Chesapeake Light Craft Sail Rig 

Pretty cool set up..

Sawdust, I’m not in Florida right now so don’t have the ama width but the length is 10 feet. You definitely don’t want the amas to both sit in the water. You want one to be in when you heel under sail (the other will fly above the water) but both above the water when you come head to wind so you can “come about.” In other words they will be higher than the waterline of your kayak. The akas (beams) have a nice curve to make this work. I really recommend getting the plans from Chesapeake Light if you can afford to as they are excellent and the designer has worked out the technical sail stuff. Good luck on your project and thank you for your kind comments.

John, One of the nice things about the CLC design is that you still have your light kayak when you don't have the sail rig attached. That said, you have to add a mast step, four attachment points and make a hole for the mast in your deck. You also add some glass under the deck. CLC has four eye bolts for the attachment. I did not like the looks of that so I made wooden blocks. It broke my heart to make the mast hole but it is a small price to pay for the fun and longer cruising range of a sail. Good luck on your project!

Thanks for posting. Great video. Looks like lots of fun. I have a C17, maybe this will be my next toy.

Nice video, thanks for sharing. Planning to buy the Tandem Annapolis Wherry soon and hopefully Pocketship within a year.

Really well done vid Paul, and craft. Id be highly inclined to believe youd blow past 5 knots in a 15 knot wind with 70 sq ft of sail. Id imagine something over 8 knots is more like it. You did a great job all the way around.

John, The hole for the mast is only a little over a few inches. I made a plug for when it is in kayak mode. I did not make my rudder. My friend Phil was a master craftsman and when he looked at it, especially making the foot pedals he thought we might as well just buy an aluminum rudder. You will need the bigger rudder that CLC sells if you go that route.

Awesome boat Paul, I'm half way through a Chesapeake 18 with a 70 sail rig, I hope it comes out half as nice as yours...

Ben, I think you could definitely fish with the rig. I've had mine out in moderate winds and chop. In higher winds I would need a way to reef. Masikmu has a sea kayak sailing video of his rig in pretty good waves. Don't add too much weight to the amas. Get a kayak that can handle your weight and items you want to take. Good luck!

The distance is about 4 feet. I’m not a designer but I don’t think it is a critical spec. I think you could go wider. The critical elements are where your leeboard and center of effort of your sail plan align so you don’t get weather or lee helm. Since the leeboard attaches to the ama in this design it would be impacted by where the forward ama is located. I love the Chesapeake design. I tried an old windsurfer sail on it and it had so much weather helm it would just turn into the wind. With the sail designed for it (in video) it works. Best of luck to you in your project. It sounds fun.

Great video and beautiful boat. Have you tried it in bigger winds and rougher water. I'm really considering building one but don't to be restricted flat calm days. I'm thinking of converting the outrigger kit out for fishing for longer trips under sail. Rod holders, fish finder that stuff. I no the hobie does all of that but I really like the idea of building my own - feedback on rougher water handling would be great. Once again stunning boat and great video.

Doooooood!!!!!....Totally kick ass rig!!!!....one question: What Is the measurements of your outriggers???....my 14.5 ft wooden kyak is 9.5" deep walls ....I was thinking of 9.5" tall and 6" wide by 8ft long....any suggestions would be appreciated!!!!...also, when I build the wood piece to attach it to my outriggers to my kyak do I make it where the outriggers are flat or same level as my kyak or do I need to make them a little higher than my kyak when it sits flush on the ground????

It is a Chesapeake 17. Love the Kayak. Paddles well, lots of storage. Light weight. I weight about 185 and I am 6 ft tall.

I come back to your video as a reference point. Thanks so much for posting. What is the fore/aft distance between the akas? I am in the early stages of planning to build a decked sailing canoe. I would like the ability to add outriggers if I was planning to be out in a variety of conditions. The open cockpit of this canoe is long and the fore/aft location of the akas would cross the opening and I would really prefer to avoid this. I was wondering if you thought it was possible to make 2 more bulkheads per ama just l like the ones that protrude on the amas to attach to the akas and add them to the structure, fitting them accordingly, in order to slide the akas further fore and aft enough so that they don't cross the cockpit. My other idea to solve this was much more involved and I would prefer to avoid it. Hope that wasn't too confusing.

Very cool video. I'm about to start on a CLC sport tandem and plan to fit it out with the sail rig. Did the kayak itself have to be modified in any way to support the sail rig?

I've built a 17LT Chesapeake yak and I've been given 2 sailboards, with 2 masts and 3 sails. I've always wanted to make a sailing tri and now I have masts and sails I'm going to build it. But after seeing the size of your sail I think the sails I have may be a little small.

Love this video!!!

Thank you for the kind comments. I'll see if I can get a better speed estimate. I'm just happy to be moving fast without having to paddle the whole time.

Great job on the kayak and sailrig! Which CLC kayak?

It is iMovie, shot mostly with a go pro camera, some shots taken from on top a painter's pole. I am glad you liked it. The animals are dolphins. They were following me until the wind died--then they got bored.

хорошая идея, да только ущербная. еслс есть ветер для паруса - есть и волна, значит нужно поднимать борта, иначе лодочка получается только для погоды типа штиль. грузоподьемность маленькая - далеко от пляжа не уйдешь, только пляжные покатушки....

Any idea on your speed under sail?

I was able to make 5 knots in 10-15 mph winds.

Nice video, but that music is sh!thouse. Gave me half a headache