05 July 2012

VIDEO: sailing to fend off cabin fever

The June long week-end (Australia) proved to be a bit wet and windy for SE Queensland.
My initial plan to spend two nights on Moreton Island had to be changed due to a strong wind warning forecast.
Instead of festing indoors and risk of getting cabin fever myself and Stevatron headed out in a relative sheltered location to experience the fun of sea kayak sailing instead of paddling.
It has been a while since Stevatron had a sail on his kayak and he had forgotten how much fun one could have with just the wind.


select 720p if you have fast Internet connection
It didn't take long to get the feel for the new Flat Earth Sail and despite the gusty conditions there were no capsizes.

Details on the new mast base mount here
.

5 comments:

  1. Someone has a wonderful back yard!

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  2. What a playground you have!! It looks like its always warm in the weather over there.

    Great movie again!

    Must tell that summer has arrived in earnest. It has been the 16 to 20 degrees for several days in June. Not to believe! And many of the most beautiful days I have not had time to paddle. I hope the summer continues so.

    Take care :)

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  3. Jill, while I have an "endless" summer where I live now I long for a bit of snow every so often. It does look like you finally can show a bit of skin to the Nordic sun even if the snow is till around on your mountain tops. Wishing you many sunny days this summer.

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  4. In the event you do capsize, how do the sails affect recovery?

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    Replies
    1. Capsizing with the sail deployed effects recovery a lot. There are a few options: have the presence of mind to let go of the uphaul and let the mast fall freely to the side before rolling back up or wet exit and then let go of the mast uphaul, re-enter and roll. In calmer conditions I have managed to roll back up with just letting go of the boom (main sheet) but I have not tried in strong wind. I can’t roll back up with just a “hip snap” move but I rather scull to bring the kayak around since the sail offers a fair amount of resistance in the water. The interesting thing when sailing with a FEKS is that the kayak becomes more stable as the speed increases. I think of it as riding my bicycle where I become more stable once I start to move along.

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