CLC Kayak/Canoe SailRig

Kayaks are so easily driven that the urge to equip them for sailing must be as old as kayaks themselves. The original CLC SailRig, from 1995, has been built in vast numbers. There hasn't been a SailRig kit for years. When we noticed recently that it is the second best selling plan set (after the Chesapeake 17), we decided to study how to make the kit easy and affordable to build. 

The SailRig MK2 matches the effortless performance of the original, but features simplified construction and easier kayak attachment. The SailRig is adaptable to almost every kayak and canoe in our catalogue, and many other production kayaks as well. Mounted on a single kayak, the acceleration is neck-snapping, with good handling upwind and down and 9-knot potential. Ten-foot beam gives you monolithic stability (and thus sail carrying power with no hiking out), but the whole rig can be dismantled for cartopping in a half-hour. The SailRig components weigh only about 30lbs total.

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Touring by Sailing Canoe

Out Among the Islands by Sailing Canoe

by Bob Halsey While camping at Sugar Island, I have made several camping trips with my open sailing canoe. I sail to one of the fifteen campsite islands in the St. Lawrence Islands National Park of Canada. Typically, after a busy week of sailing races morning and afternoon and maybe taking part in the swim around the Island race, I am ready to relax and do something different. For example, at the end of the first week of the annual encampment in 1989 on Saturday, I packed up the canoe with my tent, food, small stove, sleeping bag, clothes, most of which I put in garbage bags to protect from rain or spray. Then Sunday morning I sailed over to shore and went to early church and breakfast in Gananoque and started (from TIV motel) sailing up the river against the wind. The wind is mostly out of the SW and usually is pretty dependable. The seas were not too much for the loaded canoe and I had plenty of room to be comfortable myself. I was sailing my 18 ft cedar strip I had built the winter before and was quite happy with its performance.

As I was tacking back and forth upwind, I got a good view of many of the Islands- Corn, the Punts, Leek, Huckleberry, Bostwick, Lindsey and others. Some islands are wild, some have beautiful homes. I was planning on going to the last of the Admiralty Islands, a park island named Aubrey island, but I had to be aware that if the wind didn't hold up or if I didn't make the speed I thought I could I might have to stop at a different park island. By mid-afternoon I arrived safely at Aubrey Island. I had a government chart of the waters in a zip-lock bag to help locate myself among the islands.


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Rain rain and more rain on the 2010 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championship Parade

Here on the first day of the 2010 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships, both athletes and organisers were put through their paces. The expected downpour has kept those behind the scenes on their toes, but thankfully the careful planning has kept the event running like clockwork.

The Course for the Heats and Friday's Team Event

Talking to Helen Reeves, ICF Technical Committee Member and course designer for this event, athletes will face a number of challenges. First up is the Big Drop, right at the start of the race it means the course is fast from the outset. This can be intimidating for some, perhaps not for the leaders. So, fast and furious, the course by its very nature is swirly and unpredictable making it very changeable. Add this to the unsavoury weather conditions, the water is even faster; another challenge for the athletes who may find it hard to predict the water. The downstream gates also pose a little problem. The tight stagger sequence quite early on make the combination at Gates 4, 5 and 6 very tricky, reading the water here will be a challenge.

Men's C2

The day started with the Men's C2. Qualifying in first place was the British duo made up of Tim Baillie and Etienne Stott. They cleared the field with half a second to spare. The French team, Denis Gargaud Chanut and Fabien Lefevre completed just the one run, safe in the knowledge that their time of 107.12 would put them in the top 30. It sure did. Their one and only run was the second fastest of the day. China's Hu-Shu team are becoming a regular fixture on the Canoe Slalom startlist. Securing their place with the third fastest time of the day.

Others appearing in the semi-finals on Saturday morning are Slovakia's Kucera-Batik and the Hochschorner brothers, Great Britain's Florence-Hounslow. One big surprise was the failure of Czech pair, Volf-Stepanek to get through to the next round.

Women's K1

Next up was the Women's K1. On her second run, Maialen Chourraut (ESP) made the course look positively easy winning the best time with nearly a second to spare. Following behind was Czech Republic's Stepanka Hilgertova and China's Yingying Zou. Team GB fared well with all three athletes from the Women's team qualifying. Louise Donnington qualified with the 5^th fastest time, Lizzie Neave with the 15^th fastest and Fiona Pennie with the 17^th fastest time. Jana Dukatova, ranked first coming into the competition, is perhaps saving her best for last, qualifying with the 7^th fastest time with her team mate, Dana Benusova with the 9^th fastest time. The two Austrians, Corinna Kuhnle and Violetta Oblinger-Peters also made it, while their young compatriot and recent Youth Olympic bronze medallist Viktoria Wolffhardt didn't quite make it. One Youth Olympian who did make it through however is Australia's Jessica Fox. She took the last qualifying spot with the 30^th fastest time.

Men's C1

A few surprises in this line-up with all the favourites ending up a little down the list of qualifiers. With the fastest time of the afternoon, Germany's Sideris Tasiadis will lead the 30 men going into the semis on Sunday. David Florence (GBR) and Takuya Haneda (JPN) follow with the second and third place respectively. In 4^th in 5^th place were the two Frenchmen. Reigning World Champion, Tony Estanguet finished with a time of 98.89 in his one and only run. Denis Gargaud Chanut's fastest run was in a time of 100.36. His second run included a 50 second penalty.

Home boys, Anze Bercic and Benjamin Savsek came in together, just one second between them in 9^th and 10^th times respectively. Michal Martikan, who also just completed one run, qualifies with 11^th fastest time followed by his fellow Slovakian, Alexander Slafkovsky.

Women's C1

Both Jessica Fox (AUS) and Jana Dukatova (SVK) were clearly saving their energy today as they raced just one run. Both of them ended up at the top of the board, Jess was fastest with a time of 123.52, Jana second with her time of 131.85. Both Nanqin Chen and Qianqian Teng (CHN) qualified in 6^th and 13^th place respectively. Judging by their year's performance, they may be saving their best for last. Qualifying in third place is France's Caroline Loir followed by Australia's Rosalyn Lawrence (last year's Women's C1 silver medallist) and Germany's Michaela Grimm.

Tomorrow we will see the course again with the Men's K1 heats from 2.30pm (CET) onwards and the Team events on Friday. Come Saturday, we will see a whole new course throwing up more difficulties for these top-class athletes to overcome. Keep watching!

Tune in for more updates on our website, www.canoeicf.com. Or visit the official event website, www.sloka.si. Live results can be found at www.123result.com.

PrecisionPak CratePak Max Review

Design and construction clearly led by avid kayak anglers
PrecisionPak makes a very wide line of gear management products, waders, gloves, jackets, and other specialty textile-based outdoor products.  The PrecisionPak CratePak Max is their top of the line kayak fishing gear bag.  The CratePak Max includes a PrecisionPak Black Ice Cooler that I also recently reviewed.  It comes in three or four different colors including hi-visibility orange or lime green, and all have a lot of sewn in reflective tape accents.  This is an excellent safety feature.  Mine arrived in the orange color.


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WINDVINDER

UNMANNED VESSEL OF THE EXPEDITION TO THE ORIGINS OF THE WIND

Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean an unmanned “windship” makes its way through the waves - almost transparent, people say, wings everywhere… and it is headed, without a doubt,  INTO THE WIND !         
With three prows pointing straight into the wind it is underway across the world’s vastest ocean, following every windshift. No one knows how long it’s been travelling. People laugh at fishermen who talk about having seen it.

But there it appears again; all but silently it moves through the swell, as if drawn by an invisible string: on an impossible course....

This is the Windvinder, unmanned vessel of the Expedition to the Origins of the Wind: a satellite on the ocean. It is steered by wind alone and driven by headwind.  A windmill drives the ship’s propeller; a tail fin in the wind keeps the vessel on its never changing course.

From time to time an island pops up in its path.

For anyone who finds it there, instructions are engraved on all parts of the ship  (translated into more than 45 languages):  People are asked to mend what is broken, improve what wasn’t working, and to relaunch the vessel on its voyage – to where the wind comes from.

Please report date, position, and any changes in the construction to the Expedition Headquarters (contact here) .

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