Yes, because the main sail is not a triangle, the upper part does catch on the rear stay, but I just cut off the baton (is that what that fiberglass stick up there is called?) flush with the edge of the sail, and I am able to shake the sail into jumping the past the rear stay when I tack, so it works out OK.
Yeah, try out my leeboard solution...maybe you can spend more time on yours so it doesn't look like it belongs in the kitchen like mine does!
I'm still waiting to be convinced that it is possible to do better than 70 degrees off the wind actual track in an Oasis. Speed and fun when going upwind mean nothing to me...I just want the option of sailing home upwind without waving to the same shore fisherman more than once on my way upwind!
Or I would like to know what factor disables a kayak from doing better than 70 degrees, if that is the case. I can't figure it out....needs more sail area?...needs the ability to lean more?....???
As far as the drive sock idea, I am too paranoid about hull drive mounting area stress...I won't even use Turbo Fins because I don't want to stress that area. Mine hasn't had any cracks...just being cautious.
I may be that along with the new Click and Go drive mounting system that the 2009 hull has been reinforced in that area and so maybe my concern is unjustified now? Anybody know?
Jerry
skua wrote:
Hi Jerry,
Thanks for posting all your pics and explanation. It is great to see your rig! Now I know it was you who inspired me to make my jib of a shower curtain. I like the fact that it is transparent and that it operates by itself. You've been very inventive! Fun to see a quite different solution for the problems I've also dealt with. Looks like the rear stay can interfere with the sail while tacking though. Is that the case?
I especially like your leeboard solution. The pictures are very helpful, they explain it all. Looks very simple and effective. Must try that out!
Stringy and others,
Here a few more details on the "alu drive sock" I experimented with. This is how it looks like:
It 50cm long and just so wide that the drive fits. It is of a plate of 50x100cm of aluminium of 0,5mm thick, which is quite thin and bendable. But since I folded it a few times and put some plastic in it, it was stiff enough.
This is how the drive fits.
As described above, the pointing was good, the tendency to slip sideways when trying to sail close hauled was simply gone (well, diminished to unnoticable). This also had its effect on the way my oasis behaved: with all that grip on the water it heeled MUCH more than with just the turbo's. There was not very much wind (Bft 3), but I had to lean strongly and still the sidekicks were much needed (normally with these winds it is easy to "lean" the side kicks out of the water). So it was clear the sock was actively working. The lee helm (caused by my jib) clearly seemed to be less than with only the turbos.
BUT, the show stopper is that it acted as a break. The performance was gone. Hardly any picking up speed in a gust. It just heeeeled. It went where I wanted, but much slower than I'm used to. The nice speeds (over 7km/h) that make sailing fun were completely unreachable. All the extra performance of my jib was killed by the sock. I made it too big. Or it could also be that the idea (a sleeve with drive in one open end) already adds to much drag.
Anyhow, if anyone want to make a drive sock himself, don't overdo it!