Bought the Sail and Furling Kits to add to my Tandem Oasis and took it out today in 5-8 mph winds. My comments and observations:
-No Ama for now / read a bunch of posts here regarding the pros and cons. I am going to continue to give it a go sans Hamas, since I had boring holes in my toys and prefer not to lug more gear around. Also figure I need to learn to sail w/out training wheels and should get to know how to recover from capsizing since I have bird and wildlife ADD and can't imagine my mind won't drift and forget about mainsheets, telltale vigilance. -Gloves / I get it now why a lot of these videos have people wearing gloves on their right hand. -Blocks, Rope tackle Mods / I get it now why the pics and videos of some of your fellow sailing kayaks have a lot of gizmos hanging off their boats. In light winds and 1/2 furled (this was a practice run), the mainsheet and furling lines were getting bound up on my Hobie Cart and gear bungies that were out of sight in the transom of the yak. I need to mess more w/the rigging access/convenience to insure when I need these lines to work for me that are functioning and readily accessible. -2nd Mirage Drive / This is a lifesaver for a newbie to have the fins extended and behaving like a small daggerboard ... even in light winds the yak was getting tippy. Larry Ellison won't be getting challenged anytime soon. -Wind Gusts Suck / Read it a bunch of times in my pre-trip education, but experiencing what a gust of wind can do to the sail, boat orientation and my capsize avoidance lizard brain was very interesting.
I've got to wait a few weeks for the weather to warm-up, so I can see what this Tandem Oasis and its noob sailor can do. Pretty sure from the yak behavior and my sailing skills that turtling is in my near future. But, I prefer a leisurely swim and recovery situation in slightly warmer conditions. Fun for sure. The sail and furler is a great accessory for those considering this for their yaks.
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