Hi JC, how're you? In anything more than the very lightest winds I'd say the canoe goes faster than you could paddle it with the sail up. That said if you're going upwind you have to tack (zigzag into the wind, not sure if you have any sailing experience) so a canoe being paddled directly into the wind might get there just as quickly. On Monday (while heading home from this trip) I found I could make progress into a headwind and swell that would have been impossible for me to make headway against by paddling and on top of that it was really good fun so for me the sail's a winner. We'll have to meet up so that you can have a try if you like?
Hi Chris. Thanks for the comment. The water always looks flat when I film using that camera. I have windsurfing clips filmed in good F6 with substantial chop and the water still looks really flat. That said I'd estimate the wind was around 10mph. I've subsequently sailed the canoe in stronger winds and it copes surprisingly well although steering with the paddle becomes the limiting factor as it prevents you moving out to windward to balance the canoe when the wind picks up. The rig points up far better than I expected it to, probably close to what you could expect from an entry level sailing dinghy. As such it goes upwind really well. There's a lot of good discussions about the rig on the sailing section of the Song Of the Paddle canoe forum here; http://www.songofthepaddle.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?28961-First-impressions-of-sailing-the-Solway-Dory-35-sq-ft-Expedition-Rig. Hope this helps. Cheers, Chris.
Certainly looks like you are shifting along, do you know how fast you were going or at least how fast relative to your normal paddling rate?
ReplyDeleteJC
Hi JC, how're you? In anything more than the very lightest winds I'd say the canoe goes faster than you could paddle it with the sail up. That said if you're going upwind you have to tack (zigzag into the wind, not sure if you have any sailing experience) so a canoe being paddled directly into the wind might get there just as quickly. On Monday (while heading home from this trip) I found I could make progress into a headwind and swell that would have been impossible for me to make headway against by paddling and on top of that it was really good fun so for me the sail's a winner. We'll have to meet up so that you can have a try if you like?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the video; I am thinking of getting one of these and that is really useful.
ReplyDeleteDo you have any idea of what the wind speed was when you were filming that? It doesnt look much from the water, but its always hard to tell!
Also, how close to the wind can you get it & how well does it sail upwind?
Thanks!
Chris
Hi Chris. Thanks for the comment. The water always looks flat when I film using that camera. I have windsurfing clips filmed in good F6 with substantial chop and the water still looks really flat. That said I'd estimate the wind was around 10mph. I've subsequently sailed the canoe in stronger winds and it copes surprisingly well although steering with the paddle becomes the limiting factor as it prevents you moving out to windward to balance the canoe when the wind picks up. The rig points up far better than I expected it to, probably close to what you could expect from an entry level sailing dinghy. As such it goes upwind really well. There's a lot of good discussions about the rig on the sailing section of the Song Of the Paddle canoe forum here; http://www.songofthepaddle.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?28961-First-impressions-of-sailing-the-Solway-Dory-35-sq-ft-Expedition-Rig. Hope this helps. Cheers, Chris.
ReplyDelete