Ready to make a serious sailing bicycle, I contacted a number of bike frame manufacturers for quotes on a short run of special frames. I found any number of small sail makers who would supply sails.

As I was working on development of my "Sail Bike," I read the following article in the July 1974 issue of YACHT RACING:

The Ol' Man of the Parking Lot tries his hand at bicycle sailing. Not exactly a new idea -- a gaff rigged bike was patented in the 1880s -- Bob Smith says that it's definitely "now!" The world may be -- literally -- beating a path to designer George Patterson's door.

Having sailed about every wind machine known to civilized man, the Ol' Man of the Sea was nevertheless in a state of amused shock when his old friend George Patterson (of C-Class catamaran fame) called and asked him to sail his bicycle -- yes, his bicycle -- and a two-wheeler at that. My mental arithmetic calculated that, with a beam-to-length ratio of about one inch to six feet, have another drink.

However, what's to lose? So, half an-hour later on a parking lot, in about six-to-10 mph of wind, the Ol' Man of the Road and his son Mark were watching, an eye-popping demonstration in a use of sail power I never thought possible.

Tod Patterson, George's 17-year old soil, was sailing graceful figure eights in a space about the width of normal road. Then he used the kids' "no hands, no feet" technique, and for an encore sailed it at about 10 mph, standing on the seat.

My son Mark and I learned to sail "it" in the next 15 minutes and from then on the scene was crazy. This bike is the greatest thing since the pornographic movie and we want one -- I mean two.

A patent search turned up a gaff rigged sailing bicycle invented during the late 1880s that has since been buried in time. It wasn't until November of 1973 that Patterson got his idea from a litter, not too successful experiment with a sail on a small-wheeled, heavy, motorized trail bike. He wisely decided that an adaptation of a conventional English bicycle with the normal hand brake, and eliminating pedals, chains, sprockets, decided that it pipe foot-rest would work. The resuits he scgieved with a junkyard prototype were so phenomenally successful that the production model of the AcrOcycle was born some weeks later. Her basic specs are: Sail area --33 sq. ft.; All-up weight -- 34 lbs., Mast -- 12'6", and Boom 7'0". International patents have already been applied for. It is estimated that a new bike, ready to sail, would retail for around $185.

We raced the two sailing bikes (the only two in existence anywhere) on an empty beach parking lot the following weekend and immcdiately had visions of a Sunday regatta in a Super Market parking area, on a beach at low tide, or, with police permission, from Starnford to Essex on the Connecticut Turnpike. This crazy inachinc goes to windward at about 45 degrees to the wind, once you perfect the technique

Anvone with it basic knowledge of sail trim and who can ride a bicycle will learn to sail in AcrOcycle in about 15 Minutes. All bicycles are unstable at low speed and this one is no different.

It needs a minimum of six mph of wind for balance and control; eight-to-10 mph of air makes for good sailing, and I2-to-15 mph is ideal. In 12 mph of wind she will attain speeds of up to 25 mph on it reach. Stronger winds produce higher speeds, but require greater skill or smaller sail area.

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