Canoes and Canoeing (1894) Part 4
by C. Bowyer Vaux
Courtesy: Dragonfly Canoe Works
Sails. There is probably no form, shape, cut or make of sail that has not at some time been tried on a canoe. The sails and rig must be very simple, as one man has to handle them and at the same time balance and manage the canoe. The lateen is a simple sail, and for this reason was very popular and largely used a few years ago. The sail is triangular, with sticks (spars) on two sides, linked together at the angle - boom and yard. A short mast with a pin in the top completes the spars. A ring is lashed to the yard which fits over the pin in the mast, and a jaw on the boom, which fits the mast and holds the boom in place. A line attached near the end of the boom, called the sheet, completes the outfit. The canoeman trims the sail with the sheet and the sail is bodily lifted off the mast when it is taken down. When two sails are used, the sheet of the mizzen (which is behind the skipper) leads to a block or ring on deck at the stern, and from it to a cleat within easy reach of the skipper's hand amidship. The standing sail is better than the lateen in several ways, and even simpler. It has only mast, boom and sheet. The cloth of the sail is sewed or laced to the spars. The boom can be folded up against the mast, and the sail wrapped around it. It can be set or furled by simply unrolling it and standing the Mast up in the mast tube in the canoe, or lifting it out and rolling it up. The size of the sail can be greatly increased without lengthening either mast or boom, by the use of battens slipped in pockets made in the sail, as shown in the diagram. Racing canoes have many standing sails of different sizes,  suitable for light, moderate or heavy weather, and the suit best suited to the day is used in a race, the others, of course, being left on the shore. The large light weather rigs spread nearly two hundred square feet of sail, and the heavy weather rig is rarely under seventy-five feet. The latter area is ample for a cruising canoe, and it will often occur on a cruise that fifteen or twenty square feet will be found quite sufficient for speed and comfort. There are those who prefer a hoisting and lowering rig to either lateen or standing sails and use it for both cruising and racing. There is much to be said in favor of the standing sail, especially on account of its simplicity, but for those who are not afraid of a little trouble, the hoisting rig is much more satisfactory. It can be hoisted, lowered and reefed by the skipper while afloat, and consequently is far better for cruising or long-distance sailing than the standing sail. Small blocks, strong line and neat fittings can now be purchased, and several sail- makers cut and sew very fine sails for canoes. A hoisting sail is "yachty" and far more scientific than any other, but it needs a "sailor man" to make and handle it well. Battens in canoe sails have been used for many years, and the yachts have lately borrowed this idea for keeping parts of their sail areas perfectly flat. There have been innumerable reefing gears invented and used on hoisting sails by which they can be quickly and simply reefed by the captain without moving from his seat. Canoemen rarely if ever reef in races now; the races are not long enough in point of time to make it necessary (as violent changes of wind rarely occur), but for cruising or pleasure sailing for all day a reefable sail is absolutely necessary. Canoe sailors often take to larger boats, and of late years their ideas in models, rigs, sails and fittings have materially affected small yachts and skiffs to greatly improve them. The St. Lawrence skiff is nothing more nor less than a large canoe, and would be called a canoe if it was not propelled by oars so frequently. A sailing skiff is a canoe in every sense of the word, and  the racing skiffs on the St. Lawrence have adopted all the canoeing devices (except the sliding seat) - plate centreboard, drop-rudder, two batten sails, watertight bulkheads - and they are sailed in exactly the same way except that from four to six men compose the crew instead of one man. The crew all sit to windward when tacking, and lean far out during the heavy puffs. The single-hand cruisers, so called, are also often owned, designed and rigged by ex-canoemen. The best type of such boats thus far produced ("Scarecrow" and "La Gloria" models) are solely the work of canoemen. A larger boat than a canoe is demanded by those who want companionship when sailing, and by those also who live near and enjoy the sport on large bodies of water, where the waves are at times too heavy for comfort in so small a craft as a sixteen-footer, only thirty inches wide. Be it in canoe, skiff or single- hander, if you are fond of the water and need recreation, my advice is, "get afloat," and "learn to swim." Perhaps the order should be reversed. Editor's Note: This brings to an end our excerpts of C. Boyer Vaux's 1894 Canoes and Canoeing. We hope you enjoyed this series and we look forward to beginning a new one next issue! |
