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PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2021 9:39 pm 
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Hi all,

I got a 2020 i9s this year, and I've been trying to get some experience sailing with it.

Today the Windspeed at the lake was around 10 MPH, and the little Paper that comes with the I-Sail says the Optimal Windspeed is 4-10 MPH.

It seemed the Sail was leaning pretty good in the wind, and I leaned the opposite way to counterbalance the Kayak, but controlling the i9s wasn't too difficult to get used to with a Windspeed of around 10 MPH.

What would be the Max Windspeed for sailing an i9s? Would 15 MPH be doable?

If the Wind gets too intense, can it damage something, or will it overturn the Kayak before that?

Since the I-Sail doesn't have a Furling Kit option, is there something else besides taking the Sail down, that would work in place of the regular Furling Kit?

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PostPosted: Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:12 pm 
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Interesting question for which I will try to remember my i12s experience. The main difference may be my stays formed a wider tripod so when a mast is forced sideways there is a little less upward leverage exerted on my gluepads than yours. I rigged the stays to have light tension to reduce strain on the gluepads. Maybe these pads don't need babying, but anyway it seemed to sail better with a surprising amount of slack on the leeward stay.

As for mph, I am thinking I coped with a couple mph above beaufort 4 which would be 15 gusting to 20, if the fetch was limited to avoid max waves https://www.stormfax.com/beaufort.htm . Sustained as opposed to gusting 20 was only survivable by letting out sheet to spill wind or turning into the wind and letting the sail flap like crazy. An odd thing is if I tightened down the sheet and pedaled straight upwind, the sail seems to retain some drive. On a downwind run it is hard to spill wind and you may want to make extensions to your sheet or replace it with longer to reduce overpower.

Best to explore higher winds only in stages so you have a margin of safety until you know the issues. I never experienced a flip over, but had a few scares when a big wave and gust hit me at the same instant. I have practiced reboarding the yak at sea and lanyarded everything down including the mirage drive, paddle, and gear. Some find the sheet tension hard to hold in moderate to high winds, for which there are a dozen mods with their own pitfalls we could discuss. Don't forget to keep the fins vertical to avoid sideslip when not pedaling (pedals side by side gives vertical).

P.S. One issue with higher winds may be that you weathervane into the wind more than your rudder can counter. This can be reduced by raking the mast forward altho your boat may have limited ability to do this due to the small offset of the forward stay gluepad. Maybe I misremember and had to rake the mast rearward to avoid the opposite problem, but same principle applies. I forget if you went with the large sailing rudder and turbo fins. Large waves can overpower even the sailing rudder leading to yaw or even broach.


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PostPosted: Tue Sep 21, 2021 7:37 am 
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yaw_string wrote:
Some find the sheet tension hard to hold in moderate to high winds, for which there are a dozen mods with their own pitfalls we could discuss.

Whether you tie knots in the sheet for grip, or an endloop to go around your foot, or add a ratchet... it is important that tension can be released quickly and payout the sail for sudden depower. On a typical sailboat you also could steer into the wind to depower, but your rudder isn't that quick responding.

My various caveats are due to the fact that if you find 15mph manageable, you have got to be prepared for getting caught in sketchy 20 as gusts, squalls, or whatever. I think at worst I was once driven to face the wind head on and pedal in place for a while, which handles waves nicely too. Anyway here is a good sailing tips video talking about 10 to a cautious 20 mph range, altho it depicts a furling model.



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PostPosted: Thu Dec 09, 2021 2:23 pm 
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Thanks for your thoughts on this. You probably have more experience than I do, but I think so far my experience is similar to yours.

I do have the Sailing Rudder and Turbo Fins. It would be nice to have some kind of alternative Furling Kit option, since the Standard Furling Kit isn't available for the i9s.

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