Lie down small sailing boat

Try it, then you can stop trying to imagine it!

You wont believe how fun it is, you wont.

 

It sounds restful but I suspect it won't be! I assume the objective is to lower the CoG without resorting to a deep ballasted keel in a small boat that needs all the help it can get to stay upright.

 

Another small benefit is that lying down reduces windage. Might be significant if you are using a small sail.

 

Good point. Whne I was experimenting with a sail on my kayak windage on my body had a serious impact on what it would do: even with a sail as small as 15 sq ft it performed well on a run or a reach, but could make very little progress upwind. I could feel the backwind off the sail but in a kayak there isn't enough space in the cockpit to slide down.

 

Here's my take on the concept, sort of Great fun actually .



http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JKr_aO4MUNw/Tr0RZ_DMypI/AAAAAAAACdw/r_mhzX975GU/s1600/430184341.jpg

(Sitting low rather than laying down though, and leaning and some paddle support is needed..)

 

I am pretty obsessed with Kayak sailing also, here are some of my whacky setups (long page so scroll down)!
http://www.rxmarine.co.uk/kayak_sailing_antics.html

I suspect that when I get out in anything like bumpy water my lie down (lay down?) boat will not be that comfortable as suggested, but I am having fun building a slightly different idea - it keeps me out of mischief

 

Phil Bolger once had a very small sharpie built called EEK.

It was 12 ft long and only 2 ft wide. It had a 24 sf, leg o' mutton sail.

He could paddle it sitting up, but had to sail it laying down.

Because of the level chine, pointed stern design, he had to use a 50 lb lump of led.

He used it as a pillow.

Anything I would design would be more of a lay on than lay in design, so hand stroking could be used for auxiliary propulsion.

It would be an absolute bare bones sailboat with a minimum of, say 20 sf of sail, a side centerboard, and, most likely a side stepped mast.

It would probably be made of foam, either sheathed or not.

It would be the ultimate light, car top sailboat. You could probably put two or three of them on one car.

I can almost imagine a racing class developing, where the Length, Beam, and Sail Area would be somehow defined and limited. Two of, or all three of these limitations would have to be based on the weight of the crew.

 

I've thought about it - and decided 'lay down' is a really silly idea for a sail boat. Responding to constant wind and wave shifts, other traffic, enjoying the view .... its all ruined by laying down.

So, stop it all you silly sods - go and build something useful

 

Not on your life!

I like silly ideas. Especially if they are cheap.

 

The only really silly idea I came across on the forum was for a sailing submarine . . .

 

I have just found this link on the Internet, scroll down a little and it shows a picture taken in 1935 of a guy called Tom Blake laying on a surf board with a sail.

According to the blurb, plans were published in a 1940 copy of Popular Science, would be rather interesting if I could obtain this back issue, I might contact them!

Edit:
Just researching it a little more, Tom Blake was a surfing ledgend and has been credited with many innovations. He ended up adding a foot controlled rudder to the board:
After some experimentation, he added a mast and sail to his
surfboard. Later, he added a foot-controlled rudder and called his
invention "a sailing surfboard". Blake's invention, however, was not
widely received and it was another 30 years before S. Newman Darby took
the idea a step further. (Developing the Wind Surfer)

Just thought this was an interesting bit of history.
Andy

 

Great story.

No wonder it didnt take off for 30 years - until someone thought to stand up.

 

I am close to completing a second version of my lay down sailing boat concept, the main difference with this version is it is using 75mm foam core instead of 50mm and I have extended the bow. Hull weight is 19Kg.

With this version I am going to experiment with flying a spinnaker, the pics show my first attempt at working out the rigging for the spinnaker.

As I will not be able to shift my weight aft when off the wind I suspect the bow might bury, in which case I might experiment with strakes in the bow to provide lift, or I might dispense with the spinnaker and go back to a single, slightly larger main.

I can't wait to try this version!

Some pics here

 

Good luck, Andy. New hull looks nice!