What you need to know when it comes to kayak sailing and proper lines.
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- čas přidán 4. 05. 2024
- There are a few basic things you should know about lines to get the most out of a kayak sail rig when kayak sailing.
If you are interested in buying some good quality line, or custom designing your own sail go to our on line store.
www.falconsails.com/store
Also check out our facebook page.
/ falconsails
P8140003 - Sport
Great explanations!! thank you.
You are very welcome.
Please feel free to contact Falcon Sails
www.falconsails.com/contact.php
Can't find anything for rigging a sea kayak without using a drill, and when the sail goes underwater it's hard to right the rig cudd do wit enough flotation to surface the rig or detach the sail from from the capsized hull, and have it float, as usual nothing to glue placements on yurr kayak
Drilling holes can be a touchy subject for some people.
Here are some of standard discussions and ideas about drilling holes.
It is not possible to do as solid of a sail rigging job without drilling holes in a boat as it is to install a solid rig and drilling holes.
Just like you need to drill holes in a conventional sail boat to do a proper rigging job, you have to drill holes in a kayak to do a solid job of installing a solid sail rig on a kayak. Any kayak with a sail installed without drilling holes will always be clearly inferior / not as solid / not as reliable as rig installed by drilling holes. Of course Falcon Sails supports customers who want to try rigging their kayak without drilling holes.
We have been down the road of people working hard to not drill holes.
After over 10 years of doing this, we have never see a long term rigging job or people who stick with kayak sailing when they do this.
It ends up being a exercise of abandon.
In the end, I never see a long term rigging job or people who stick with kayak sailing when they do this.
It is similar to rigging a sail boat with a mast and standing line anchor points and not drilling holes.
Personally, I think not drilling holes is a big compromise that is not worth it.
I like to use what is simplistic and I know is 100% reliable.
In reality, you could drill thousands of holes in your kayak, and plug them with pan head screws and the boat will pretty much indistinguishable from a kayak without any after factory holes.
Kayaks have a lot of holes drilled and cut out of them. They are made fore grab handles, safety lines, shock cord organizers, seats, seat backs, hatch covers, compass, hatches, foot pegs, grab handles, rod holders, rudders, camera mounts, scupper holes, ect ect.
But I just like to be honest with people and let them know, it will take a lot of time and effort to install a rig with no drilling and it will be a lot inferior to a proper rigging job.
But still, you are the boss, and Falcon Sails will support you in your efforts as we do with all Falcon Sail customers.
If you have difficulties drilling holes here are some ideas to reduce the number of holes you need to drill.
You can go from 2 hole standing line anchor points to a single hole alternate anchor point system.
You can eliminate side stay anchor points to cut all anchor points in half.
You can tie cleats to a line on your deck vs bolting them down.
You can use a line tied from one side of your deck to the other to act as a sheet line fairlead to eliminate a hole.
You can tie your bow pulley to grab handle or use some other hardware or existing hole to attach the bow pulley, to avoid drilling holes to attach your pulley. There is a lot you can do, but it is best to have a few holes for the deck plate with deck support strut assembly, and the back stay anchor points. All the other holes can be avoided. But still I like to do a clean solid rigging job, and personally do not hesitate to drill holes to make my rigging job cleaner and more solid.
To get a good idea of what we call a solid rigging job, take a look at our most recent rigging instruction video to see how we make it as solid as possible.
czcams.com/video/2i8_EEExqNg/video.html
Thanks for the detailed tour of the rigging. It was very helpful.
I love the idea of collapsing the whole rigging to douse the sail instead of a halyard. Brilliant!
It is a total game changer. You can sail on demand and drop your sail on demand in seconds.
Having a sail is great, but when you want it down you want it down. Faster is better.
@@FalconSails
That's always the case in any sailing!
Awesome setup!
Excellent information ! Thanks ! From Puerto Rico
I am glad you are interested and you find this useful. Tell your friends, and check out our facebook page.
facebook.com/falconsails
Patrick, Nice job on the explanation of the various lines. I see Eddyline is introducing the Sandpiper 130. It's a foot longer then the current Sandpiper which I'm thinking would be ideal for the Falcon Sail.
Of course any hardshell ( plastic, fiberglass, wood, ect ) kayak is great for kayak sailing. I would like to upgrade this demo boat just so it is a newer and more interesting model.
Now i want to experiment with a jib and mizzen!
I have had a falcon sail and you can sail to wind very easy to raise and lower as you kayak
The first time I sailed with a standard kayak hull and made up wind progress I was amazed. Conventional sail hulls make people think you can only make up wind progress if you have a lee board. They do not realize, kayaks are made to track / go in a straight line. That is achieved by having lateral resistance throughout the length of the hull.
A conventional sail boat hull is designed to be as slippery as possible going forward. A byproduct of that is a hull that is slippery in all directions, including going sideways. Another byproduct of designing a hull that is slippery as possible going forward is a hull that tends to spin due to its lack of lateral resistance.
So yes a sail boat hull needs a lee board, or a keel but a kayak hull does surprisingly well without a lee board or keel. Life is so much easier when you do not have to deal with this kind of thing.
Great explanation - really helpful. I like this rig. But the sail protrudes when stowed, and so I think it would interfere with a clean easy paddle stroke?
On this particular kayak it does protrude a little bit, but it is not much of an issue. A very slight modification in your paddle stroke will 100% take care of this very small problem. The biggest compromise by far is not having a good quality sail when a great one is available.
Here are some pictures of a Falcon Sail in the down position. You can see in this collection of pictures it is even a smaller issue on most kayaks.
www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=30659399%40N02&sort=date-taken-desc&text=down&view_all=1
you should be showing us the sail operation from inside the boat
Very informative video. Considering installing a Falcon sail on a Tempest 170. Can anyone speak to the difficulty of paddling with the sail in the stowed position?
When you put a Falcon Sail in the down position on a sea kayak it is just about 100% out of the way. It is light weight and compact.
You can see different kayaks with the Falcon Sail rigged and in the down position here.
www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=30659399%40N02&sort=date-taken-desc&text=down&view_all=1
Look for the sea kayaks and you will see the sail out of the way.
Sorry for the slow reply to your question. We were out of town in Ireland teaching kayak sailing which slowed us down on social media quite a bit.
You can see some pictures of us with our sea kayaks on this great trip here.
www.flickr.com/photos/falconsails/albums/72177720312201144
Please call our shop if you have any questions.
www.falconsails.com/contact.php
my comment as well. Hmm....
Great video, looks like an awesome setup. Do you guys offer any solutions for dagger/tiller/rudder?
After watching some more of your videos it looks as if you control steering with your paddle and body weight. Do you find that drifting is an issue without the counterforce of a dagger? Is it fairly easy to stay upright, even while tacking and jibbing?
@@PaddlingIowa Steering when kayak sailing is very easy to do. Kayaks have a lot of natural lateral resistance built into their hulls.
Sail boat hulls are designed to have the least about of resistance going forward. A byproduct of this is a hull that has little resistance going sideways and will not go in a straight line. A kayak hull is designed for other goals. Its main goal is to track / go in a straight line. That is done with lateral resistance thru the entire length of the hull. When you pick up speed, the resistance increases and is very effective. Kayaks are not perfect sail boat hulls, but they do sail surprisingly well, and do not slide sideways as a naked conventional sailboat hull will will. ie a sailboat hull without a rudder and or a keel will slide sideways a lot and will spin. So all sailors assume all hulls will do this. It is not the case. A kayak hull will track and not slide sideways nearly as much.
I wrote a bit about this here.
www.falconsails.com/KayakSailingFAQ.php#centerboard
I hope this helps.
Call our shop any time. We are always happy to talk about anything about kayak sailing.
Since your in Iowa, you should consider visiting Canoecopia. It is the biggest open to the public paddle sports show on the planet.
It is in Madison Wisconsin March 13th thru the 15th. Falcon Sails has a nice booth right near the entrance. This show is amazing.
FalconSails thanks so much for the very thorough and thoughtful response, great info! Can’t believe I didn’t think about the tracking capability of kayaks, indeed a different goal from a sailboat hull. Will totally check out that show, Madison isn’t far at all. I’ll be sure to stop by your booth.
@@PaddlingIowa Please stop by our booth and introduce your self. We should have bottled water and a few snacks, and some extra chairs so you can take a break as you watch some videos.
FalconSails sure thing!
Great...
Oh, the tack has changed since the video
Yes. We are continually upgrading our sail and rigging design.
We have made a nice upgrade to our downhaul and forestay system.
Here is some more information.
=========================================
We have updated our forestay and down haul routing.
You can have a nice upgrade if you rig according to the new plan.
The forestay line goes from the cleat at the cockpit, to the bow pulley, and then goes to the junction ring on the mast. It gets tied to the junction ring, and does not go down from there.
The shock cord attached to the sail tack acts as the down haul. From the sail it goes through the hole in the boom, then to the cleat on the base of the mast.
To learn more about it, take a look at this video.
facebook.com/falconsails/videos/2205345816439906/
@@FalconSails yeah I have the new version! But it's the old routing in the paper instructions I received
Hello Friend I liked the sail shape. The mast is made of aluminum, and the sail is made of what material?
After having made and help thousands of kayakers rig thier sail boats, we have come up with a really good design.
The mast and boom are made of prepreg carbon fiber. It is super stiff, and super strong. It will not ever bend or break when used for kayak sailing. i is very stiff,.
The Sail is made of 3.8 oz dacron cloth. It is conventional dingy boat mail sail cloth. It is perfect for the job. It is stiff, strong , and stretches 1/10th what many kayak sails cloth will.
@@1234superduper Thanks for replying friend! I'm from Brazil, I'm a little sad that we don't have equipment with this quality here. Congratulations on the quality of your products, they are simply amazing! I'll just have my oar, what a sadness 😞
@@wolneymateus5833 we ship to Brazil. Shipping is only $15 to any place South America.
You can custom design your sail on our website.
see
www.falconsails.com/store
OK, the things I want most to know are:
What happens in the event of a capsize, If it's all cleated off, your going to find it tough to roll?
How close to the wind does this rig sail?
You don't seem to have a board or keel so what is the leeway?
What speeds do you expect at or above designed wind on the main points, upwind downwind and reaching (assuming approx 5m sea kayak)?
I like that your fore-stay is also the Cunningham, should auto adjust camber for you, nice,
So, I'm thinking some stretch in the vang would be good, maybe some ultra heavy shock cord so you can get tension but still allow gusts to twist off and spill to avoid getting knocked down.
There is a lot of questions here. I will try to answer.
#1
With just a little common sense, it is very easy to avoid capsizing with a Falcon Sail.
You can drop the sail in seconds, and be back to normal kayaking if you are not comfortable with how much wind there is.
And of course getting back in the kayak, is exactly like you would without a sail. You just release the forestay cleat, and the sail drops.
If you can roll with out a sail, then with a little practice you can roll with a sail.
Here are a few videos of me doing practice rolls with a sail.
facebook.com/falconsails/videos/579334496114769/
&
czcams.com/video/u6vdygUCVco/video.html
&
czcams.com/video/a8ANYekiqws/video.html
I release the forestay, and then when I set up, I push my blade out of the water to make 100% sure my paddle is above everything. Then I roll as normal. There is about a 1/10th of a second hesitation in the roll but it is over instantly. You just want to know you will feel a sight stall, but then it is over. In any case I am not the best roller in the world and I roll just fine with my falcon sail rigged both up and down. In any case, with a little common sense you can avoid capsizing. Most all Falcon Sailors have never been capsized. About 100% of them that have, are knowingly pushing their limits.
#2
You ask how close to the wind you can sail.
It takes some time to properly answer this question.
I see first timers with no sailing experience, sail across a lake and return up wind of where they started.
I can easily make up wind progress when conditions are good. Even without paddling.
As I push the limits of what my typical kayak will do / point further up wind, the performance drops. Eventually it makes sense to paddle and sail. In any case, if you keep the sail oriented to the wind properly, you will gain useful propulsion to within 30 degrees of straight up wind. As you push the very limits of this ability, you have to paddle more. And somewhere around 30 degrees its time to drop the sail, or consider tacking you way to your goal. This is a good general description of what you can do.
Of course kayaks are not sail boats, but they do have surprisingly good lateral resistance built into their hulls, so they do a lot better than you would think.
Sail boat hulls are designed to be as slippery as possible going forward. A byproduct of that design goal, is a hull that is slippery in all directions that will spin as well.
Kayak hulls are designed to track / go in a straight line. This is achieved by having lateral resistance throughout the length of the hull. One other note I will make is the faster you move, the more lateral resistance there is, and the further forward it is in the kayak. If you can imaging a race where 2 teams are towing 2 identical loaded kayaks with a paddler on board. One is pulling the kayak forward. The other identical team is pulling the kayak from the side. Now which one is going to win the race ? 100% of the time the team pulling from the front will win because there is probably 5x more resistance going sideways than forward.
In any case a kayak will sail surprisingly well.
#3
We never use a lee board or dagger board. Our kayaks are always 100% standard.
The cost in terms of weight, bulk, complication, drag and many times overall negative performance for adding lateral resistance appendages make them undesirable.
If you want to kayak, adding just a sail will give you 80% of what adding a bulky intrusive lee board will give you. A Falcon Sail weighs less than 3.5 pounds and can be dropped and folded to the size of an umbrella in seconds. They are meant to be a really cool feature for a kayak, not turn your kayak into a sail boat. With kayak hulls natural lateral resistance and the attractiveness of their simplicity, adding a lee board ends up being a waste of time.
I wrote a bit about these issues related to this and #2 ( how close to the wind can you sail )
www.falconsails.com/KayakSailingFAQ.php#centerboard
#4
Speed of course depends on how much wind you have.
I can tell you a few things.
You will always be faster with a sail than without a sail. They will only make you go faster.
You will speed up faster
You will slow down slower.
Even our small sail will push any kayak to its maximum hull speed if it has enough wind.
Even our small sail will push harder than 99% of all paddlers can push given a good amount of wind.
The steady power of a sail, is amazing when it comes to catching and surfing waves. You will go faster and further.
It is not common, but when I am out in my Epic 18x in big waves and big winds I do see speeds of 13mph over and over on an outing.
This is not normal or typical, but I never never seen over 10mph without a sail.
So if your typical cruising pace speed for a day is 4 mph, with good winds, you can do 5mph all day long with a sail and about zero paddling. This is where some really cool benefits happen. If you are racing a friend with equal strength, boat, skills, and effort, you will win the race every single time.
If there is a lot of wind you will will typically be able to hit maximum hull speed with no paddling on all angles of attack up to about 10 degrees above reaching, and as you go up wind more, the laws of diminishing returns will set in until there is very little benefit. On light wind days, you will want to reach and go up wind to take advantage of apparent wind effect. For example, if there is only 5mph winds, and you go straight down wind at say may be 2.5 mph the apparent wind will be about 2.5 mph and it will not be much fun. If you reach across the wind, you can get some speed up, and the apparent wind will not drop. If you point up wind, your apparent wind will increase, and so will your propulsion. In any case the answer to your question is a moving target. It all becomes much more obvious as you hit the water.
In any case, I can hardly imagine anybody passing on a good quality sail rig for their kayaks if you can have one that only weighs 3 pounds and folds to the size of an umbrella in seconds. If you want to know more contact Falcon Sails at our contact page.
www.falconsails.com/contact.php
The best thing to do is call, because these questions are much easier to answer in a discussion.
Your ideas are good.
But actually a rig that does not dump air is easier to handle.
What happens with a sail that dumps air is it gives a unpredictable and unsettling pulsating force. With a solid rig you know what are are getting. You get maximum steady power.
In order to match the maximum steady power of a solid rig, on a rig that will dump air, you need a bigger rig that will have peaks and valleys in its power. So your maximum heeling force is actually more on a sail that dumps air. The sail that dumps air has to be bigger than the solid rig to provide the same average propulsion, it also is unpredictable and pulsating and unsettling. You can depower a solid rig intentionally by letting out the sheet, or outhaul, or boomvang. Or if you are not comfortable, you can drop a Falcon Sail in seconds, which will make a situation you think is difficult, become very easy to handle and manageable in seconds.
I hope this long winded answer helps.
In any case, Falcon Sails is very serous about providing the best rigs possible and the best service and knowledge you will find anywhere.
You can custom design your own sail rig at
www.falconsails.com/store/
Every kit we ship out includes absolutely everything you need to solidly rig your kayak with an awesome high performance sail rig.
All you need are basic tools.
Here is a video that will show you how to rig a Falcon Sail and give you an idea about the quality of our rigs.
czcams.com/video/Al7v3cutaRc/video.html
@@FalconSails That seems to be a very defensive reply. I just wanted some basic performance information as there exists 2 options, sail of kite. The kite option would seem to be less tippy and much more powerful off the wind but probably not efficient upwind so I just wanted to get an idea of the upwind performance of a kayak sail I have sailed dinghies since the late 60s and placed in state and national titles. I did some slalom kayaking in the 70s but did not pursue comp past high school, continuing to paddle recreationally. I have never combined the 2 but dinghy sailing is getting a bit too demanding as I age so I am thinking about rationalising the 2 into one boat platform. The dinghy I currently own is quite efficient and will tack within 80 deg. Ie sail 40 deg to the true wind. If you say you sail a kayal at 30 deg to the wind, you must mean apparent wind, not true wind. So that isn't greatly helpful. Even if you can point high into the wind, leeway means that your track will be somewhat less than this which is why I asked about that, to get some idea of the boats track and speed through the water without paddle assist. It wasn't an attack or criticism, just a request for information.
I don't want to go modifying my sea kayak without knowing what to expect.
@@kenwebster5053 We are willing to take the time to educate people. People appreciate this. Many times, conventional sail thinking yields wrong answers and assumptions, so when we have time, we go into detail to explain what goes into the answer.
Even with the best sail you can find a kayak is not going to sail like a purpose built sail boat. With a good sail kayaks sail a lot better than expected. And they do not lead to capsizing unless somebody is taking obvious risks.
All the numbers we post are based on actual movement. All the numbers we post are determined by gps, or returning to fixed points of land or a buoy or anchored boats or other stationary objects. We sail on a starboard tack, take a reading, and then sail on a port tack and take a reading. This clearly shows the angles of attack we are sailing and what angles are not sailable. It is all based on basic navigation by people that understand navigation.
The Falcon Sail rigs can provide useful propulsion to within 30 degrees of straight up wind. You can not just sit there and squeeze this last bit of performance out of the rig. When a general question is asked, people need to be educated to give a full and honest answer. This includes people that do not know the basics about sailing, and 90% of knowledgeable conventional sailors make predictions and assume all hulls are the same. The bottom line is a beginner can do very well and figure out the basics after a week end or 2, and a knowledgeable sailor that knows at least the basics of kayaking will do very well provided with decent conditions. Any kayak sailor can make up wind progress on their first time out. With obvious caveats like it can not be super windy or gusty or there can not be big waves. Some people will take a general statement and run with it, so we add information that allows people to make better assessments.
There is no doubt a Falcon Sail will do circles around a kite on most angles of attack. Launching a kite, and retrieving a kite, can be a big problem. And if you do push your limits, and capsize a kite can just fly away with your boat in tow. Reeling in a kite can be a very precarious situation. You have to set your paddle down, and use both hands to reel it in. With some experience, you can drop a Falcon Sail in any conditions in just a few seconds.
The bottom line is, kayak sailing is a blast, and having a good quality rig makes all the difference. With a Falcon Sail, you can have a great sail rig that weighs just over 3 pounds.
@@kenwebster5053 Yeah if you can't roll it, it's too much rigging imho. Sea Dog makes a simple safe sail without so many "lines"
that's a very harsh response to a guy generously structuring fulsome answers to your initial questions, and clearly stating the limits.@@kenwebster5053 @FalconSails
Hello, I have a question, why are the shrouds so high? above the boom and not below the boom like other competitive systems, this way they do not cross the boom for the aft winds.
Thank you for asking a question.
You can put the standing line anchor points up high, or down low.
The problem with putting them down so low is, it creates a lot of highly levered force action on all the hardware. Your gets smashed with a lot of down force, your mast base gets torqued with a lot of lateral force, the standing lines get pulled on hard. So you stress all hardware including you mast and the mast will have a decent chance of bending or breaking.
Without a deep knowledge of kayak sailing you would think, letting your sail weathervane is a good idea, but it is actually a very poor idea for proper and safe depowering.
Here is a link to another video where I talk about how to properly depower your sail rig using the run with the wind technique.
czcams.com/video/fP7AxiwKthQ/video.html
Here is a link to a rough draft article that I go into a lot of detail about what hight for the standing line anchor point is best. It is not as simple of a choice as some people would think.
www.falconsails.com/articles/StandingLinesAboveOrAllBelowTheBoom.pdf
It is a long winded answer but in the end, it will help you see how higher standing line anchor points is a good thing.
Feel free to call our shop if you need any help.
In the end there is no doubt, you want to have the standing lines up higher.
Low standing line anchor points to make the boom go forward sounds good in theory until you are stuck with all the problems this creates.
So that is why Falcon Sails standing line anchor points are a bit higher than they are on some of the not so well thought out home made rigs.
Can you mate the same video with the updated version of the rig ?
I wish we could update all our videos for every small change, but since upgrading our rigs is a constant process, we are short on time, and updating videos is a big job, there is only so much we can do. Most of the upgrades are small refinements nobody would notice.
The only upgrade of any significance on this rig is the routing of our forestay line.
You can see that here.
facebook.com/falconsails/videos/2205345816439906/
In any case when you are putting the sail together, this new forestay line is actually easier and simpler to route.
I like the sail setup for that kayak but it must be all but impossible to do much upwind without a long keel. Hobie uses their mirage drive as the keel and it works fairly well while sailing. Without a keel, you are blown sideways.
This is an example where conventional sail thinking leads to wrong answers. A conventional sail boat hull is designed to be as slippery as possible going forward. A byproduct of this is a hull that is slippery in all directions that will spin like crazy. A kayak hull is designed to track / go in a straight line. This is done by building lateral resistance into the hull. So a naked kayak hull is actually really good for sailing. It is not a sail boat, hull with a keel or centerboard, but you can still sail up wind surprisingly well.
Think about towing a kayak. Will it tow easier if you pull it from the bow, or from the side of the kayak.
Of course it will tow much easier towing from the bow than it will towing it from the side. That is because there is a lot more resistance going sideways than there is going forward. Its not a sail boat, kayaks will sail 5x better than a naked (no center board or rudder or keel ) modern sail boat hull will sail.
See
Here is a guy with his 12 foot kayak and not much sailing experience paddle sailing up wind on his first outing.
facebook.com/falconsails/videos/278619176312509/?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARAGigGxc2c3KRYyk8YYd6iRafOQOy-ZVuuUcLNoOQd6jYODNfIXp3OuM8WYTRQwWqDTeuGH56auQfFZpJpDYQCOFYOZ5GN-3xi8jp5dlRN939jH01cIOs-e9DVsJzmjVk0turNC8M_cDS3A6rI3Nmy0rvsSjzX3FfKxSC9K4kXFcQDBLGqvBFhKVJ0q9HnPpP1i47fcz4yXqDTt9uLZiJ8UB0Gj4NvUCz59KPZVxkGoV2V3c27v6fHXC03Rj0x_0GBikcpJHEeF5S9J_vDnAedpYuAwpqNT0c3WAME4aSIgKdbsOX5dYpk3OJ3AM51AemP4szb4vaGwg2dsY5wZZpIA-2EoqKF_or9EO1xTSg_G&__tn__=-R
Also see
czcams.com/video/jfJgPxpwCP0/video.html
Here is another video that starts showing 1 boat going one way, and another boat going another.
czcams.com/video/2i8_EEExqNg/video.html
One more oldie but goodie showing us sailing across the wind.
czcams.com/video/FbArYr71mRo/video.html
@@FalconSails I stand corrected! Guess I'm used to bigger sails positioned farther back than on your setup.
@@christianludvigsen5641 The sailing concepts are all the same, but as hull shapes change, the variables are quite a bit different. If you do not change the variables in the formulas, conventional sail thinking yields wrong answers when it is time to figure out kayak sailing. Like kayak hulls center of lateral resistance is much further forward than they are on a sail boat hull. They are designed to turn up wind when you are not moving as a safety factor. As you pick up speed, the center of lateral resistance moves farther and farther forward. Then the sail generates a little bit of down force which moves the center of lateral resistance further forward, and you can move it further forward by putting your gear a bit further forward than you typically would to achieve what you like the best. If you move just a liter of water from the stern hatch to the bow hatch, you can feel a difference. It is easy to move the center of lateral resistance where you would like it to be. You can lean forward and aft when under way. You can also adjust your center of lateral force above the water line to achieve the balance sailors are looking for. Usually this is done by simply pulling the boom in and out. There are a lot of little tricks to make things happen. When you just get started, you will not care. If you are not a particular person you will probably never care, but as you dive into kayak sailing, you may enjoy the fact that a kayaks center of lateral resistance and center of lateral force is so easy to move for and aft.
@@FalconSails As you probably figured out I sail catamarans and mono hull sailboats with masts more than 30 ft and most of the time with more than one sail. For those of us who sail them a good keel or centerboard is a must to go upwind. Even at that I'm lucky to come into the wind less than 45 degrees and at a board reach I'm usually healed over by 20 to 30 percent on a mono hull , 10 to 15 percent on a cat or flying a hull on something like a hobie cat.
So I can't speak for how your sails work on a kayak. I was just trying to find out how you controlled drift and healing without some kind of centerboard or keel and your explanation helped with moving weight forward.
This video will show you how well a standard kayak hull can sail up wind if you have a good quality sail. No keel or lee board is needed.
czcams.com/video/e-IxDPoadjU/video.html
This may be a dumb question but: how safe is it to add a sail to a kayak? Is it easy to capsize your boat? Do you need an outrigger?
With a proper sized sail, and just a little bit of normal common sense to put the sail down if you do not feel out of control, it is very easy to kayak sail without capsizing. 95% of all Falcon Sailors do not use outriggers. Most who start with outriggers, do not continue using outriggers. Though you should do what it takes to make sure you feel safe. Post people just stay in lighter winds when they are learning.
how do you reef? I mean other than up or down, can you somehow deploy some but not all of the sail?
There are a lot of techniques for dealing with more wind power. Reefing a compact sail, has a lot of downsides and provides less benefit in kayak sailing than you may think at first glance. The idea of reefing a sail, is a subject that conventional sail thinking & lack of kayak sailing experience leads to some really bad ideas. In thousands of miles of kayak sailing, I have never wanted to reef a sail.
The big problem with reefing a small sail is you are basically scrunching a small air foil, into being a wad of material aloft and pretty much destroying your sail shape. You lose most of your air foil shape when you do this. A well-shaped sail, is designed to turn side blowing force / healing force and turn it into propulsion. The last thing you should do is scrunch it into a wad of material that is not an air foil. A non-airfoil shape wad of material does more harm than good. In this case, it takes healingforce and keeps it healing force. It also reduces propulsion which is one of your main assets for bracing should you decide to brace. Reefing a small kayak sail is a step backwards & provides a false sense of security. If you are over powered & are not feeling safe, the last thing you want to do is take your hands off the paddle to handle more lines and create a non-airfoil shape wad of material.
On a conventional sail boat, the sail is larger, and when you reef the sail, you lower the sail on the mast and tie up the excess on the boom. That some of the draw backs of reefing, but not so much, and it is moderatley easy to do.
If you are over powered, let your sheet line out and let the sail luff, release the outhaul line to reduce power, and release your boom vang line if it is set. If that does not provide enough power reduction, drop the sail. You can drop your sail and secure it to your deck in seconds / 10x faster than you can reef. If you are not comfortable you should not be extending your exposure with a false sense of security that reefing a kayak sail provides.
The other downside to reefing is, it adds complexity and bulk to your rig 100% of the time and it is a step backwards in your sail shape / air foil 100% of the time. You have lines, and cleats and grommets and whatever else in the fray that takes away from the simplicity of a well-designed sail and you are stuck with it everywhere you go. These extra lines and parts can add confusion when rigging at the put in and take out. You may think all the lines are routed properly and then when you raise your sail, some lines are twisted or tangled or routed improperly. This can be a significant problem and for sure take away from your fun. These additional lines can get tangled up and make it hard to lower the sail, or properly secure it to the deck of your kayak. Anything aloft that is not a airfoil, is a step backwards as well.
You can drop a sail that is part of a well-made rig in seconds, and you will find other ways to deal with more power than you want. Nobody reefs a wind surfing sail because it is a bad idea. Kayak Sails are even smaller than wind surfing sails, which increases the argument for not reefing a kayak sail even more.
The best way to deal with higher winds is to choose the proper sized sail when you launch. Make it so you can change your sail quickly and easily. A change of sail will let you have a great airfoil shape where reefing does not. One other thing that is very helpful in dealing with big winds is to have a solid sail rig that provides steady predictable power. If a sail has a flimsy flexible mast or a sail that tends to flop over, or you have a boomless design or even no boom vang, you will have unpredictable and unsettling fluctuation in power, which is really hard to deal with.
If you have a Falcon Sail with a Falcon Sail rigging kit, you can choose from 3 different sail sizes and launch with the best size for that day, or bring what ever sail sizes you have, and change your sail if you change your mind. Changing out a Falcon Sail takes about 1 minute.
You can see the Falcon Sail options here.
www.falconsails.com/store
In this video, you can see my friends and I sailing in some really big winds, and you can see the techniques we use to deal with power.
Videos do not do a good job of showing how much wind there is. In any case, it is very windy.
It shows just how solid and reliable and easy to use our rigs are and how much we are into kayak sailing ourselves.
czcams.com/video/vHxhgqUzp1E/video.html
I wrote a bit more about reefing here.
www.falconsails.com/KayakSailingFAQ.php#reef
#size
What size sail to rig
==================================================
The 1.4 is nice to have on a light wind day or on a wider more stable kayak.
The 1.1 is a really nice in between size.
The 1.0 is for sure the go to size on a bigger wind day, or if your boat is smaller and tippier.
You will be happy with any size, but one size will hit the sweet spot more often than the other.
Here are a few general rules of thumb.
If you have a narrow kayak, and see winds above 10mph regularly, the 1.0 is the way to go.
If you have a super stable kayak / one that is over 28 inches wide and only rarely see winds over 15mph, the 1.4 would be the best size.
If you have a wide kayak and like big wind days, the 1.0 would be a great choice as well.
The 1.1 is a nice in between size.
No matter what kayak you have, all sizes are going to work nicely with any kayak you may own.
If you buy any size sail with a complete rigging kit, you can add a sail only of any size you like at any time, and have any combination of sail you like at any time you hit the water.
All sizes of Falcon Sails, are compatible with the Falcon Sail rig. If you buy a Sail only of any size at any time, it will include everything you need to use it with your Falcon Sail rig.
Skill level does play a small role in the choice, but in general a smart advanced kayak sailor will be no more likely to go with a big sail than a beginner.
Advanced kayakers who enjoy sailing will typically go out in bigger winds and are best served by the 1.0.
There is no reason to be overpowered. On a big wind day, a 1.0 square meter Falcon Sail can push any kayak to its maximum hull speed, and for sure faster than the strongest paddler can paddle a kayak if the distance is more than a 50-yard sprint.
In the ideal world you have all 3 sizes of sails.
If you buy a 1.0 square meter sail with a complete rigging kit, you can buy a 1.4 square meter sail only any time you like. And of course, if you buy a 1.4 square meter sail with a complete rigging kit, you can buy a 1.0 square meter sail only any time you like. It is all the same thing for the 1.1 square meter sail as well.
All Falcon Sails hardware is modular and interchangeable.
We look at every order to make sure somebody who already has a Falcon Sail will be taken care of / will have all the hardware necessary to use it on a previously purchased rig with another size sail.
The 1.0 sail only comes with a boom extension that will make it work with your 1.4 or 1.1 sail rig.
The 1.1 sail only comes with a boom extension that will make it work with your 1.0 or 1.4 sail rig.
The 1.4 sail only comes with a boom extension that will make it work with your 1.0 or 1.1 sail rig.
@@FalconSails thank you for the detailed response, the video was impressive, I can't help but think that a freestanding mast with a roller furling mechanism is the way to go, ie the Hobie sail kit, their mast lacks the rigidity of your mast, it does flex, and lacks a boom of course, but is very simple, one control line for the roller furling mechanism, one sheet line running through an eyelet at the stern to taunt the sail, that's it, what am I missing?
There are a number of issues that make the furling mast less desirable. They may sound good on the surface without actually using them. There is a reason only a very few kayak sails made to furl due to the compromises involved.
Here are a few things that come to mind.
#1 - When you furl it up, you have a lot of bulk aloft where the wind is at its maximum. Some times you just want to go straight up wind quickly. In that case, you do not want a bulk of material up high in the biggest wind. It makes paddling up wind more difficult. Not being able to lower your mast quickly, is also a pain if you are going under a bridge or dock. That means you will have healing force from the wind, and weight aloft if you are sailing or not.
#2 - Batten orientation is not ideal. Battens have to be oriented straight up and down which is not good.
#3 - You can not have a boom. A sail without a boom will always have significantly lower performance. It is a huge compromise. Esp when running down wind. That means poor shape and no outhaul or boom vang options.
#4 - You can not have standing lines which makes the mast a lot weaker, or require 10x the bulk or more to make it even close to what a mast with standing lines can do.
#5 - You can not leave the mast on the kayak when driving / you have required rigging time at the put in and take out. With a Falcon Sail, you can stow the sail on your deck, and leave it there 365 days a year. It only weighs 3 pounds.
#6 - It requires a purpose made kayak or significant modifications to a generic kayak with a big hole in the deck of the kayak. If you have a furling sail made for one kayak it will only be good on that kayak. If you have 1 Falcon Sail, you can add a few pieces of hardware on each kayak you own, and use that 1 sail rig on all your kayaks.
#7 - You can drop a Falcon Sail in about 1 second by releasing the forestay line. To furl you have to release the sheet line, and pull the furling line until you are done furling it. If you want to find your limits when kayak sailing, or you are in trouble, you do not want to let go of your paddle for 1 second longer than necessary.
@@FalconSails thank you for taking the time to explain this thoroughly
It looks like that boat has no rudder. Do you steer with your paddle while sailing? Are there different sizes for different kayak designs/hull areas? I was thinking I’d need a rudder and Lee board but maybe not.
Hello Aaron
If your kayak is okay without a rudder without a sail, adding a sail does not make a rudder necessary.
Steering is much the same as steering when just paddling. An occasional paddle stroke can put you back on course.
Or you can change your balance of your kayak to give it an up wind or down wind tendency, by leaning fore and aft and also leaning a little bit up wind or down wind.
You can also adjust your kayaks upwind or down wind tendencies by moving some weight around. If your kayak is out of balance and tends to turn up wind or down wind, using a rudder to force it on tack is a bad ideal. You want your boat to have a tendency to stay on course by adjusting trim of your sail and weight and leaning.
I will include some standard canned text on rudders below.
Rudders
=======================================================
The general rule of thumb is, if a kayak is fine without a rudder when just paddling, it will be fine without a rudder when you are kayak sailing. On a kayak 13 feet or shorter, rudders are not necessary. If a kayak has an adjustable skeg, a rudder is not necessary. It is quite rare to see a 12-foot kayak or shorter rigged with a rudder. I (the owner of Falcon Sails) have a 12-foot kayak and have never considered putting a rudder on it. When my paddle says go right, my boat will turn right. It will turn right even if a rudder on my kayak would say turn left. Rudders are almost never necessary until you get into kayaks over 14 feet long.
You can see in the pictures included with this email, that the short kayaks do not have rudders on them, and even some of the longer kayaks do not as well.
If you want to do some lazy kayak sailing and not use a paddle for long stretches and do not want to lean or adjust the sail to steer, you can install a rudder and you may like it.
If you have a short kayak, you should avoid having a rudder early on, as number 1 you are likely not to care if you have one, and more importantly, a rudder will likely be a crutch and make it easy to use bad habits. You should naturally balance out your kayak (it is an obvious thing to do (When you lean forward you will notice the kayak turning upwind, and when you lean back you will see the kayak turn down wind )) so it will tend to go in a straight line and not use a rudder to force an out of balance kayak to go in a straight line. A rudder used to force an out of balance kayak to be in balance, is just more drag in the water and will reduce your efficiency and your ability to point up wind.
The general rule of thumb is, if your kayak is okay without a rudder without a sail, it will be okay without a rudder with a sail. Having a sail will slightly increase the desirability for having a rudder. Big winds and high speeds also make having a rudder more desirable. Having a rudder can make it easier to get through the learning curve. In general, kayaks under 13 feet are always fine without a rudder. Just like a kayak without a sail, when you get into kayaks over 14 feet long rudders or adjustable skegs are nice to have. The longer the kayak is the more likely you will enjoy having a rudder. Even better than using a rudder, a kayaks tendency to turn up wind or downwind can be addressed with sail trim, leaning up wind and down wind, leaning forward and aft, changing the distribution of your load, and adjusting your speed. Once you start doing these things, many times you would not use a rudder as a rudder is not the best way to put a kayak in balance to stay on course.
The shorter the kayak, and the more experience you have the easier it is to live without a rudder. Finally, when kayaking or kayak sailing, if your paddle says turn left and your rudder says something else, your paddle will win.
Rudders and skegs are not there for turning so much as they are there to trim your kayaks tendency to a neutral tendency to turn up wind or down wind. A nicely trimmed kayak is great to have. A rudder is one of the easiest tools to use for trimming your kayak. But a rudder is a is a crutch many times and prevents people from learning proper techniques for staying in balance. And of course, using a rudder to trim your kayak also adds drag and slows you down so they are best reserved for minor fluctuations in balance vs a tool to power your way through an unbalanced situation. The more drag you have, the harder it is to efficiently sail up wind.
In the end, if a Falcon Sail customer would like to have a rudder, then can have us send them a complete smart track (it is the best rudder kit you will find) rudder kit for their kayak at our cost which usually ends up being less than $225 including shipping.
Hello Again Aaron
You do not need a Lee board or any other lateral resistance enhancer.
A kayak is not a sail boat, but can sail surprisingly well due to their design to track hulls.
Kayaks will go foreword much faster than sideways / even more so that an naked sail boat hull will.
I included some canned text about this with a more detailed explanation below.
It has some good information to check out.
Lateral Resistance Enhancers Lee Boards / Center Boards
================================================
Your question about using a lateral resistance enhancer (lee board / dagger boards / large skegs) and if they are necessary to sail with a Falcon Sail is a common question, so we have made a canned answer to help people.
The short answer is a stock kayak hull does great and lateral resistance enhancers are not necessary. They will get in the way and create complexities and issues at times. Very well-made lee boards can help with some angles of attack but are not helpful in most situations and will get in the way on every outing. They add bulk, drag, weight, complexity, cost, potential failures ect ect.
Kayaks sail amazingly well without any lateral resistance enhancer. Near zero falcon sailors use lee boards or other lateral resistance enhancers. There is a longer more detailed answer below.
The owner of Falcon Sails wrote an this in a article.
I grew up sailing keel boats, sun fishes, trailer sailors, Hobie cats and anything else I could get my hands on. As a conventional sailboat person, I use to think only a boat with a lateral resistance enhancer (lee board / center board / dagger board / keel) will sail properly. We have learned there is a lot more to kayak sailing, than conventional sail thinking will tell you. Conventional sailboat thinking is very helpful at times but does yield a few misleading assumptions about kayak sailing.
As far as needing a lateral resistance enhancer goes, you must consider a few things before making any assumptions. Look at a Hobie 16 and some other purpose-built sail boats. Even as a purpose-built sailboat, the Hobie 16 has no resistance enhancer because its hulls have a lot of natural lateral resistance built right in from the start. They have no lee boards, dagger boards, center boards, or keels.
Like the Hobie 16 Catamaran Sailboat (not a Hobie kayak), kayaks have a lot of natural lateral resistance built into their hulls also and sail surprisingly well without any lateral resistance enhancer.
Kayaks are not sail boats, will not point as well as a complex sailboat, but their hulls are efficient at sailing and can make surprisingly good up wind progress. Think about this. Sailboat hulls are designed to be as slippery as possible going forward. A byproduct of a sailboat hull being designed to be as slippery as possible going forward, is a hull that is slippery going sideways (and slippery in all directions actually) and also tends to spin. Modern Sailboat hulls, make conventional sail thinkers believe you must have a lateral resistance enhancer on a kayak.
Kayak hulls are designed to track and go in a straight line. This is achieved by having lateral resistance built in throughout the length of the hull, which is what makes them sail surprisingly well without lateral resistance enhancers. To demonstrate how a kayak has a lot more resistance going sideways than forward, imagine pushing a kayak that has an adult sitting in it in the forward direction. Most kayaks will easily glide 30 feet or more. Now imagine pushing that same kayak with an adult in it, in the sideways direction. Due to its lateral resistance, it will probably go about 1 or 2 feet after you are done pushing it. Or think about towing a kayak with a person in it, from the side vs towing a loaded kayak from the bow. The kayak towed from the side will be much slower due to its lateral resistance. In both examples you are testing and seeing, a kayaks lateral resistance is significant. Once a kayaks hull moves through the water, its lateral resistance increases by quite a bit. All this said, with a smart sized sail / one that is not too big, a kayak has plenty of lateral resistance without adding anything to it.
Once you build up some speed, a kayaks lateral resistance increases dramatically. Kayaks do not sail as well as a purpose-built sailboat, but you can do no paddle sailing and reach across the wind, and even make some upwind progress. Of course, a purpose-built sailboat will sail better than a kayak will, but kayaks sail amazingly well. If you have an efficient sail, you do not need a lee board, or center board, or dagger board, or any lateral resistance enhancer to have a great kayak sailing experience.
Falcon Sails focuses on keeping things simple, efficient, compact, reliable, and light weight with the best possible performance. All this can be had for less than 3.5 pounds, in a sail that can be dropped in seconds and folded down to the size of an umbrella in just a few more seconds.
Lee boards and dagger boards add weight, complication, bulk, expense, drag etc.. Some people want to turn their kayaks into a sailboat. That is fine, but you will add weight, complication, bulk, expense, drag, set up time at the put in, tear down time at the take out, more rigging, more stuff to store, and if there is no wind, or too much wind, you are better off with a compact sail rig that gives you 70% or more of the sailing benefits in a package that weighs just over 3 pounds that can be lowered and compactly secured to the deck of your kayak and 100% out of the way in seconds.
Everybody has their thing. If you want to have that perfect ideal incredible sailing experience in one situation, you will lose a lot in other situations. There is not a rig that will cover all situations perfectly. If you want simplicity and versatility, you will be happiest with a simplistic high-quality sail and rig for your kayak.
As a lifelong sailor, I thought the same thing sailors typically think about lateral resistance appendages. I have sailed and owned a lot of different boats. I used to race and skipper and crew on a lot of different boats, and can say I am a decent sailor. My conventional sail thinking made me believe you need a lee board or something on a kayak to sail. Then I tried kayak sailing. The performance of a sail on a kayak amazed me. I was hooked instantly. I was surprised. That was even before there were good quality sail rigs available. Now that I can have a good quality sail rig, and a good airfoil shape, I will not go kayaking without a sail.
After kayak sailing for the last 12 years and having paddle sailed thousands of miles, I have never used a lee board or anything like it. None of my friends use lee boards and none of us feel like we are missing anything. If you keep a good sail trimmed properly, oriented to the wind properly, and have at least 1.5 mph of hull speed, you can reach across the wind, and even make upwind progress of about 20 degrees above reaching. That is without paddling or a lee board or a dagger board on a standard stock kayak hull. Some kayaks will do even better than this. In general terms if you have good conditions, a good sail, and you use decent sail trim, you can easily sail 200 degrees and even up to 220 degrees without paddling and without the bother of any lateral resistance enhancers. If you paddle to keep your speed up and the sail oriented properly to the wind, a good sail, will generate useful propulsion all the way up to within 30 degrees of straight upwind. That is with or without a lateral resistance enhancer.
In general, once your actual track is 10 degrees above reaching, you have to start paddling to keep things oriented properly. Initially a few small paddle strokes here and there will add a lot to your possible angles of attack. The more aggressively upwind your angle of attack is, the more you have to paddle. But still, you can gain useful propulsion to with 30 degrees of straight upwind. For example, you can paddle with a 2mph effort and go 3.5mph. You can speed up faster, slow down slower, and have a higher top speed. You can have a lot lower paddle stroke resistance as well and have a lot more fun while you are at it.
With a little bit of planning, you can paddle upwind a little bit and reach back and forth all day long and not have to paddle much at all. Once your movement is 15 degrees above reaching, you cannot just sit there doing nothing, but you can avoid paddling and reach across the wind all day long, and even make upwind progress without paddling and without lateral resistance appendage or enhancers. With a good sail, kayaks sail very nicely.
Just like when sailing a purpose-built sailboat, when kayak sailing to maximize your potential, you will have to think about what you are doing. When conditions are good, you can get useful propulsion to within 30 degrees of straight upwind. Anybody who does a lot of kayak sailing with a good quality rig will agree. If it is really windy, gusty, shifty, there are large waves, you are not thinking, you have too big of a sail, the paddle sailor is inexperienced, ect, the 30-degree number is going to grow. With a good sail and some practice you can have the same results.
I wrote a bit more about this here.
www.falconsails.com/KayakSailingFAQ.php#centerboard
If you contact me at Falcon Sails, I can send to you a rough draft set of instructions for kayak sailing upwind.
www.falconsails.com/contact.php
Hello one more time Aaron.
I wrote about lee boards below, and the text was too long.
So here is the part 2 of 2 so you can learn everything we worked hard to learn about lee boards.
This video shows a clip of a upwind leg I was enjoying a few seasons ago. It is a lot of fun.
czcams.com/video/xjzld6MZhCI/video.html
I was in a 14-foot-long Jackson Journey kayak and making some upwind progress without paddling. I could have made more upwind progress if I paddled, but I can sail with no paddle 210 out of 360 degrees. This kayak has a rounded hull so most kayaks will do a little better yet.
This video shows me sailing and tacking upwind with no lee board or dagger board and almost zero paddling.
Here are 2 videos of me enjoying my kayak and sailing up wind with very little paddling.
facebook.com/falconsails/videos/1594936704274061
&
facebook.com/falconsails/posts/4106133799451973
Both includes some really neat gps telemetry that makes it easy to see my actual movement.
It shows me sailing 210 out of 360 possible degrees. This kayak has a rounded hull which makes it a average performer. If your kayak has a contoured hull, it will sail better / about 10 more degrees on both the port and starboard side.
If I started paddling and kept the sail oriented to the wind properly and kept some motion to help my stock hull generate more lateral resistance, I could have had useful propulsion to within 30 degrees of straight upwind.
This is very similar to motor sailing a sailboat. The motor alone can push the sailboat, but using the sail it will speed up faster, have a higher top end speed, will slow down slower, and require less effort to get to your destination.
Here is another video of some friends and I enjoying a nice 18-mile paddle sail where we sail about 70% of the day.
czcams.com/video/RkbSSlYEYl0/video.html
If you plan your day well, use good techniques, take advantage of reaching, and not dive downwind you can sail all day long without lee boards.
Here are some pictures of a typical kayak sailing day, that include a track log of what we sailed and what we did not sail. I had several beginner kayak sailors with me, so I avoided some of the more difficult tacks and we still sailed about 75% of our miles.
www.flickr.com/.../falco.../albums/72157712563766083
Here is a link to video and paddle sail report showing how much fun my friends and I had on a 5-day trip kayak sailing around Cedar Key on the Gulf of Mexico side of Florida. Look at the text. With a little bit of planning and smart sailing, we were able to sail 90% of all our lines.
facebook.com/falconsails/videos/2408620615978528/
Here is a link that shows all the lines we recorded on our GPS.
www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1OgAfpky2M25Ui6poZo6ANwL5a-_zGwc&ll=29.13438357058386%2C-83.0575005&z=14&fbclid=IwAR0RyoxfXOwNB-b2jKG-mATcsc5BKCNszuc2v9KiYjhdXLIxu2Ymre2RUqQ
You can zoom in and see all the details. We sailed 90% of these lines. It was amazing.
If you want to sail paddle sail in good conditions, it is easy to sail with zero paddling more than half your chosen lines even if you do not plan anything and just randomly pick lines. If you get smart and choose good lines, you can easily sail with zero paddling 80% of your lines and raise that to 100% of your lines. If you paddle while doing some of your sailing, you can use your sail all day long.
Aaron
You asked about sail sizes.
Falcon Sails has 3 different sizes which are mostly geared toward different wind levels more than what kayak you are sailing.
Though kayak choice has a impact on sail choice as well.
Here is a long canned explanation on sail sizes to consider.
The 1.4 is nice to have on a light wind day or on a wider more stable kayak.
The 1.1 is a really nice in between size.
The 1.0 is for sure the go to size on a bigger wind day, or if your boat is smaller and tippier.
You will be happy with any size, but one size will hit the sweet spot more often than the other.
Here are a few general rules of thumb.
If you have a narrow kayak, and see winds above 10mph regularly, the 1.0 is the way to go.
If you have a super stable kayak / one that is over 28 inches wide and only rarely see winds over 15mph, the 1.4 would be the best size
If you have a wide kayak and like big wind days over 15mph a 1.0 square meter sail is a great choice as well.
The 1.1 is a nice in between size.
No matter what kayak you have, all sizes are going to work nicely with any kayak you may own.
If you buy any size sail with a complete rigging kit, you can add a sail only of any size you like at any time, and have any combination of sail you like at any time you hit the water.
All sizes of Falcon Sails are compatible with the Falcon Sail rig. If you buy a Sail only of any size at any time, it will include everything you need to use it with your Falcon Sail rig.
Skill level does play a small role in the choice, but in general a smart advanced kayak sailor will be no more likely to go with a big sail than a beginner.
Advanced kayakers who enjoy sailing will typically go out in bigger winds and are best served by the 1.0.
There is no reason to be overpowered. On a big wind day, a 1.0 square meter Falcon Sail can push any kayak to its maximum hull speed, and for sure as fast as the strongest paddler can paddle a kayak if the distance is more than a 50-yard sprint.
In the ideal world you have all 3 sizes of sails.
If you buy a 1.0 square meter sail with a complete rigging kit, you can buy a 1.4 square meter sail only any time you like. And of course, if you buy a 1.4 square meter sail with a complete rigging kit, you can buy a 1.0 square meter sail only any time you like as well. It is all the same thing for the 1.1 square meter sail as well.
All Falcon Sails hardware is modular and interchangeable.
We look at every order to make sure somebody who already has a Falcon Sail will be taken care of / will have all the hardware necessary to use it on a previously purchased rig with another size sail.
The 1.0 sail only comes with a boom extension that will make it work with your 1.4 or 1.1 sail rig.
The 1.1 sail only comes with a boom extension that will make it work with your 1.0 or 1.4 sail rig.
The 1.4 sail only comes with a boom extension that will make it work with your 1.0 or 1.1 sail rig.
So, if you ever buy another size of sail / sail only to use with your current rig, you will have everything you need.
Changing sail sizes is easy to do. With just a little practice you will be able to change out a Falcon Sail in about 90 seconds or less.
If you decide you like going out on really windy days, you may decide to order a 1.0 later.
In any case, there is no sense in being overpowered as the 1.0 on a 15mph wind day, will push your kayak as fast as it will go, but still the 1.4 will be fine in pretty big wind and you can always drop it and stow it on your deck in the unlikely event it is not fun or you do not feel like you are in control.
Here is a video that shows how to change sail sizes.
facebook.com/falconsails/videos/768410241951446/
Thanks for the response. I’m paddling a touring kayak (Tiderace Xceed) that is 17 1/2 feet long and pretty narrow. I was thinking that having a sail as additional power when going on multi-day trips might speed things up significantly. Usually I won’t be out in heavy wind, but I’d probably opt for the small sail just in case. I haven’t paddled my boat enough yet to really know its performance in wind, but with waves coming from behind me it is hard to even notice them. I’m looking forward to paddling more and getting out for a few trips next spring. Your sails are definitely at the top of my list for possible modifications in the future. Thanks again.
Is it possible to order in Europe ? :)
Tomas we ship to Europe about every single day.
We would be very happy to send a sail and rigging hardware to you.
Right now we have a special for shipping. It is only $15 to have a sail shipped to any place in Europe.
We only sell direct to our customers.
You can see our on line store here.
www.falconsails.com/store
We would be very happy to help you, and give you great support on on of our sail rigs.
Do you have outriggers?
We do not sell outriggers. 98% of Falcon Sailors do not use outriggers. They just slow you down and get in the way. If by rare chance the sail power is too much, you can drop the sail any time you like.
If you want a set of reasonably priced easy to find outriggers, try hobie sidekicks. They are available at a lot of places for about $205.
If you rig a Falcon Sail on your kayak, I would give it a try without outriggers, and only bother with them if you have a problem.
@@FalconSails Thank you!
When they go to water?
I am sorry, but I do not understand your question.
Maybe you could rephrase your question?
Thank you very much.
Sales is off you lost me in a minute
Darn. If there is anything we can do to help you, or there is something you think we can do to improve our sails please let us know.
Thank you very much.