Overnight cruise in the 12ft flat iron skiff I built. This adventure takes place on the northern elbow of Barkley Lake (Cumberland River). I make camp on the shore of Land Between the Lakes.
I'm obsessed with this boat but I so wish it could take 2 adults up river I've been trying to get a shallow draft sailboat for the river by us that I can take my grandfather fishing in
Smaller boats do better in waves than you might imagine. As Rusty Knorr mention, never let the sail get ahead of the mast like that. Not only does this cause a broach, but you lose all way and steerage at that point, putting your small skiff at the mercy of those waves you fear so much. If you are afraid of burying the bow, move your body weight back, the flat bottom of your skiff will "surf" the waves better that way. Also, you need a good down haul on that sail. You need to be able to pull it tight. This keeps it close to the mast and allows your boat to sail closer to the wind. You can even add a small loop of rope to hold the boom to the mast. Part of your problem was poor sail shape as it was billowing out, getting out of your control.
Thank you for the insightful criticism. I've sailed the boat a lot since this video and am constantly learning. I've discovered the advantage of shifting weight aft when running. That alone makes a huge difference. Usually better to keep the sail powered up too. The downhaul works just fine for my style of sailing. I've rigged it standard before. Doesn't seem to make a great deal of difference. In light air I will often slacken the outhaul and halyard/downhaul to give it some belly. That's about as in depth with sail shape as I get. Don't know much about it. Don't really care. If the boat is moving forward and right side up, all is well!
Thank you for the inspiring videos. I love your adventures, and I’m very like-minded about small unpowered boats. When overpowered in a breeze, I am curious if you have ever tried to lower your rig? Though a really low boom is inconvenient for tacking/gybing, easing the whole rig a foot or so would lower the center of effort very significantly for such a small sail, making much less heeling moment. Similar to reefing but without reducing area. I would also recommend looking at how people rig a downhaul and parel (they call it a “bleater”) on the Goat Island skiff or Oz Goose- with just one more simple line it can give much better results for sail shape and twist. Wish you many more adventures!
the sun, waves and wind tend to fatigue you far more than you realize in the moment. while sailing you'll think youre doing fine when in actuality you'd already be tired, your body just tells you its fine, thats why you'll always feel more tired after a trip ends
Very well done video and dialog. I am a fellow sharpie camp cruiser. I departed Paris Landing a few years ago and did a 4 day cruise down Kentucky Lake, one of many adventures in the last 10 years. My local TVA lake is my next destination this season although id like to get back on KY Lake again . Thanks for the inspiration.
That sounds like a fun route. It's great to hear from a sharpie sailor familiar with this area. Thanks for commenting! Someday I'd like to start on Ky Lake at Dover or Paris, sail North, cut across the canal, and sail South up Barkley to Dover. That's a longer term goal though. Will need to set back some time for that one haha.
When the water and weather warm up you should intentionally swamp the boat and see if you can actually bail it and recover without outside aid. You did the right thing for your skill level de-powering by letting the sail swing forward. With more experience and skill you could have also just moved further aft and rode over the waves or if the wind was cooperative you could have stayed with the wave train and surfed one or several of them for a while. In a following sea with such a low freeboard you do want to be careful about burying the bow in the wave ahead if you're going to overtake it. A slightly larger fore deck with a coaming to deflect water off the bow might be a simple "improvement" that would give a few seconds to react instead of having the experience of the boat filling with water from the bow and the weight of same driving the bow down further. Very entertaining video. You're fortunate to have such a benign venue for camp cruising is small boats.
All great points. I can tell you speak from experience. I've been considering a swamp test. Excellent idea. I just need to quit procrastinating, and do it. I learned from a kayak capsize that small craft can become very unstable when swamped, and in practice, may be more difficult to bail than one might think. A larger fore deck would certainly be beneficial. A full sharpie style deck would make the boat 10 times more seaworthy, but then you end up with a completely different boat.
With a lug sail NEVER let the yard get forward of the mast. That is the most dangerous scenario you can possibly have. You can let the sail run completely out, but never hold it if it gets forward of the mast. That’s where all lug sail boats broach. (And why I don’t like sails with yards)
Well, thanks! But there wasn't much skill involved. I was just kind of going on instinct. Maybe not extreme, but I may have been a wee bit shaky on the tiller afterward lol. It wouldn't take much to swamp the baby skiff. I always carry a bail, and wear the PFD, of course.
I really enjoy your boating/camping adventures, I would like to replicate them on my local lake but we are not allowed to just pull up on shore and camp anywhere we wish.
That's a shame. We are fortunate that all shoreline a certain distance above the high water mark is TVA public access. There are also many patches of public woodlands directly on the water. More of the waterfront is developed than you might think judging from my videos. But it's a good balance between public land/developed.
I really like your videos and stories. I like your simple boat. I don't know how to sail, but I want to learn. I live on a large, shallow river. I wonder if your skiff is suitable for such conditions? Your boat does not have any buoyancy containers. It takes courage to sail it. All the best. I'm patiently waiting for your next films and songs, which I also like very much.
Thank you! Current can make river sailing pretty difficult. That may not be the best body of water to learn on. You also have to be aware of commercial traffic (such as barges). If the current is not strong, it may be possible. Yes, sailing without built-in floatation is a little risky. I chose to stick to a more traditional way of building. This also increases volume for carrying camping gear. I always wear a PFD and carry a bucket to bail with if the boat gets swamped.
