Awareness of a mandatory mutation to an energy-sober world is on going. Our leisure activities will also be affected : these ones shall be (as paddling and sailing) energy-thrifty; in addition, carbon tax will also push us to reduce expensive travels related to our favorite hobbies.
A solution to continue frequently having fun on water is versatility, during ‘local’ navigations.
Kayak is and will stay an incomparable tool to access any stretch of water, close to your home. Using it also , depending on weather conditions, to practice sailing, extends navigation possibilities. Paddling is perfect to move on water when weather is calm, but in practice its use is soon limited, for non-trained people. As soon as wind rises , it is much more funny, fast, and restful to use a sail.
- Design goal is so to get a craft keeping both kayak use and easiness, while also affording capability and effortless speed fun of light sailing boats. Adaptability to weather conditions brings self-moving and is a real safety factor. It significantly increases sail possibilities compared to an ordinary kayak.
- We work on WINDYAK, a modular concept of sailing trimaran foldable to a kayak during navigation, designed to offer 100% of all sailing trimaran and kayak uses. It brings some innovations (float articulation, beam folding, and sail furling) for an easy and quick transforming on water.
- WINDYAK is a specific design, far from simple mounting of a sail on an existing kayak. Short floats trimaran configuration ensures stability necessary to hold a sail, while keeping a light and thin hull for easy paddling and handling. Hull length and volume plus a daggerboard, provide good sail upwind performance.
- For transport, reduced hull mass allows easily heaving up. The whole boat can be carried on a 1 meter wide car roof without cluttering up the vehicle internal volume. The limited bulk is also practical for storage.
3 knots when paddling… and much faster when sailing !
How does it work ?
Update in progress
Note: An intermediate configuration, trimaran but with dropped mast, may also be used. The beam mat then disturb paddling, especially for singlehanded crafts
As the boat configuration (one beam and shorts floats) looks like 1980s’ sailing foilers, (Paul Ricard, Gerard Lambert, Ker Cadelac, Charles Heidsieck) is it planned to add her some foils ?
The concept philosophy is to keep a simple and light craft, and kayak-like ease of use. Foils, compared to simple floats, will generate at high speed larger strengths, requiring to reinforce all structures and significantly increase mass. In addition, foils fitted on floats will have, in trimaran configuration, a significant drag penalty when paddling. Beach arrivals and swallow water navigations (a major kayak plus) may become at risk. In folded kayak mode, they will uplift the CoG and increase wind load, compromising stability. More other, the small section tube beam shows bending and torsion flexibility, preventing to maintain constant float trim and so wing incidence necessary for the flight.
Avoiding increasing mass and power spiral, and intending to be as simple as possible are design drives for Windyak.