I’ve always been intimidated by the prospect of building a birdsmouth mast, but with spruce hitting $17 a board foot, construction lumber, epoxy, and a bit of extra work is starting to look appealing. I built this mock up on my table saw in about 10 minutes and it really wasn’t that bad! Still,...
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On YouTube: Adding a Falcon Sail to a Cape Falcon Kayak
Last video project before we head to Mexico. We are filming full instructions for how to add Falcon Sails to our kayaks. It’s a bit of a project with over an hour of video, but details matter with this sort of thing. I’ll the put the YouTube videos at the bottom of this post....
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Video: First test of the new pedal drive canoe in outrigger mode
First test of the new Pedal Drive Canoe in outrigger mode! Here I’m using our canoe catamaran system to attach an inflatable ama. I can definitely feel the drag of the ama but it’s not terrible, it seems to take away about .1 to .2 mph of speed, and the effect on steering is...
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Video: Sail testing the pedal drive canoe
I’m playing a little game today. Wind picks up sail goes up, wind dies down, sail comes down, petal Drive goes in. I even managed to clock a few miles with the Bixby electric motor. There’s definitely worse things to do with one’s time… ___ This post was originally featured on our Instagram feed....
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Video: How sailing superstitions are born
On our last kayak catamaran test sail we held hands for a moment and the wind picked up, then we did it again, and the same thing happened so we developed a superstition that holding hands made the wind increase. It’s amazing how quickly superstition takes hold in a sailing context. Here we are...
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Video: More drone footage of our canoe rowing and sailing system
Here’s another bit of drone footage of our canoe rowing and sailing system. More than anything else both of these features are designed to be as simple as possible. My recent experiments with the pedal drive not withstanding, I generally subscribe to the philosophy that complexity is the enemy in small boats. The pop-up...
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Video: pedal drive canoe prototype in row / sail mode
Here’s the pedal drive canoe prototype in row / sail mode. In my defense I had a much more graceful dismount planned but dude in the boat slid in front of me at the last moment! ___ This post was originally featured on our Instagram feed. See the original post and discussion here. Follow...
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Video: Sail testing the pedal drive prototype
I took the pedal drive prototype out yesterday in relatively light winds to see how our pop-up sail system would interface with the pedal drive. As expected, not very well. The flippers add enormous drag to what is otherwise a surprisingly swift sail, despite its tiny size. There’s also just way too much risk...
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One of the worst boats I ever built
One of the worst boats I ever built was this 20 foot long outrigger sailing canoe. I can’t say enough bad things about this boat. It was heavy, it took forever to set up, it paddled terrible, sailed even worse, and the outrigger leaked. At the time I was living on the open coast,...
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Video: A few more clips from our kayak-catamaran sail test
Here’s a few more clips from our kayak-catamaran sail tests last week. There are two versions of this setup: the flat deck version where the front attachment mirrors the rear catamaran attachment, and the standard version, which has a pair of single attachments on the front deck. Of the two, the flat deck is...
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Video: First test of the peaked-deck kayak catamaran
Yesterday we were finally able to do the first test of the kayak catamaran system on the raised front deck version of our F1 kayak design, this time with a pair of 1 square meter Falcon Sails (no relation to us). For anyone who is new here I designed this catamaran system for our...
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Video: Falcon Sails rigged!
Falcon Sails rigged! Really looking forward to comparing these to my own much simpler designs. I’m seriously impressed with the quality of this kit. ___This post was originally featured on our Instagram feed.See the original post and discussion here. Follow Cape Falcon Kayak on Instagram »...
Video: Prepping for a Falcon Sail install
Back to the kayak sailing madness, today I’m doing an Falcon Kayak Sail install. (similar name, but not the same company as us). ___This post was originally featured on our Instagram feed.See the original post and discussion here. Follow Cape Falcon Kayak on Instagram »...
Sails for testing this winter
Sails for testing this winter. Same basic concept, different shapes, sizes, fabrics, and masts....
Video: A quick peek at this winter’s madness machine
Here’s a quick peek at this winter’s madness machine. After our successful test of the flat deck F1 in heavy conditions, (scroll back for that insanity) the next step is to try the kayak catamaran on the peaked deck version. I’m still not sure if this set up can handle the racking forces of...
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