Some Thoughts on Canoe Sailing


by Hugh Horton

{Reprinted from MAIB.]

Since you've begun to think about sailing canoes, I'll try to give you an overview of them, and provide a framework of categories which help me, and might be helpful to you to make reality and your expectations meet happily.

First, it'll help to think of two types of sailing: downwind & upwind. Downwind is drifting. Hold anything up to catch air; it'll probably help you drift a bit faster, downwind. Clothing, bedding, groundcloths, a kite, hats, parasols, a heavily folliaged branch, a tiny spinnaker, all will push you downwind. But they can't sail into the wind. (None of us can sail directly into the wind, but we can sail within 45 degrees or so of it, on some glorious occasions.) With a somewhat specialized downwind sail, one can steer as much as 20 or 30 degrees away from dead downwind. Call it enhanced drifting.

Upwind sailing effectively is what we want, I think. Unless one can work deftly to windward in a breeze or a dying zephyr much of the enchantment of sailing would be missing. To play the evening's remaining puffs, as one glides up to a quiet lee, is one of the joys of sailing, and life. It matters not that one could've paddled there faster.

When I think of canoe or kayak sailing to windward, 1 first distinguish between three types: #1) Racing only; #2) Daysailing/Overnighting, and; #3) Cruising.

#1) Racing sailing canoes have huge rigs because they are meant to continue racing in little wind, when any reasonable person would be paddling if the boat were comfortably capable of it. Their rigs are larger than either the daysailer or the cruiser. With these big sails come complexity, and many parts, lines, and fittings. Stowing this clutter board can be a problem, while rigging on the water might be nearly impossible, and at sea in a swell with wind, forget it.

This is not to say that some classes of racing canoes might not be cruised or day sailed successfully. Certainly it's been done. Much can be learned from the canoe sailing racers, but it needs to be adapted and simplified to our happiest pursuit of cruising.

#2) Daysailer/Overnighter canoes fit between the racers and the cruisers. A day sailor might want to carry a cooler and fishing or picnic supplies. His or her rig must be controllable enough so a capsize won't lose this stuff. And the sailing gear must he simpler than the racer's because the daysailer likely has other things to think about. She or he just wants the gear to work and to keep her or him dry by minimizing the chance of capsize. Stowage of this gear often requires it to fit in the boat when ashore, but not necessarily when the canoe is paddled. Although the canoe might be able to be rigged when afloat, it's probably much easier on the beach.

But the daysailer might be a jilted boardsailer, or an ex college dinghy racer, or maybe raced prams at camp, and, therefore, is still looking for the adrenaline pump of onthe edge sailing. It can be there. Today's ACA 44sf rig falls in this class by my arbitrary definition, although long inland cruises have been sailed with these.

Daysailing and the cruising, I suspect, are what most of us are interested in. It's in these two categories where one finds 50/50 boats; those that paddle (usually a double paddle) and sail about equally well. These proliferated in the late 1800's. Neither propulsion method is, or was, favored to the detriment of the other, at least in the dreams of the designer.

In the 1860's, John MacGregor, a Scot, popularized 50/50 solo canoe travel as a gentleman's sporting activity available to everyone. He did it through books of his travels in his Rob Roy canoes in the Baltic and down the Jordan River. His Baltic traveler was 14'x30". He had a tent and occasionally slept aboard the beached canoe. The Jordan boat was slightly larger and he slept aboard more. He inspired imitation throughout the western world. Long trips were taken, books written, clubs formed. These were the early boats of the ACA. After 1885, with the great development of racing, the evolution of 50/50 boats slowed.

#3) And so to the cruiser. The cruising in this category can include the most demanding alongshore and offshore work. This, to me, is where the most artistry of design is. Compared to literature, these are the short stories, just the spare, the essential. The cruiser's sails will be relatively small, one paddles when the wind fails. And they need to he controllable when it is windy. "Sail when you can, paddle when you must."

One should be able to rig, set, strike, and stow these sails at sea under unpleasant conditions. They should contain as few parts as possible, less to lose, less to break. Function is all, The parts must work well under extreme conditions and keep working. Field repairs should be at least possible, even if some tech is lost, some weight gained.

A paradox exists now that such simple, easy craft to sail are appreciated almost always by only those with broad sailing experience. These versatile, comfortable boats, so utilitarian and capable, yet so poetic and "user friendly", would seem to be a natural for many who have become interested in canoes and sea kayaks. It's this heritage of cruising 50/50 boats that I believe should be remembered.


by Hugh Horton

[Reprinted from MAIB.]


Since you've begun to think about sailing canoes, I'll try to give you an overview of them, and provide a framework of categories which help me, and might be helpful to you to make reality and your expectations meet happily.

First, it'll help to think of two types of sailing: downwind & upwind. Downwind is drifting. Hold anything up to catch air; it'll probably help you drift a bit faster, downwind. Clothing, bedding, groundcloths, a kite, hats, parasols, a heavily folliaged branch, a tiny spinnaker, all will push you downwind. But they can't sail into the wind. (None of us can sail directly into the wind, but we can sail within 45 degrees or so of it, on some glorious occasions.) With a somewhat specialized downwind sail, one can steer as much as 20 or 30 degrees away from dead downwind. Call it enhanced drifting.

Upwind sailing effectively is what we want, I think. Unless one can work deftly to windward in a breeze or a dying zephyr much of the enchantment of sailing would be missing. To play the evening's remaining puffs, as one glides up to a quiet lee, is one of the joys of sailing, and life. It matters not that one could've paddled there faster.

When I think of canoe or kayak sailing to windward, 1 first distinguish between three types: #1) Racing only; #2) Daysailing/Overnighting, and; #3) Cruising.

#1) Racing sailing canoes have huge rigs because they are meant to continue racing in little wind, when any reasonable person would be paddling if the boat were comfortably capable of it. Their rigs are larger than either the daysailer or the cruiser. With these big sails come complexity, and many parts, lines, and fittings. Stowing this clutter board can be a problem, while rigging on the water might be nearly impossible, and at sea in a swell with wind, forget it.

This is not to say that some classes of racing canoes might not be cruised or day sailed successfully. Certainly it's been done. Much can be learned from the canoe sailing racers, but it needs to be adapted and simplified to our happiest pursuit of cruising.

#2) Daysailer/Overnighter canoes fit between the racers and the cruisers. A day sailor might want to carry a cooler and fishing or picnic supplies. His or her rig must be controllable enough so a capsize won't lose this stuff. And the sailing gear must he simpler than the racer's because the daysailer likely has other things to think about. She or he just wants the gear to work and to keep her or him dry by minimizing the chance of capsize. Stowage of this gear often requires it to fit in the boat when ashore, but not necessarily when the canoe is paddled. Although the canoe might be able to be rigged when afloat, it's probably much easier on the beach.

But the daysailer might be a jilted boardsailer, or an ex college dinghy racer, or maybe raced prams at camp, and, therefore, is still looking for the adrenaline pump of onthe edge sailing. It can be there. Today's ACA 44sf rig falls in this class by my arbitrary definition, although long inland cruises have been sailed with these.

Daysailing and the cruising, I suspect, are what most of us are interested in. It's in these two categories where one finds 50/50 boats; those that paddle (usually a double paddle) and sail about equally well. These proliferated in the late 1800's. Neither propulsion method is, or was, favored to the detriment of the other, at least in the dreams of the designer.

In the 1860's, John MacGregor, a Scot, popularized 50/50 solo canoe travel as a gentleman's sporting activity available to everyone. He did it through books of his travels in his Rob Roy canoes in the Baltic and down the Jordan River. His Baltic traveler was 14'x30". He had a tent and occasionally slept aboard the beached canoe. The Jordan boat was slightly larger and he slept aboard more. He inspired imitation throughout the western world. Long trips were taken, books written, clubs formed. These were the early boats of the ACA. After 1885, with the great development of racing, the evolution of 50/50 boats slowed.

#3) And so to the cruiser. The cruising in this category can include the most demanding alongshore and offshore work. This, to me, is where the most artistry of design is. Compared to literature, these are the short stories, just the spare, the essential. The cruiser's sails will be relatively small, one paddles when the wind fails. And they need to he controllable when it is windy. "Sail when you can, paddle when you must."

One should be able to rig, set, strike, and stow these sails at sea under unpleasant conditions. They should contain as few parts as possible, less to lose, less to break. Function is all, The parts must work well under extreme conditions and keep working. Field repairs should be at least possible, even if some tech is lost, some weight gained.

A paradox exists now that such simple, easy craft to sail are appreciated almost always by only those with broad sailing experience. These versatile, comfortable boats, so utilitarian and capable, yet so poetic and "user friendly", would seem to be a natural for many who have become interested in canoes and sea kayaks. It's this heritage of cruising 50/50 boats that I believe should be remembered.