Anybody have a kayak kite system up and running?

[bing!]

I want to do this on my revolution but I dont know if its doable. I have little sail experience, specially not in outfitting a non sailing boat to a kite. Is this viable on a kayak?

kite sailing (http://www.kiteboat.com/kb_videos.html)

[bing!]

I want to do this on my revolution but I dont know if its doable. I have little sail experience, specially not in outfitting a non sailing boat to a kite. Is this viable on a kayak?

kite sailing (http://www.kiteboat.com/kb_videos.html)

[driftwood]

Cool idea!!!

[Addicted]

I was thinking the same thing for when i purchase my first kayak this summer.Allthough i was thinking a kite from a kite boarding oufit might suit a kayak better.They pull a kite border pretty fast and pretty far off the water for jumps so i see no reason why it wouldn't pull a kayak along at a good clip.

[gwiz]

not sure you want to go airborne in a yak. I suspect you will want less kite than the boarders use.

[Addicted]

Do they make them any smaller than for kiteboarding?.I was thinking with the extra weight of a yak and gear you would stay put on the water.There's one way to tell for sure i have a buddy that kite boards,when i buy my kayak I'm going to give it a shot.

[Addicted]

I don't know how to add a link here so you can just copy and paste.I found a wind sports online store that sells kites made for Kayaks,I know I'm going to get one!...http://www.windpowersports.com/kites/single/kayak-kites.html...

[AlohaDan]

Bing

Do you want the kite to help pull you along?

Or do you want a kite that dangles bait fish lures just of water?

[Addicted]

I like the idea of not having to paddle for a while,I found the website that sells kayak kites but a sail might be better but I'm not sure.

[Terri]

For just pulling you along and then easy stowage when not using, nothing can beat a golf umbrella. But I must admit that the kite sails look very interesting.

[RobertH]

I must admit I haven't used a kayak kite, but if it the procedure is even remotely similar to what kite boarders have to go through I'd say a kite is way too much work and, more importantly, not safe in the kind of conditions where you'd actually be able to use one (in winds of 10+ mph).

In any event, I frankly don't understand why Bing, or anyone else in a kayak, would want a kite to pull them along when there several simple sails available that do the same or a better job at it. One is made by Pacific Action (www.pacificaction.com), the other by Spirit sails (http://www.spiritsails.com/home.shtml).

Especially the Pacific Action sail seems preferable to a kite(I have used one for about a year now), as it also allows you to sail on a reach (up to 90 degrees to the direction of the wind). The PA sail can be raised and lowered in just a few seconds. The Spirit sail allows for more limited reaching (about 30 degrees to the wind) and cannot be raised and lowered quite as fast (maybe a couple of minutes). But it's completely freestanding with no rigging (no lines). Both sails allow for hands-free, unobstructed paddling.

But perhaps what some of you are after is simply the thrill of flying a kite from a kayak. In that case, I can't argue with you. Kites are no doubt a lot of fun.

Robert

[southbound]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">http://www.windpowersports.com/kites/single/kayak-kites.html... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I'm an avid, experienced kiteboarder who just bought his first SOT kayak, so I'll let you know when I've had a chance to try kite-yaking, but I'd warn non-kiters to stay away from powerful traction kites until you've had lessons and experience on land and in the water. I know they've been experimenting with inflatable kites in Hawaii to pull outrigger canoes and it does work. But singlehanding without a rudder probably would be unmanageable, as you really need both hands on the bar to manage the kite. Additionally, you'd need a harness, similar to windsurfing, to keep your arms from getting ripped out of their sockets in strong winds (or with an oversize kite). Then, what do you do with the kite once you've reached your fishing ground? You could intentionally down it, then partially or fully deflate it for stowage purposes. But water relaunches can be tricky once the fishing's over, so you may need paddle or pedal power to get back. I'll let you know how it goes once I try it.

[houdini]

When I first got my yak, I was wondering if I could use a kite. I had seen some boarders at Canada Hole in the Outer Banks and so I decided to try to use a kite. A buddy of mine was seriously into kites and suggested I might want to try a parawing kite as the airfoil wasn't rigid and would be easier to carry. To make a long story short, after meeting him at Cape May one day to fly kites and almost getting dragged to Cape Henlopen by a six foot kite, I decided it might work. And it did. To well. Even with my rudder, I could go downwind like a bat out of hell but I couldn't go much more than about fifteen degrees off the wind without getting pulled sideways and dumping. I discovered that when I dumped, the kite just kept pulling me along. It was downright dangerous.
I finally settled on a smaller 3 1/2' parawing and a shorter tether (about 10 feet) and a piece of parachute line to the back of the kite so I could "dump" it. That works well downwind.
You have to be careful. I've had some long paddles back when the wind changed or stopped.

[linstad]

It would be great fun, kite yakking....until you have to paddle back....is it possible to tack with a kite???

[houdini]

I tried - it didn't work very well. I kept getting pulled sideways and dumping.

[donny h]

Sorry to hear the kite just pulled you sideways, it's an interesting topic to me, I am interested in trying to kitesail with my xfactor. I am also rigging a Spirit sail setup, and in perfect conditions, I wonder if I can use the sail AND a kite.

Did you have the kite tied off midpoint on the boat? Or was the line in your hands? I was planning on trying to route the kiteline through the anchor trolley so the kites pulling angle is near the bow, and tied off.

[houdini]

I have a ring that I use for securing tools
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a239/yodarkritch/Fullconsole.jpg
Being an old rock climber, I figured that I wouldn't want to fly it by hand for long, so I used a belay ring with a gate secured to the ring. That's about as close to the middle of my ride as it gets.
Just remember that you might want to have a good way to release it!!

[Scott]

I have flown kites for a lot of years and have experience with two lined stunt kites, as well as kayaking. If you look at the video above, the guys on kite boards, etc, you'll notice the kite is at an angle to the vessel, ie not down wind. to make this work there must be some type of lateral resistance to stop side slippage.

In a sailboat, it's a center board or keel, in a Hobie Cat it is the asymmetrical hull that Hobie alder designed. whatever, you need some kind of lateral resistance that transfers side slip to forward motion. So leeboards, a very large rudder, a burried edge of the yak, something.

I also am not sure of a downwind kite will work, in theory, the down windn kite will be going the speed of the wind as the kayak is pulled...thus no relative wind to the kite. Although in reality I believe the kayak would offer enoug of a resistance that the kite would have relative windspeed and continue to fly.

Sorry for the long post. If you're interested in kite yakking, check out some of the kite shopes for the small foil kites, like 3-5 feet wide, but they pull like hell, are difficult to water launch and are very fast flyers. Scott

[houdini]

I guess it's like the bumble bee - it ain't supposed to fly but it does. I don't know why it works - but I can tell you it does.

[YAKMAN - ECKF]

I have a huge hydrofoil type kite for downwind sailing on my sea kayak. When I used do a lot more distance and bigger trips I used it all the time

it was nice to just sit there and fly the kite with the paddle and use the rudder

http://www.easyriderkayaks.com/sailrigs.htm

these are some nice ideas

but I have a better one which is not coming to mind at the moment

[Microship]

I use a 7.5 square-meter parafoil from Into The Wind (http://www.intothewind.com), and it has given me a nice downwind boost quite a few times (even on my previous kayak, a 19-foot inflatable Aire Sea Tiger). General advice on these is to have a knife nearby if you need to cut it away in an emergency, but I usually just hold the spool and enjoy the sensation of being pulled along. The nice thing about the little parafoils is that there is no "structure," so it packs very small and is extremely easy to launch.

Cheers,
Steve (Revo with sail and Sidekicks, soon to add an AI)

[houdini]

Yeah, that's the type I use too. Tie a line to the middle of the back edge and keep the kite tether about ten feet. When you need to stop, pull in the line on the back edge and dump the wind out of the kite.