Canoe Sailing, Chapter XII

Elon Jessup, 1926

WHEN a Northwoodsman is ready to paddle across a lake and sees that he will have a favoring wind behind him, he sometimes reaches for his axe and cuts a small cedar before pushing off. This he places in the bow of the canoe. Presently, the green boughs towering above the gunwales become a target for the wind.

An Improvised Sailing Rig. -- Here you have canoe sailing in its most simple form. The tree serving as a sail of sorts augments one's paddling. If you wish to dispense entirely with the task of paddling, you can devise a slightly more comprehensive rig from materials at hand by cutting a couple of spars and attaching to these a canvas camp tarp. The chief drawback to this improvised arrangement is that the mast may pull out and upset the canoe. In case you try this rig, special attention should be given to the mast's security.

The foregoing is about the nearest approach to real sailing that you ordinarily find in the North Woods. When starting upon a canoe trip in such sections, it is hardly worth while to include a sailing rig in your outfit. But there may be stretches in which the suggestions just given may be applied to advantage. In localities where you are unencumbered by equipment and canoeing is mostly a matter of just a few hours' sport, sailing is certainly worthy of consideration: with the qualification that you know how to swim.

The Decked Sailing Canoe. -- The most highly specialized form of canoe sailing is found in the decked canoe, an individual type of craft which has been developed exclusively for sailing purposes. Ordinarily, it is an all-wood canoe of the same general lines as an open paddling canoe, sixteen feet long and about thirty inches wide. But it differs in various particulars. With the exception of a small cockpit amidships, it is entirely decked.

Among other distinctive features are a centerboard and a sliding seat. The centerboard extends about three feet below the bottom and the seat extends twice that distance beyond the boat's side. The canoeist steers and trims his sails from this unusual seating position far out over the water. By means of a sliding arrangement he pulls himself toward or away from the side of the craft as the wind and dipping leeward rail dictate. His weight is needed far to windward in order to offset the great amount of sail the craft carries. There are two sails, these having a total area of perhaps one hundred square feet.

A man has to know a good bit about sailing in order to keep this speedy craft right side up. But even though it does upset, it readily keeps afloat and is easily righted. Sometimes a canoeist, when faced by a bad squall, intentionally upsets the craft, waiting for the squall to pass. The boat is provided with watertight compartments which make it unsinkable and it is self-bailing in that water runs out through the centerboard slot.

 

Sailing the Open Paddling Canoe. - Now, then, let us turn to the sailing possibilities of the ordinary open paddling canoe. The decked canoe just described might be likened to a racing yacht. So far as all around usefulness is concerned, the open canoe is a more practical proposition in that it may be used either for sailing or paddling as the spirit moves you.

Once you have the rig it is a matter of only about three minutes to turn the adaptable open canoe into a sailing craft and later the rig can be dismantled with equal ease. The only permanent additions required in the canoe are a special crossbar at gunwale level and a mast step below it -- these to support the mast.

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