The quick answer is that any kayak will sail surprisingly well. It is very common and typical for people to rig Falcon Sails on their 10 foot long kayaks. The shorter kayaks (even down to 8 feet long) have plenty of room to install a mast and boom. They have plenty of room for a kayaker and the sail rig in both the up and down positions. The sail with its up swept boom keeps the boom end up high and out of the way. We continually hear stories about how impressed our customers are with their Falcon Sail on their shorter kayaks.

A general rule of thumb is: The shorter the kayak, the better they are for kayak sailing. A more important general rule of thumb is: Use the kayak you have already or the kayak you like for other reasons for kayak sailing, because all kayaks sail surprisingly well. The only exceptions are inflatable kayaks and folding kayaks, which can be harder to rig.

At Falcon Sails, most of us are Sea Kayakers, so our personal kayaks are long and narrow. Initially, we did not paddle sail shorter kayaks and had no idea how well the shorter kayaks sailed. As people started asking if a Falcon Sail would work on a short kayak, we told them about our lack of knowledge in this area, and suggested they try a Falcon Sail on their short kayaks. We told them that everything we sell comes with a money back guarantee, and we would be very happy to refund their money if they were not completely happy for any reason. It was not long before we were selling a lot of sails to owners of short kayaks. Now, it's common to hear an owner of a short kayak tell us about how happy and impressed they are with their Falcon Sail on their short kayaks. We are now confident that if a customer has a short kayak, they are going to really enjoy a Falcon Sail.

Since then, we have learned that these short recreational kayaks actually sail better, and are much easier to handle than the sea kayaks we have been paddle sailing. It is easy to set, keep, and change the course you are on. These kayaks can easily be held in ideal balance, with or without a rudder. The shorter the kayak, the easier they are to handle, and the faster you learn how to handle them. If you lean forward or back even a bit, you can have a great impact on the kayaks tendency to sail up or down wind. They come with an inherent and easy to use tool to balance things out.

Shorter kayaks are nearly always wider and much more stable, so they are much easier to handle on the windier and more fun days.

Even with our 72 inch mast, a paddle sailor can easily put the sail down and secure it to the deck of the kayak and paddle in the "no sail" mode. Below are some pictures of short kayaks with a Falcon Sail in the down position. You can see how easy it is to keep the sail out of the way. If you have any questions, contact us.

Below the pictures are some links to facebook articles based on our customers experiences with shorter kayaks.

We do nothing but build sails and rigging kits for kayak sailing. We have helped people rig thousands of kayaks, and have answers for all your questions and solutions for any problem you may have with your rig. Our goal is to solve any issues you might encounter before we ship your rig to you. Our complete rigging kits include everything you need to solidly rig a sail on your kayak. When you order a kayak sail from Falcon Sails, we will make sure we know what kayak it will be rigged on, and use our extensive experience and complete inventory of rigging hardware to make the easiest and most solid rigging kit possible for your kayak.

Here are some pictures that show short kayaks with Falcon Sails on them. They are all 10 feet or shorter. Some are only 8 feet long. You can click on these pictures to see a high resolution picture if you would like to see more.