My goal to paddle every day of the long weekend is coming along nicely, today I completed the Makara to Owhiro Bay paddle, and saw dolphins along the way.

This is a tricky one to plan, because the tidal flows along that coastline can exceed 10kmh at times, and you absolutely must time the trip to coincide with the tidal flow, you can't paddle against it.

We had tides, wind, and waves all behind us, so it was a very fast trip, especially as both of us have sails on our boats.

https://www.relive.cc/view/vrqDpgBzdwq

[–] Dave 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Awesome! Looks like a great trip.

I can't remember if I'm asked this before, but I recall you mentioning the sails on the boats. Are these sails similar to a yacht (held up by a mast), or some other form of sail?

[–] thevoyagekayaking 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

There is a mast, yes. It's rigged up with a line at the front of the mast, and two stays, so the mast can be raised and lowered from the paddling position, and there is a hinge at the base of the mast. There is also a trim line to change the angle of the sail.

The sail area is one square metre.

Mine is custom made by a sailmaker, but many paddlers use Flat Earth kayak sails.

[–] Dave 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That's cool! Does it make a big difference?

[–] thevoyagekayaking 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Definitely, especially running straight downwind, it can more than double your speed.

Even with a crosswind it's a lot of force.

[–] Dave 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Awesome, that partly explains how you can kayak 33KM, which seems like a really long way to me!

[–] thevoyagekayaking 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You can do it without the tides, it would just take longer. 4-4.5 kmh is typical pace in a loaded sea kayak. I've done bigger days, including a Strait crossing.

[–] Dave 1 points 10 months ago

I think my arms would fall off if I tried it 😆