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Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board
Re: Go fly a kite... from a kayak???
Posted By: Andrew Kinsman In Response To: Re: Go fly a kite... from a kayak??? (Tom Tieman)
Date: Monday, 29 November 2004, at 12:01 p.m.
I use a small kite with my 12.5 foot kayaks all the time. Keep the kite small and lofting will not be a problem. I use a 4 line NPW kite that can be launched and retrieved with a kite reel. The reel is shaped like an 'H' with a spool attached and allows me to launch it directly from the kayak. A rudder or skeg is to your advantage. My configuration of choice is a an old wood 16 foot kayak (circa 1938) with a hobie pedal mechanism installed to pedal it back upwind. It has a rudder for steering. Search the web for NPW kites and make one on your sewing machine. Make a small one... 1.5 meters max area and your boat will achieve it's max speed in 15 MPH winds. To minimize hardware I lash my two Walden Vistas, one slightly in front of the other. Bow to cockpit. The person in forward boat flies the kite, the person in the back steers. No rudder or skeg is therefore required and the configuration is rapidly dissasembled for paddling back up wind along a protected shore. Pictures of boats, reels, kites and configuration upon demand. Don't purchase a huge surfing kite. It is a waste of money as you can easily reach your hull speed with a small kite. Going to wind requires some keel or other specialized equipment... Bruce foils etc. Save that for another topic another day. -Andy
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Sea Kayaks Techniques Bulletin Board is maintained by Nick Schade - Guillemot Kayaks with WebBBS 5.12.
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