I live on the Kanawha River in West Virginia and I'm wondering if a small
sailboat would be practical for use on the river. I find that I spend the
majority of my time in my motor boat loafing along at idle or just above.
I'd imagine that a little kicker motor on a sailboat would produce similar
ride, but would I be able to use the sails some of the time?

On Tue, 1 Aug 2006 02:15:45 -0400, "Ernest Scribbler"
wrote:

I live on the Kanawha River in West Virginia and I'm wondering if a small
sailboat would be practical for use on the river. I find that I spend the
majority of my time in my motor boat loafing along at idle or just above.
I'd imagine that a little kicker motor on a sailboat would produce similar
ride, but would I be able to use the sails some of the time?


Unfamiliar with this river. If it has a decent breadth, and if the
current is not too great, it would be as suitable as the many rivers
that are sailed by dinghies and small sailboats.

Brian Whatcott Altus OK

Ernest Scribbler wrote:
I live on the Kanawha River in West Virginia and I'm wondering if a small
sailboat would be practical for use on the river. I find that I spend the
majority of my time in my motor boat loafing along at idle or just above.
I'd imagine that a little kicker motor on a sailboat would produce similar
ride, but would I be able to use the sails some of the time?


Wonder where your predominate winds come from?
If they blow right down the river...that would be easy sailing half the
time and hard sloging the other half.
If the winds blow across the river, you have it made. A nice beam reach
coming & going. How wide is the river & how fast does it flow?

"Don White" wrote
How wide is the river & how fast does it flow?

It's about 200 yards wide and there's normally very little current. At my
house the wind is most often straight upriver. A picture being worth a dozen
words, here are a couple of photos from my back yard, looking upstream:
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3...ges/cover8.jpg
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3/home/nightsky.jpg

How wide is the river & how fast does it flow?


Ernest Scribbler wrote:
It's about 200 yards wide and there's normally very little current. At my
house the wind is most often straight upriver. A picture being worth a dozen
words, here are a couple of photos from my back yard, looking upstream:
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3...ges/cover8.jpg
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3/home/nightsky.jpg


Looks like more than 200 yards to me, but it's a pretty
place. The one thing I'd say about sailing here is to expect
the wind to be flukey because of the hills... other than
that, go for it!

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

Ernest Scribbler wrote:
"Don White" wrote

How wide is the river & how fast does it flow?


It's about 200 yards wide and there's normally very little current. At my
house the wind is most often straight upriver. A picture being worth a dozen
words, here are a couple of photos from my back yard, looking upstream:
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3...ges/cover8.jpg
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3/home/nightsky.jpg



I'd sail a smaller boat there, assuming it's at least 4 feet deep most
places. With a small outboard you can just motor back against the wind
if you tire of tacking.

Don't bother.
G
"Don White" wrote in message
...
Ernest Scribbler wrote:
"Don White" wrote

How wide is the river & how fast does it flow?


It's about 200 yards wide and there's normally very little current. At my
house the wind is most often straight upriver. A picture being worth a
dozen words, here are a couple of photos from my back yard, looking
upstream:
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3...ges/cover8.jpg
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3/home/nightsky.jpg



I'd sail a smaller boat there, assuming it's at least 4 feet deep most
places. With a small outboard you can just motor back against the wind if
you tire of tacking.

Don't bother sailing the river, or don't bother motoring back? G
--
Mike Harris
Austin, TX

"G&G" wrote in message
...
Don't bother.
G
"Don White" wrote in message
...
Ernest Scribbler wrote:
"Don White" wrote

How wide is the river & how fast does it flow?


It's about 200 yards wide and there's normally very little current. At
my house the wind is most often straight upriver. A picture being worth
a dozen words, here are a couple of photos from my back yard, looking
upstream:
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3...ges/cover8.jpg
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3/home/nightsky.jpg



I'd sail a smaller boat there, assuming it's at least 4 feet deep most
places. With a small outboard you can just motor back against the wind if
you tire of tacking.

I sail a 29' bilge keeler sloop on the St. John river, in New
Brunswick. I keep it at my cottage in Evandale.

We are in the tidal estuary, so we get reversing tidal flows of 3-4 kt,
but water levels range only about 2' normally, thanks to the protection
offered by the reversing falls at the mouth of the river, in the port
city of St. John. I use a cable ferry to get out to the mooring, and
sail as often as I can, though this year I am recuperating from
pancreas surgurey, so the boat is on the back yard on it's trailer.

I use a self tending jib to make sailing easier and more efficient when
beating against the wind and current. The St. John is perhaps half a
mile wide in spots. The wind direction relative to the river varies
with location as the river winds a bit and it is turbulent near the
banks, all part of the fun.

We have not yet explored all that we might get to. We have spent weeks
at a time sailing our river and it's lakes. It is beautiful and
relaxing.

For day sails, we mostly go up current, and up wind to start, if
possible.

I look foreward to shooting the falls and going to the island of Grand
Manan, my wife's childhood home some time.

I hope you will enjoy sailing anywhere you go.

Terry K

"Ernest Scribbler" wrote in message
et...
"Don White" wrote
How wide is the river & how fast does it flow?

It's about 200 yards wide and there's normally very little current. At my
house the wind is most often straight upriver. A picture being worth a
dozen words, here are a couple of photos from my back yard, looking
upstream:
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3...ges/cover8.jpg
http://users.adelphia.net/~blizzard3/home/nightsky.jpg


Looks like fun sailing to me...

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com