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 😆