The Sailing Canoe Purjekas

by Tom Raidna

My boat is named Purjekas, Estonian for sailing boat. This might be a bit odd for a kayak, but perhaps not for one fitted with a sailing rig.  In February of 2020 I ordered a Shearwater Sport kit from Chesapeake Light Craft (CLC) and made the 4-hour drive from Pittsburgh to Annapolis to visit the showroom and pick it up. Little did we know that the Covid pandemic was about to hit in full force, and for me building this boat offered a bit of distraction in an otherwise crappy time for all. 

I consider the Shearwater Sport kayak to be akin to a crossover SUV, sporty enough, while offering some nice features for me in my late 50's.  The boat is listed on CLC's site in the recreational, light touring and touring sections for kits.  Its basic specifications are 14.5 feet in length, 25-inch beam, 300-pound maximum payload, and cockpit size of 34x17 inches.  This cockpit is a bit longer than many in pure touring boats and is helpful for me to get in and out.  The beam is a bit wider than most touring kayaks which give it some extra stability and made it an interesting choice for adding the sail rig.  

The stock configuration’s weight is 42 pounds, though mine is definitely heavier due to some of the customizations I have made.  The boat is of stitch and glue construction, which is to say the hull panels are stitched together with copper wire and glued together with epoxy thickened with wood flour. Okoume marine plywood is used for the hull and sides and Sapele ply, a reddish colored wood, for the deck. Under Schooner varnish, this provides an aesthetically pleasing contrast. The entire boat is encapsulated with fiberglass cloth and epoxy. It includes fore and aft hatches for storing gear, deck hold down bungees on the fore and aft deck. Adjustable foot braces, a minicell foam seat that is glued to the hull with accompanying back band, and deck mounted hold-downs for the hatches are all also normally included, though mine has modified versions of these items.  

As noted, my boat has several modifications to the stock configuration; some are for comfort, and some for performance. I replaced the standard seat with an aftermarket Creature Comfort seat.  The bottom of the seat has a molded minicell foam—thicker, wider and longer than normal kayak seats. The back rest is integral to the seat bottom and has lines that run through fittings attached to the hull to allow adjustments. I installed a rudder, along with a foot-brace mounting system which does not require any holes in the hull, and allows for vertical and horizontal adjustments to the rudder foot controls.  A foot controlled rudder is raised and lowered with a control line that runs along the starboard side of the kayak. The deck hatches are held in place with an invisible hold-down system, which includes a pair of bungees for each that are installed in blocks epoxied to the hull, which when looped over plywood tabs under the hatch hold them down tightly. 

The most significant modification is the Kuvia sail rig.  This rig has a Gunter style main sail with full length battens and a small foresail that stores folded on the deck and is raised with a control line from the cockpit.  I opted for the smaller 1.4 square meter mainsail, that can be reefed, with a high-performance genoa that adds an additional 0.4 square meters of sail area.  There is also a single line that functions as both the downhaul and boom vang.  The sails are trimmed with a mainsail sheet that has a locking cleat on the mast bracket, and two jib sheets.  Additionally, the sail kit has two leeboards for lateral resistance that can be raised and lowered independently with a rod on each side of the boat. The rods can be tucked under the deck bungees when not in use. The normal installation is one bracket on the deck and three lashings that tie to pad eyes installed on the kayak.  Here again, I went with a modification to the standard install and used an add-on kit to allow the rig to mount to the deck with Rail-Blaza fittings that provide a quick and sturdy setup. 

I have more experience sailing than paddling, so my opinion on paddle performance should be taken in that light.  That said, I’ve paddled a 16-foot rotomolded sea kayak in a couple of adventure sprint triathlons (Kayak, Bike, Run).  The Shearwater Sport is a stable boat, great for entering and exiting. She tracks well, even with my amateur paddling technique. While not a speed demon, she does accelerate pretty well and once moving, it’s easy to keep momentum up. When not racing, my baseline is how easily can I maintain a speed 3 to 3.5 mph, and I’m happy with how this kayak does.  With the upgraded seat, I found the boat to be very comfortable, and with the ability to tweak the backrest height and angle, I can paddle for longer periods of time. As a camper, the larger deck hatches make getting gear in an out a comfortable exercise, and the 300-pound payload allows for bringing essential gear. While the shorter length and wider beam does impact the effort to get up to top speed, it does provide a shorter turning radius for paddling in rivers. 

While I find sailing a kayak to be a blast, it has some differences from the sailing I’m accustomed to. My sailing experience has been with pocket cruisers with full length heavy keels (Com-Pac 16 and Precision 18) and 31- and 39-foot boats for ASA certification.  Sailing a kayak more like sailing a Sunfish than those larger boats.  Leeboards will be up during launching and beaching, and lowered once in sufficient depth of water. Raising the sail is done from the cockpit, and can be done out on the water, but I find, when conditions are agreeable, that I prefer to raise the sail before I launch, with the main sheet loose, then once paddled into position, sheet it in. Sailing is comfortable in winds up to about 10mph, but above that I recommend reefing the mainsail, and consider removing the headsail.  In windier conditions, easing out the main sheet will allow the rig to flex and spill some wind.  The kayak will heel, of course, so body english and lean can help keep things on an even keel.  While some kayak manufacturers insist that no lateral resistance is needed when sailing a kayak, I found this kit to allow for pretty decent upwind sailing with the leeboards down. It doesn’t take much wind to get the kayak up to hull speed of about 5 knots or so. The one aspect of sailing I am still perfecting is what to do with the paddle, because paddling is not needed in lieu of the lee boards and I have a paddle in my lap.

I am still considering some future enhancements. When I initially built the boat and added the creature-comfort seat, I wasn’t completely sure on the exact placement and adjustment so I didn’t add hip and knee bracing, which is on the to-do list.  I will be looking for a way to mount my Garmin e-trex handheld GPS (I have been using it for years) in a way that is easy to see, but out of the way. I have also been researching aftermarket kayak outriggers to give me more confidence in pushing the sail rig.  Finally, installing paddle holders maybe the ticket to solve the paddle-in-lap situation.

 I am very pleased overall with the sailing Shearwater Sport, and really enjoy my days out on the water.  CLC provides a topnotch kit suitable for the novice builder. The addition of those higher tech accessories like the rudder and sail rig are a bit more complicated, but are still certainly doable for most familiar with boats. •SCA•

For additional information on building a Shearwater Sport please reference my blog Purjekas.Worldpress.com and clcboats.com

Kuvia sails can be found at kayaksailor.com, however it seems the owners are retiring and looking to pass the business on to new owners.

Tom Raidna is a ASA certified sailor and has been building and refurbishing boats for the past 28 years.