First sail on the Avoca Outrigger

On a bright & sunny Sunday my daughter in her kayak and me in the Avoca Outrigger took to the waters of Avoca lagoon for the first proper sail of my new outrigger design.  With a paddle in one hand, the lugsail sheet in the other and feet on the rudder pedals I was thrilled that the design worked just as I had knew it would. 

It is such a fun little boat!  As I was powering along in the gusts I thought of Arthur Piver's little 16ft trimaran Frolic and knew exactly where he got the name from. Simple, small boat sailing is one of life's true joys.

Rigging

Lately I've been keeping my Avoca Outrigger assembled down by the water out the front of my house which makes getting on the water quick & easy. If you're going to do the same make sure you take epoxy coating and varnishing everything seriously.

Rigging the boat with the Really Simple Sails lugsail takes no more than 2 mins. There's just 3 three lines to fuss over, the halyard, downhaul and sheet, all of which use 6mm white marine grade braided line from the hardware store, no expensive dyneema here! A length of 40m of rope can be bought for $28, plus you'll need a couple of stainless steel saddles, a small turning block for the masthead, a cleat for the halyard and clip for the downhaul.  The plans explain the rigging details such as placements for the stainless steel saddles and cleat so that everything works when you're out on the water.  

The 36sq. ft lugsail reefed down to 23 sq. ft.

The lugsail is the 36 sq. ft drop in sailing canoe rig from Really Simple Sails. It has a reef that will take it down to 23 sq ft which is how I rigged the sail. There's intentionally no cleat for the sheet, for a boat this nimble you need to have it in your hand to adjust the sail for every gust.

Lugsails are great sails, they have a low centre of effort, are powerful on and off the wind and really look the part! They also need a fair amount of luff tension which is very easy given the size of the sail. The downhaul is a simple loop with a carabineer style hook that clips onto a saddle fixed to the mast just about deck height. The luff tension comes from the 2 to 1 purchase of the halyard, pulling back with your arms and a little body weight gets the luff tight. 

Pure sailing

My design goals for the Avoca Outrigger were it had to have foot pedal steering, be fast under paddle power, have plenty of buoyancy for one person plus a small child or dog or camping/fishing gear, light enough to lift onto a car's roof racks and able to sail across or downwind. I'm pleased report it officially does all that!

With sheet in hand it is easy enough to dip the paddle to get some added drive to manoeuvre around a buoy or a power through a jet ski wake.

Nothing beats a simple, easily driven boat for sailing fun.

Most of you will know me for my paddle board designs, and I really do love the challenge of designing and building functional water craft that look great and paddle amazingly. 

But my true passion is sailing.

The ability to harness the wind and convert it's energy into forward motion for work or pleasure is a wonderful thing. So many times I have taken newbys sailing and every time they come away with feeling they didn't know existed within themselves; sailing is great fun!

In as little as 2-3 knots of breeze you can put the paddle away let the Avoca Outrigger take you to a place not found on land. This is pure sailing, no instruments of any kind except the hairs on your eyes and your own eyes looking to windward for puffs and zephyrs. Ok, so the sail has a leech tale to help with your sheeting angle. Apart from that there's nothing to distract you from watching the watery world go by.

Small pedal inputs are all that's needed, although the rudder looks small it provides more than enough authority to keep you on course. Like all small sailboats any big movements on the pedals will stall the Avoca Outrigger.

I was able to make good upwind progress even without some form of foil providing lateral resistance. Good sailing technique and the single chine hull design certainly helps here.  For dead up wind going you simply drop the sail, stow it on the aka/ama and bust out the paddle.

Of course across the wind and downwind sailing are the best and the Avoca Outrigger excels on these points of sail.

My idea of a good day out on the water is to exercise my arms first by paddling up into the wind  for a good while then some high speed runs sailing across the wind to get my sailing buzz pul up on a beach to make a coffee and grab a bite followed by leisurely gybing back and forth to my starting point. Ahh the simple pleasures, I'm looking forward to getting a spare couple of hours.

On a close reach making upwind progress.

Dropping and raising the rig on the water

We have a low bridge between our house and the main part of the lake. The height to the water varies but when the lake is right up I have to almost get on my knees to paddle my sups under the bridge. So anything with a mast and sail is definitely going to need lowering.

Heading toward the bridge the wind was coming from dead ahead. With the halyard neatly positioned near my right knee I could easily drop the rig within metres of the bridge and with several quick paddle strokes make it through to the other side.

Sail dropped and stowed to paddle under a low bridge.

The lugsail is rigged on the post side of the freestanding mast so that when you douse the sail it comes down on the ama side. This helps keep the boat from tipping and because of the length of the boom and yard they are able rest on either the aka or ama leaving room for paddling. Once past the bridge I just pulled on the halyard, secured it to the cleat and kept on sailing.

Coming back home with the wind behind me I was able to ease the halyard just enough to scandalise the sail and keep sailing under the bridge, steering easily with my feet. Once clear of the bridge the sail was again raised and I continued on my merry way! It nice when things work out the way you planned them!

Capsize and bailing

Hard to say as I didn't get tipped out of the boat! I didn't once feel like the boat was going over. It's more stable on the port take than I was expecting. Remember the ama is on the port side. What I would say is that when you're on a port tack you can lean your body weight onto the aft aka (crossbeam) and still reach the rudder pedals with your feet. So when a gust comes you can pretty much keep the boat level. Of course more research is needed in higher winds!

The view from the paddler's seat.

Final thoughts

Given the very fine hull forms of the Avoca Outrigger it doesn't take much effort to get it moving with the paddle or sail. Tacking reliably it never gets caught in irons, the wind does the job or if the conditions are extremely light, less than 2 knots of breeze, a couple of paddle strokes is all that's needed to get the bow around. Gybing is a simple affair with your hands free for the sheet its easy to pull the boom quickly and let it out as the stern swings around. 

It is a great little paddling and sailing boat, easy to build and fast to get rigged up. If it can put a smile on a 45 year old bloke who's sailed everything from 80ft maxis, beach cats and 140ft square riggers then I'm pretty sure everyone would love to sail this little beauty!

We have a family holiday coming up... I know which boat I'll be taking! :)

Tell me what you think in the comments!

Aaron