The smallest 'official' blokart sail you can buy is a 2.0m.

What do you do when a 2.0m is too big? what if you are a kid or a crazy sailor that likes to sail in 30kn+ winds?

You need a small sail.

Current Blokart speed record holder is Bryan Cook with 110km/h with his cut down 1.8m. We discussed our need to go faster and push the limits of the blokart.

I made a smaller to suit blokart in with the goal of beating 110km/h.

The new sail is 1.6m, 5 Battens and made from lower stretch material.

In the process of testing battens and tuning the rig.

A smaller 'monofilm' sail is in development with aim of ultimate speed.

if you are wanting to increase your speed why not just change your wheels to a larger diameter like wheel barrow or custom made wheels?

probably takes it further away from being "blowie spec"

Being a "one class series", the whole fleet of Blowies run the same size wheels - if smaller sails etc were offered by BLOKART as a factory option , I am sure that Ben and the crew would snap them up pretty quick.

I wouldnt be surprised if BLOKART are watching these developments closely, and regard them as "on the ground" research and development.

Like Ben said - smaller sails to suit kids AND maniacs are not (yet) available.


I added the "yet", as if these prototypes prove to be OK, I wouldnt be surprised to see them offered by BLOKART before long.


stephen

Stephen you are correct mate. If blokart made smaller speed sails probably would use one.

Ricochet our aim with the project is to keep the blokart chassis and wheels standard. It's my understanding that blokart uses 6" wheels rather than 8" wheelbarrow wheels is so that it fits in the bag.

Our aim with the project is to get the best performance out of a "blokart". Bigger wheels and I might as well work on my mini.

Think of it as Production Spec, Performance Spec, and Speed Spec. We are trying to develop a speed package/kit that works for us in our situation. We don't have regular racing programmes or seabreezes but we have one of the best speed sailing surface in the world.

The idea of smaller sails is to give you more control and reduced surface area to push through whilst sailing at higher speeds.

For all our speed runs we use glass mast only. Carbon is too stiff.

The blokart chassis is stiff and if we use a stiff mast we kept lifting wheels and my reaction times are not that good in such a small "twitchy" yacht.

Today achieved success with the 1.6m sail in 20-25kn winds.

Brad was my test pilot today. He is an average size pilot 60-80kg and a complete novice to land sailing and sailing in general. After some basic instruction he was out cutting laps and racking up some impressive speeds. He was averaging around 66km/h with a peak speed of 68km/h.

He may have been able to handle the blokart 2.0m however it may have been to powerful for the conditions. He was having fun and in control.

Here are some pics.

Cheers

Ben.

I was out on the lake as well about 20 kms away racing back and forth hauling rocks.

Not my vehicle of choice on the day but you have to make a living.

We rushed making the sail and it was finished Sunday morning.

The front coming through was too good to miss.

There is more streamlining to do on the yacht, but I haven't got to it yet but plan to have it all done by Queens BD weekend.

Paul Beckett (Blokart) is in the loop and supplying prototype bits I need to sail 110kph or more , keeping it as close to factory spec as possible.

A big thanks to Ben for all the cutting and sewing and design work getting the sail done.

Very impressed with the job Ben did on the BloKart sail.
Dare I say better than an original with the extra battens and carbon Kevlar panels just the ticket to pass 110.

Very impressive work Ben....way above my skill set....with the low temperatures lately it would of almost been sailing on a ice lake instead of a salt lake.....hope things warm up a little before Sep.

I hope it warms up too. I hit the water in the pond at 78km/h so cold and wet.