Instant Kite Boat

We bought a pile of catamaran parts on craigslist,
tied it all together, and pulled it around SF Bay with a 21 meter kitesurfing kite. All in just a few short hours

hey- give me your old sailboat and windsurf junk to build into the next experiment. I'm in Emeryville, CA. Send email to robot(at)mit.edu

Photos by Jyri Engestrom
Jyri's blog is at www.zengestrom.com

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Step 1: Shopping for Parts

Nick, Saul and Tim are out craigslist shopping.

No, I guess we won't buy the motorcycle.

Howabout we buy that pile of catamaran parts instead?
It looks like the remains of two hobie cats.

Okay.

My God! what have we just done?

Rishnai says: Jul 9, 2008. 12:22 AM

Oh my god, that's hilarious! I've carried stuff like that on top of sedans and coupes, but with a truck it's even funnier, since it even makes the truck look small.

radiorental says: May 4, 2006. 9:37 PM

It would have been much quicker to use one of Eric's "sleeping bags" as a tramp no?

142

ewilhelm says: May 4, 2006. 11:07 PM

Ha! All those foil kites are precious to me -- even the broken ones! On second thought, a piece of fabric over the wooden-spar trampoline would have been a good idea. While leaning way over the rear to wrestle with the barely functioning rudders during kite-loop jibes, it was too easy to get my whole leg shoved in and stuck between spars. Falling off the boat at that moment would probably twist a knee pretty badly. Closer spar spacing would also do it.

nickp says: May 5, 2006. 1:10 PM

I suggested the fabric covering idea, but we probably wouldn't have made it out that evening if we'd tried it. (Actually, I was guilty of expressing a severe lack of optimism about finishing that day -- and was happy to be proved wrong!) But about the fabric -- I'm no longer sure it would have would have been a total plus. Having lots of things to grab ahold of was pretty important, given the tiller force I was exerting and the amount of water swooshing around. Maybe weaving more innertubes among the spars ... I'm sure I've gone faster under sail -- in much bigger boats. But never in my life have I felt a sailboat accelerate under me as rapidly as that beat-to-sh*t old Hobie. Exhilarating!

radiorental says: May 5, 2006. 2:35 PM

2" square fishing net

pacey_waring says: May 16, 2008. 9:02 PM

or a hobie cat with a still-present trampoline would do the trick nicely :D

radiorental says: May 5, 2006. 7:22 AM

Very cool all the same, I should get back on the cat project I started last year. Foils precious to me also, but cant fly the v19 anymore. After the winter winds its like going for a bike ride on vallium.