Anyone interested in forming a sea kayaking and sailing club, kind of like the Forumosa Hiking Club?
Sea kayaking? With a guy named Bob? How appropriate! 
:bravo:
Good one, Stray Dog.
Kinda like hanging with a guy named Art.
That sounds awesome. It would be a hell of a lot harder to organize though, I suspect. For one, because i have nothing but some paddling and sailing experience with me here in Taiwan. And, i’m no expert at that, but I do enjoy getting out on small boat and kayaks. So, count me interested. If you know anything about rentals for that kind of thing, hook me up with some more info., if you could.
Thanks,
Allen
Kayaking, not my cup of tea, but sailing? hook me up.
Is there any sailing in Taiwan?
No sailing clubs AFAIK, maybe something in the south, kending perhaps.
But if someone is really hot to organize this I am all for it.
No sailing clubs AFAIK, maybe something in the south, kending perhaps.
But if someone is really hot to organize this I am all for it.
Say that agian?
I saw an ad in the latest Taiwan Fun Magazine about some guy in Bai-Sha-Wan who has a bunch of Hobi-Cats. Didn’t read the entire ad, and didn’t bring home the mag, either. Check it out and see.
I’ve kayaked from a beach near San-Dz north of Taipei, but I’m not sure if the club is still in operation.
The main obstacle for most, I would assume, would be the cost of the equipment,a good Kayak would be most expensive, and you wouldn’t want to put to sea here in anything not manufactured by the Kiwis or Canucks. Plus, the seas around Taiwan are quite unpredictable, hence the local coast guard really monitors who goes in and out of the ports. Of course, we used to sneak in from small beaches, but any regular coming and going will be sure to attract attention.
It probably would be best to hook up with an existing club, who I’m sure would welcome new members.
I’ll look up the name, address and phone # fo the placeI just mentioned later this evening and post the info here.
Yeah, I’d be interested in coming up for a paddle now and then. I don’t think I’d be a regular, though. Too many interests, perhaps.
The boating laws here are pretty fuzzy and big time subject to interpatation.
For a long time, there was no recreational boating here. All boats were tied to fishing and protecting the fishermans interest.
Now, at least you can get a private boat license, but is still not easy.
The third class of the law applies to boating “clubs” set up through the Tourism bureu. In my area, Taitdong, that is the East Coast Recreation Area for Taidong and Hualien Counties. I have a copy of this (in Chinese) at home and will post it later.
Basicily it states that when you are a member of the club you may: Have a non powered craft 5 meter or less (sail or rowing boat)
or a du mu jiu (kayak or canoe) 15 meters or less. You do not need to register the boat. There is also something about surfing in thier but I don’t know the translation.
I am in the process of forming a club through the East Coast Tourism Board and should have that before the summer.
Sure, TMWC sails, and I think there may be a few others on this forum that sail.
Down in Taidong there are alot of wind surfers. In a few weeks, there will be at least one more. Me.
Some sailing…Zhunan, Shafu, guanyin - lots of windsurfers & surfers. This weekend is supposed to be the Taiwan Cup wave contest - 80 or so contestants from around Asia -but windguru says no wind :s . Next week is the Asia ProAm in Penghu.
Some hobies at fulong - but they sail like a bunch of ding-dongs - can’t even rig an optimist or laser sail correctly (zero vang & no clew tie-down).
http://www.capecodfrosty.org/
The world’s smallest international one-design racing class: The Cape Cod Frosty. You can build it yourself out of one sheet of luan. Spars and fins are made from 1/2 stock of whatever is wide enough to serve. The mast is 6’ long and made of closet pole or aluminum. Here in Taiwan, bamboo might be a good choice, if class rules allow it. Class rules are pretty generous when it comes to modifications. Dis-assembled It fits in a closet. It has a massive 10-square feet of sail area,:lol: draws 3’ with daggerboard down and comes in at exactly 6’ LOA (!!) :roflmao:
Point is, a fleet of these things could be built in two weeks with a small number of tools and no special skills whatsoever, and then the racing could begin!
It’s much slower than a speeding bullet, smaller than an Optimist dinghy, very wet when beating to windward, and it’s one squirrely bugger to jybe or keep upright on a run, especially in a blow. It doesn’t point worth a damn, powers up very slowly, decelerates quickly, makes a hell of a lot of leeway, and it’s awkward to hike out from, but it roll-tacks like a dinghy sailor’s dream. Underway, it looks not unlike a bathtub with a sail.
Bigger boats are a hole in the water which you fill with dead presidents. My Lightning was not only costly, but time consuming to maintain. It was wooden 50’s vintage boat, and I was contantly varnishing and painting. I did a keel replacement on it one year… enjoyable, but very time consuming. My Laser required storage space, but could be cartopped easily enough. At least with the Frosty, the price of admission is low. I’ve built three of these so far. My latest one, in storage back in Vermont, has an awlgrip spray finish, a kevlar sail, a rotating aluminum mast, and a hydraulic vang (it uses a piston from the rear hatch of a vw Golf). The rake of the mast is adjustable, and the outhaul, cunningham, and vang controls all lead into the cockpit. It has a tiller extension, hiking straps, and the cockpit floor has varnished pattern-grade mahogany duckboards. Basically it was a joke side project I started at work one year… I just wanted to see how far the envelope could be pushed. It gets a lot of laughs, and was a fun project. these are the things that the long winter nights in Vermont can lead you to do.
far far too cool Salvatore.
Salvatore, that’s great. Any plans to build one here?
If I could get two or three or more others to join me (I’m near Gao Xiong) I 'd consider doing it. I live in a tou tien and have a big empty first floor which would make a good workspace. We’d have to have patterns sent from the designer for the hull panels and fins, find a source for ropes, blocks and other giblets, then we’d have to get some sails. The sail is the only major expense, and it’s not like there’s a good sailmaker in every seaside town in Taiwan. Like so many things, sourcing the important parts could be a real p.i.a.
Still, it would be cool to see the Love River look like this on race days:
Sal,
I could kick in for a weekend or two.
Link to my latest creation.
forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi … highlight=
Cheers
there are couple of people with the proper sewing machines that do repairs for windsurf sails.
Hello, that’s fun to have a kayak club.
I was a member of kayak club in my uni. (National Taiwan University) We used to play kayak polo in Shi da branch campus swimming pool. Sometimes we row our kayak in the lake in NTU. The water there is not very clean and make the skin itchy. But at least we have a lot of fun.
Recently, there is no new member joining our club. Most of us are too busy to manage that club. our kayak is hanging there in the campus. What a pity. If any one want to do a soft and slow kayaking, in Taipei city, you can contact me after New Year. Though it’s not sea kayak. You can play in our campus.
I would absolutely love to be part of a kayak club… I used to spend my weekends when not sportfishing kayaking the keys and everglades in south florida… Not too sure about sailing though, you could say I was raised on the large, beautiful, Hatteras sportfishing yachts (not rich, my grandad made a smart investment in the sportfishing industry and I was a first mate on one of his boats), but I am willing to learn is someone is willing to teach.