A sail on a Moken

[kiwipea]

Had a few $ come along I was not expecting and had liked the idea of fitting a sail to my Moken, so why not.
The local Plastic welding guy quoted about $100 to modify the front hatch cover so I could fit a mast for a Natureline type sail. Bit much before even looking at sail and fixings costs so looked further into sails and came up with the “Windpaddle” sail. $200 all inclusive, so again why not.

Tried a test run a few days back on Brisbane Waters but the wind dropped away to nothing, so really only found out how to set sail up and put away.
Tuesday 10.30 launched from The Entrance on to Tuggerah Lakes with a ESE wind 10-13 kn, destination Wyong river where it runs into Tuggerah Lakes About 4.5km which took me about 75 min. (think this is about 3.6 km/hr) Stuffed about a bit on the way as trolled the obligatory lure and a lot of floating weed kept fouling so had to keep stopping to clear. (no hits tho)
Rapt with the sail and ease of opening, easy to drop, easy to fold up (tho takes a bit of practice) The most difficult was to keep concentration on steering with the rudder as the foot controls are quite sensitive and one had to keep alert to where we were heading. Even found was able to get the sail to reach quite well tho don’t doubt a yak goes a bit sideways with no centreboard/keel.
Could drop the sail and tend to the trolling line pretty quick tho not be sure if a decent size fish had taken line how it would work out.
Keen to get out in stronger winds (18/20kn) see if I’m still excited about it all

Testing the sail setup on the front lawn

Sail packed on front hatch ready for unfurling

Sail stored in front hatch

Running with the wind across Tuggerah Lake

Sail set on an angle "reaching" on a side wind

Difficult to take pics of your sailing out on a 4 metre yak on ya lonesome. All good fun
kiwipea

[Duane]

Looks like a neat set up.

[AnaSazi]

Did you have to Paddle all the way back once you got to your destination or did you get picked up. I take it once you sail to your destination you cant sail back against the wind.... thats the only problem with sails i guess.? ??

[kiwipea]

Did you have to Paddle all the way back once you got to your destination or did you get picked up. I take it once you sail to your destination you cant sail back against the wind.... thats the only problem with sails i guess.? ??

That trip out was a couple years back and was on the learning curve about yaks and sailing them
My son came with me to the launch site and then drove the car back home, I just phoned him to come pick us up once I had reached destination across the other side of lake.
Kayaks are not good tacking into wind as without a keel they tend to go sideways.
Most use of my sail now days is to stow it in forward hatch and if the wind conditions are suitable it is quick and easy to get out the sail and run with the wind. Often plan my trips out so I have a tail wind to blow me home back to launch site after a hard days fishing and a bit tired to paddle back

kp

[Gerardy]

Great post Kp
just wondering where you got your "wind paddle" ... looks good on the moken.
Cheers ,
Gerardy

[kiwipea]

Great post Kp
just wondering where you got your "wind paddle" ... looks good on the moken.
Cheers ,
Gerardy

Check out this link, bought my "windpaddle" from them about 18 months ago, no hassels, looks like the price is up $30 more than what I paid. You are more than welcome to give it a test run on your yak. No modifications needed on the Moken to operate the sail
http://www.adelaidecanoeworks.com.au/ca ... ries/canoe

kp

PS: no connection or link to this company