09 August, 2011

Sailing No and Sailing Yes

 Rigged up and no where to go. I may have built my sail and made it wind harvest friendly, but in the mix I experimented with shorter rudder/paddle system and it did not work. 

I need to go back to the rudders of yore. 

Salutary lesson learnt.

I had switched from my crutches rudders to two short  paddles. Mistake! I need to extend the ruddering out back and the original crutch rudders were longer than the newbies. They also curved towards the hull.So they extended and lengthened the hull like a fish's tail. Today's experiment was nothing of the kind.

Bah!

Today I had so little control over the paddleski as I kept turning into the wind.

But I'm on the right track. The sail works. Holds in place.

The paddles -- I purchased two cheap collapsible paddles for $21 each -- are nonetheless easy to paddle with. It is impossible to use a two bladed paddle while rigged for sailing as the paddle stem is too long to handle on board. It is also difficult to stow away. So while I'll go back to my old rudder system -- crutches poking outback -- I'll also use at least one paddle for supplementary input: steering and dragging forth. 


Mast folded down and sail reefed  
Rear boot rack
Mast struts: crutches with socks
Mast Step: crutch arm holding bamboo cane
Rig OK except for paddle rudders which did not work