: I'm aware of sailing theory Bill. The question is: does it work
: anyway for the paddlers in Tasmania? Perhaps it does, although
: like Mr. Gentry says above, no matter how well it points,
: paddling into wind is much faster than sailing into it. I'm
: curious to learn about the hulls used down under. I've seen some
: big rudders hanging off the back of loooong kayaks. Perhaps the
: hull has enough lateral resistance by itself, which is why it
: needs a big 'ol rudder to turn it. Perhaps there's a retractable
: "skeg" between the paddlers legs. My solution to add
: lateral resistance, if needed, would likely be a greenland
: paddle stuffed under a line holding it fast to the gunwale. I
: wish I could remember where I read about them. A google search
: doesn't find what I'm looking for. Anyone know exactly what they
: do down there?

There are many ways to resist lateral motion, I've seen it done with a flat bottomed chined boat just holding the long edge of the boat heeled so the chine acts line a long keel, while it works it's not terribly efficient so tacking angles can be pretty wide. Dave's comment about paddling upwind being more efficient depends almost entirely on the tacking angle and the speed that can be had while sailing upwind, kayaks with outriggers can likely, if the wind allows, achieve a great enough speed to work their way upwind much faster than one could paddle.

While a GP could work as a leeboard finding the right position will take some experimenting it's an awfully tiny foil so will need fairly precise positioning or it'll just stall and not create any lift. Sounds like a fun experiment though :)

Bill H.