Liz, (the real talent around here) who managed to keep me framed and in focus despite being handicapped by an experimental sailing canoe with no rocker. By request, I’m building her a boat that actually turns this week....
Video: More first impressions on the latest solo
Yesterday I talked a bit about my first impressions paddling the new skin on frame canoe: swift and stable enough, with a good balance between tracking and turning, but of course that’s just THIS canoe. Ever since I released the canoe building course I find it challenging to answer the common questions because unlike...
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Video: The maiden voyage of the new solo canoe
Here is some footage from the maiden voyage of the new solo canoe. For full details see previous posts. I want to tread lightly discussing canoe performance because even though I designed a canoe building system that doesn’t make me an expert canoe designer. At this point I feel safe saying that our pack...
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Video: Test paddle in the new river kayak prototype
I finally had the opportunity a few evenings ago to try the new river kayak design. I decided to load it with a heavy load of camping gear and water for the tests this time because that is the intended use for this particular kayak. (Total load in video is 225lbs) Overall I feel...
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