WindPaddle - Adventure

At CLC we've been fooling with sailing kayaks as long as we've been paddling.  After years of development, the CLC SailRig has proven itself as a thoroughly well-sorted-out upwind sailing rig.  However, it's a lot of stuff to build and add. 

We've watched "downwind" rigs---sails meant purely as auxiliary power when the wind is fair---come and go in the marketplace.  A lot of them were kludgy, took up a lot of space, expensive, and required that you fasten ugly hardware to your deck. 

The WindPaddle folks have got it right.  What really attracted us is that you can use it on any kayak with simple deck rigging---a crisscross of bungie, whatever.  You snap it loosely to your deck rigging, then deploy.  Secondly, the thing folds up into a tiny package that you can just leave sitting on your deck until you need it.  Under sail, it's low enough and small enough not to pose stability risks to touring or recreational kayaks.  Be sure to watch the video of Ed practicing with the sail on a Wood Duck 12 (below).

If there's enough wind, you'll sail faster than you can paddle.  Rudders aren't necessary, since you can hold the control lines and your paddle at the same time, making corrections or just "motor-sailing."

The WindPaddle offers the following advantages over all other kayak or canoe downwind rigs:

• Quick, easy and safe to launch/deploy and douse while out on the water. Fasten easily to the deck using the WindHarness lines.
  
• Stows coiled compactly on deck or below decks in 1/8th the footprint of its deployed size.
  
• Sails easily through 180 degrees of heading (Beam reaches across the wind)
  
• Launches and fills instantly from on deck.
  
• No spars, masts, booms or supporting structures needed.
  
• De-power instantly in gusts, either by lowering the sail or allowing it to deform and spill air.

Available in blue, yellow, or red.