Performance Sailing Kayak

Here are some sit-on-top kayaks to consider for adding a sail.
See photo below.
Data from Paddler Magazine, Jan/Feb '08.

www.bicsportkayaks.com Tobago Delux 13' 31.5" 70# $659
www.cobrakayaks.com Navigator XF 12.5' 31" 45# $665
www.emotionkayaks.com Grand Slam 14.5' 30 69# $799
Mojo 12.5' 31" 52# $599
Tandemonium 13.5' 34" 64# $679
www.heritagekayaks.com Redfish 12.3' 30 65# $729
www.hobiekayaks.com Odyssey 14' 33" 69# $749
www.madrivercanoe.com Synergy 14 14' 30" 64# ?
www.oceankayak.com Peekaboo 12' 34" 61# $899
www.pelicansport.com Apex 130T 13' 35" 66# $450
Apex 116DLX 11.5' 30" 56# $400
www.kayaker.com Lanakai 12.5' 28" 52# $650
www.wildernesssystems.com Ride 135 13.5' 32" 58# $900
Tarpon 130T 13' 34" 65# $800

Performance Sailing Kayak

Performance sailing kayak, a sit-on-top, is a concept craft, a new breed of outdoor fun. It paddles like a kayak and sails like a sailboat.

The secret of success is in the way you operate it. You kneel facing forward like how you learned to paddle a canoe in scout camp. You sail it in the same position so you can quickly shift your weight from side to side to steer and to compensate for changes in wind speed.

As with any sailboat, you need to know some sailing basics. With this craft, you will also have to learn how to steer without a rudder because this craft doesn’t have one. It doesn’t need one. Steering is not difficult to learn. I’ll tell you how later, and show you on my YouTube video. Note the camera mount on the stern.

Here is what I used and how I assembled it.

Equipment Specs:
Kayak - extra stable sit-on-top, 12 ft long, 32” wide - Crescent Splash II. Must have drink-cup recess to hold base of mast 1/3 back from the bow.
Sail - 30 sq ft, sleeve-type, loose footed - Sailrite.com #SQIN4194. Sailrite sends you a kit. You assemble with zigzag sewing machine.
Mast - 15 ft, fiberglass, tapered, 2-1/8” at base - sailboard mast
Mast Holder - 1/2” plywood sheet, PVC pipe, radiator hose clamp
Boom - 6 ft long, 1” dia aluminum tubing with PVC fittings
Leeboard - symmetrical foil, mahogany, 8.5” wide x 4 ft long 1.3” thick
Leeboard thwart - oak board, 3-1/2” wide x 35-1/4” long 7/8” thick
Swivel cleat - on leeboard thwart to control the sail - Ronstan RF67
Line to control the sail - dacron or poly, 1/4” dia. about 16 ft long
Turning block - at stern for the sail-control line - Harken H082
Kneeling pads, closed foam - the thicker the better
Paddle - standard double blade

Criteria for Choosing a Kayak Hull Suitable for Performance Sailing
Look for a sit-on-top, at least 12 ft long, 30” wide with a drink-cup recess 1/3 back from the bow. Suitable kayaks include Ocean Kayak’s Peekaboo, Prowler, Prowler Big Game Angler; Hobie’s Odyssey; and Mad River’s Synergy 14. I’m sure that there are others as well.

Assembly Overview
Conversion of a kayak hull to a performance sailing kayak requires that you fabricate and install three assemblies: a leeboard thwart that holds a pivoting leeboard used for steering (A leeboard is similar to a daggerboard, but located on the side of the craft); a mast holder that lets you fix the mast rake to balance the sail’s center of effort with the leeboard’s center of lateral resistance; and a kneepad that extends across the cockpit for kneeling comfort.

Assembling the Leeboard Thwart
First, estimate the correct location of the leeboard in respect to the center of effort of the sail. My default leeboard position was swept back about 20 degrees from vertical, and my leeboard thwart was located about 16” behind the mast. (see photo)



Bolt the leeboard thwart to the kayak using a 1/4” dia stainless steel bolt on each side of the thwart. First drill a 1.5” access hole adjacent to each bolt location so you can secure a nut and lock washer. The alternative of using lag screws into a blind hole will probably fail. Seal the 1.5” dia access holes with duck tape or faucet hole covers.

You will need a strong angle bracket to hold the pivot leeboard to the thwart. I had a machine shop fabricate one from 1/4” stiff aluminum plate. I prefer the bracket to point down rather than up to put more leeboard under water.

Assembling the Mast Holder
The mast holder must let you set the mast rake over a range of about +/- 10 degrees from vertical. The sail’s center of effort must coincide with the leeboard’s center of lateral resistance with the leeboard in the default position. Without this one-time mast-rake adjustment, you will not be able to get the craft to balance for sailing in a straight line.

My mast-holder bracket was made from a sheet of 1/2” plywood, wedged across the kayak and bolted to the foot recess channels on both sides of the kayak, again using adjacent 1.5” dia holes to access the retaining washers and nuts. I wedged a PVC 3-1/2” dia mast-holder sleeve into the bottom of the drink-cup recess. The top of the sleeve was supported by another sheet of 1/2” plywood, attached to the other plywood sheet by 90-degree angle brackets. (see photo)



The top of the sleeve was adjustable forward and backward by a pair of aluminum angle-bracket channels, one on each side, with closely spaced holes running full length. A 4” pin and radiator clamp holds the sleeve in place between the channels. The sleeve top was reduced in diameter to 2-1/4” by a collar to suit the mast. The sleeve bottom has a knob that fits inside the base of the mast to anchor it.

Steering
Think of this craft as similar to a sailboard having no rudder, but a fixed daggerboard. To sail a sailboard, you move the mast backward to turn into the wind, or forward to turn away from the wind. This sailing kayak has a fixed mast. To steer, you rotate the leeboard forward to turn into the wind, backward to turn away from the wind, or leave it in a mostly vertical position for going in a straight line.

To turn 90 degrees thru an oncoming wind, you rotate the leeboard forward. The boat comes into the wind by turning thru 45 degrees. As you pass directly into the wind, you rotate the leeboard backward as you let the boat turn thru an additional 45 degrees to complete the 90 degree turn. Then you reset the leeboard for a straight course. You shift your weight as needed.

To steer away from the wind, you rotate the leeboard backward and lean the boat the opposite way that you would lean your bike in a turn. Do this until you are heading directly down wind. Then pull the boom across to the opposite side.

Important: Mast rake and leeboard angle must be in balance. If you can tack easily but have trouble turning away from the wind, rake the mast forward. If you have trouble tacking but can turn away from the wind, rake the mast aft. This is an onshore adjustment that must be correct.

Sailing Performance
I’ve been sailing this craft on a lake in wind speeds under 10 knots. It goes where I want it to go, easily controlled without a rudder: up wind, tacking thru 90 degrees as does a regular sailboat, or away from the wind into a gybe. It is a hoot to sail. Great fun. I can even paddle if the wind dies.

YouTube
For a sailing video of my Crescent Splash II, search for Performance Sailing Kayak on YouTube. You will learn a lot from that 9-minute video.

Scrubbing the Sit-in Kayak Platform for Sailing

Concerning the idea of using a sit-in kayak as a platform for designing a sailing kayak without outriggers, I have decided to scrub that approach. Although sit-in kayaks are getting more stable, a capsize would cause it to fill like a bath tub, and self-rescuing would be difficult. Also, due to the narrow beam of a kayak, you need to be able to shift your weight quickly to compensate for wind gusts, more so than in a typical small sailboat. For these reasons, I am changing my kayak of choice for a non-outrigger sailing design to a sit-on-top. There are several on the market that are sufficiently stable to warrant consideration. Therefore, I am scrubbing the Pungo 120 sit-in kayak as a platform for designing a sailing kayak.

Update from Test Sailing the Triyak

My sailing club offers great opportunities to test new designs against other sailboats during weekend races. Although the triyak handled well in tacking and gybing, it did not meet my expectations on the race course. For the amount of sail area, it was relatively slow. It was overly complicated. It was a good try but no cigar! I disassembled the rig and sold the kayak. I had better ideas to explore.

Welcome to Kayak Sailing Designs

The purpose of this blog is to communicate ideas that will entice the recreational kayaker into sailing. Just as sailing a canoe was popular in the 20th century, the 21st century may see a growing popularity in sailing a kayak.


My credentials in posting this blog are grounded in racing sail canoes, experimenting with various sail rigs for sailing canoes, and applying that know-how to sailing a kayak as if it were a sailboat.


Already there are experimenters who have developed and are developing various designs for a sailing kayak. As I learn of their efforts, I will add links to their work.


My goal is that visitors to this blogsite will be rewarded with enthusiasm and insite to further their involvement in this recreational sport.




Two Approaches to Rig a Recreational Kayak for Sailing

Kayak with Outriggers (top photo)
This approach gives you a stable platform so you can use relatively more sail area and go faster in stronger winds. It more than likely would result in a more permanent conversion of your kayak to a sailing craft and may curtail your ability to paddle. A typical sailing rig would have a mainsail (40 to 50 sq.ft.) and a jib (20 to 25 sq.ft.) Other required additions would be a leeboard (equivalent to a sailboat's centerboard) and a rudder. Typical length of this sit-in kayak should be about 14 to 16 ft.

Kayak without Outriggers (second photo)
This approach would let you go ashore to convert easily from paddle to sail or vice versa. It would also require you to be agile while sailing to control the balance (heeling) in shifting winds, somewhat like sailing a sailboard but sitting down. A relatively large leeboard would retard the heeling motion and give you time to adjust sail and/or balance to guard against capsize. A single sail of about 20 to 30 sq ft would be about right.

This kayak should be 12 to 15 ft in length, about 30 inches wide, and have a relatively large cockpit. A sit-on-top would be easy to self-rescue after a capsize. A sit-in would be more comfortable to sail but more difficult to self-rescue. The 2-piece mast and a boom would clamp to the side/top of the kayak while paddling. The mast would be free-standing. The leeboard, when not used for sailing, would rotate out of the way along one side of the kayak. This rig could be sailed without a rudder by moving the leeboard forward or backward, but would require more skill and practice.

Design Approach for a Non-outrigger Kayak
The sail rig could be a quick-connect integrated cockpit “surround” that bolts to the kayak cockpit with some bolts and wingnuts. The “surround” has:
- gunwales to facilitate sitting on the cockpit rim, port and starboard
- leeboard bracket that bolts the leeboard below the rim
- oversized leeboard to help retard the heeling tendency
- mast holder for a free-standing carbon-fiber mast
- loose-footed sleeve sail, about 30 sf
- splashguard to keep water out of the cockpit
- lines for sail and leeboard (to work leeboard from opposite gunwale)
- rudderless steering, by working the leeboard and controlling heel
- easy paddling when mast and sail are stowed
- open class racing, no specs, whatever works best will gain support

Design Model:
To investigate the design potential, I made a balsawood model of a Wilderness Systems Pungo 120 as shown in the second photo, above.