Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!
Anyone can make the thread, first in first served. If you are here on a day and there’s no daily thread, feel free to create it!
Anyway, it’s just a chance to talk about your day, what you have planned, what you have done, etc.
So, how’s it going?
Awesome! Looks like a great trip.
I can’t remember if I’m asked this before, but I recall you mentioning the sails on the boats. Are these sails similar to a yacht (held up by a mast), or some other form of sail?
There is a mast, yes. It’s rigged up with a line at the front of the mast, and two stays, so the mast can be raised and lowered from the paddling position, and there is a hinge at the base of the mast. There is also a trim line to change the angle of the sail.
The sail area is one square metre.
Mine is custom made by a sailmaker, but many paddlers use Flat Earth kayak sails.
That’s cool! Does it make a big difference?
Definitely, especially running straight downwind, it can more than double your speed.
Even with a crosswind it’s a lot of force.
Awesome, that partly explains how you can kayak 33KM, which seems like a really long way to me!
You can do it without the tides, it would just take longer. 4-4.5 kmh is typical pace in a loaded sea kayak. I’ve done bigger days, including a Strait crossing.