Some profound paddlesailing!

A mighty trip with four kayaks on Lake Erie in the USA, all equipped with a Falcon sail. Seen from the aft of Patrick Forresters kayak, the owner of Falcon Sails. It's not an easy trip. Another kayaker is fiddling with his sail, so the others have to stand by for a while. Fortunately, they all have a waterproof VHF. 

Then they all continue in a strong wind and quite some waves in an endless journey. This recording lasts more than half an hour and shows exactly what it is like to paddlesail on open waters. Most courses are on a beam wind, occasionally just downwind. At the end, Forrester deliberately jibes a few times by swinging his hips. A jibe is often inevitable if you want to steer with the wind in your back to the side where your sail is standing. If you do nothing, the wind will automatically creep up behind the sail while steering, causing the sail to turn over to the other side at once. With a hip swing you can provoke this a little earlier in a more controlled fashion. 

Watch this movie on your laptop on a big screen and enjoy.

Peddelzeilen op Lake Erie 

My homemade sail

 

Photo: Marianne R.

The first test of my new homemade sail. Saturday, April 3, 2021, on the IJsselmeer (the Netherlands), on the way from Makkum to Workum. Wind force a big 4, north-northwest. The sail worked fine. I was mainly using my paddleblade as a rudder and hitting the brakes to stay close to the group, barely paddling. My fellow kayakkers had to work a little harder but also had fun on the surf. Measurements taken by a fellow navigator showed us we achieved an average of 12 km/h on large sections. Some other day I will test my sail on an upwind course, hopefully as close as 35 degrees off the wind. 

It was a beautiful trip, despite the cold, with a sleeping bag that was too thin at the campsite. Further details about the sail are in the post below.