Here’s a quick edit from the kayak sail testing last week. As I get more serious about this project I want to talk a bit about what I’m trying to accomplish here to avoid confusion.
Basically this is intended to be an ultra simple downwind/crosswind sail that anyone can build in a weekend with no prior sewing skills for a few hundred dollars that will be interchangeable between my kayak and canoe designs.
For a basic platform I chose a common Australian design that has been used for decades down there and was significantly refined by the late Mick MacRobb of Flat Earth Kayak Sails. This gives people a commercial option if they don’t feel like building a rig.
Unfortunately the more powerful and very well made Falcon Sail design isn’t compatible with my canoes and doesn’t have quite the same safety profile. Still a great kayak rig though and several of my students use them on my kayaks.
I’ve had a simpler version of what you see here in my canoe course for about three years. It works great and drives surprisingly well for a flat cut sail just due to the flex of the boom batten and the slack created by the floppy fabric boom to mast joint.
Unfortunately in kayak mode with more of a proper gooseneck and a bridle/vang combo sheet the shape flattens and steals my accidental aerodynamics. Still sails pretty good but I definitely notice less drive on a reach.
I’d love to add a little more shape here but I need to be able to do it in ripstop (annoying to cut and sew) and it needs to be easily doable by someone who’s never touched a sewing machine before. All I can think of is seaming in a panel or curving the boom pocket, both of which seem bit hard for beginners!
Any ideas for how to tease in a bit more shape here without making things super complicated?
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