A New & Improved Canoe Sailing Magazine

Coming January 2012!

We are developing Skinny Hull Canoe &Kayak Sailing Magazine, a new, more inclusive version of Canoe Sailing Magazine. With this, we will rename so it is very apparent that it includes not just canoe sailing, but a broader range of skinny-boat sailing. The new version will include sailing kayaks, proas and similar style boats, Chesapeake log canoes and a variety of purpose-built two- and three-hull boats that are essentially canoes (or kayaks) with outriggers. So, if it mounts a sail and has a skinny hull we’ll cover it.

While Skinny Hull will be separated from the Canoe Sailing Magazine you are accustomed to, the 'old' version will become our regularly updated blog and will continue to contain our forum. We will harvest the articles we have published here and replant them in the new model, but until that’s done, they may reside there as well. 

Skinny Hull is intended to be a monthly publication if we can get enough new articles to populate it. (We strongly encourage you to suggest what you would like to see, ANY ideas about topics, articles and photos are welcome—don’t be shy!) It will have better coverage, more usability and much, much better art and photos. We will also have a subscription button in the new one so you will get automatic updates as they occur.

We hope you will find the new model to be a vast improvement over what we have been bringing you so far.

Happy sailing!

Ed Maurer, Publisher

CLC Kayak/Canoe SailRig

Kayaks are so easily driven that the urge to equip them for sailing must be as old as kayaks themselves. The original CLC SailRig, from 1995, has been built in vast numbers. There hasn't been a SailRig kit for years. When we noticed recently that it is the second best selling plan set (after the Chesapeake 17), we decided to study how to make the kit easy and affordable to build. 

The SailRig MK2 matches the effortless performance of the original, but features simplified construction and easier kayak attachment. The SailRig is adaptable to almost every kayak and canoe in our catalogue, and many other production kayaks as well. Mounted on a single kayak, the acceleration is neck-snapping, with good handling upwind and down and 9-knot potential. Ten-foot beam gives you monolithic stability (and thus sail carrying power with no hiking out), but the whole rig can be dismantled for cartopping in a half-hour. The SailRig components weigh only about 30lbs total.

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Touring by Sailing Canoe

Out Among the Islands by Sailing Canoe

by Bob Halsey While camping at Sugar Island, I have made several camping trips with my open sailing canoe. I sail to one of the fifteen campsite islands in the St. Lawrence Islands National Park of Canada.
Typically, after a busy week of sailing races morning and afternoon and maybe taking part in the swim around the Island race, I am ready to relax and do something different. For example, at the end of the first week of the annual encampment in 1989 on Saturday, I packed up the canoe with my tent, food, small stove, sleeping bag, clothes, most of which I put in garbage bags to protect from rain or spray. Then Sunday morning I sailed over to shore and went to early church and breakfast in Gananoque and started (from TIV motel) sailing up the river against the wind. The wind is mostly out of the SW and usually is pretty dependable. The seas were not too much for the loaded canoe and I had plenty of room to be comfortable myself. I was sailing my 18 ft cedar strip I had built the winter before and was quite happy with its performance.

As I was tacking back and forth upwind, I got a good view of many of the Islands- Corn, the Punts, Leek, Huckleberry, Bostwick, Lindsey and others. Some islands are wild, some have beautiful homes. I was planning on going to the last of the Admiralty Islands, a park island named Aubrey island, but I had to be aware that if the wind didn't hold up or if I didn't make the speed I thought I could I might have to stop at a different park island. By mid-afternoon I arrived safely at Aubrey Island. I had a government chart of the waters in a zip-lock bag to help locate myself among the islands.


Read More: Touring by Sailing Canoe

PrecisionPak CratePak Max Review

Design and construction clearly led by avid kayak anglers

PrecisionPak makes a very wide line of gear management products, waders, gloves, jackets, and other specialty textile-based outdoor products. The PrecisionPak CratePak Max is their top of the line kayak fishing gear bag. The CratePak Max includes a PrecisionPak Black Ice Cooler that I also recently reviewed. It comes in three or four different colors including hi-visibility orange or lime green, and all have a lot of sewn in reflective tape accents. This is an excellent safety feature. Mine arrived in the orange color.

Read More: PrecisionPak CratePak Max Review

WCHA Assembly - New Hampshire

Compression Spring Lee Board Tensioner

This allows for lee board tension to be adjusted by adjusting spring pressure.

Old Town Sailing Canoe With Amas and Akas

Parts and Terms of the Sailing Canoe

Continued lessons for the crew….

From Canoe Handling (1885, 3rd Edition 1901) by C. Bowyer Vaux

I’ve had more than one reader ask for articles on sailing terminology. We can all benefit from knowing the various parts and terminology of a typical decked canoe of the day, and most other boats of any time. Again to assist, I’ve called upon Mr. Vaux to continue the lesson. Ed.

HULL. The body of the canoe. The sum of all its parts with the exception of masts, sail, rig, etc. The hull is made up of frame, planking and deck.
FRAME. The skeleton to which the planking and deck are fastened. The body frame consists of keel, keelson, stempost, sternpost, ribs and knees. Read More

If You Read This....

Thanks for finding your way here! We have developed a new blog that covers [all] aspects of natural-powered small vessels, including sailing canoes and 'yaks, paddle boards, rowboats, etc. I'd like to direct you there since soon we will leave this blog on its own.

So--please find your way to Paddle and Sail!

Thanks!
Ed

A Sailing Canoe Story

“You do not put a sail to a canoe, said a relative,” teasing me up.
Yvon R. Lalonde, Ste-Émélie-del’Énergie, Québec Province, Canada



Editor’s Note: Real’s first language is French and he asked me to make corrections for him, which I did, but only where needed. I left much of his article untouched so as to maintain the quality of his "voice."


What’s the hole for, I asked the salesman at sportcenter? Some people put a mast there and go canoe sailing. Huh! Are you kidding? But he showed me a products list from Sportspal Company, makers of good aluminum canoes. Nice, I said, and 2 weeks later, I purchased the sail outfit!!! (Sail, Mast, Leeboards). I went sailing with my brother two weeks later. We went downwind, but it was impossible to come back windward. Few more weeks later, I went sailing again, alone, no experience, sitting at the rear seat trying to sail, then a small breeze made canoe to capsize!!!!

That was my first experiences in canoe sailing. “You do not put a sail to a canoe, said a relative,” teasing me up. Others said I was dreaming or a bit nuts. So after a while I quit sailing canoe, cuz I thought they might be right. Three years passed until one day in September 2007, while paddling with another relative, a very light breeze made me dreaming again about canoe sailing. My relative lives in Switzerland and by the end of that month, he was back to Zurich.

I began looking literature and pics on Internet, see how people were sailing a canoe, I learned about leeboards, real lift able rudder instead of a paddle, rigging, all parts, from leeboards thwart to mast thwart, and from cordage to blocks and so on. "If they can do it, so do I." The Web is an awesome source of informations. I was lucky, a friend of mine gave me a fine book from a French writer (written in French, my mother language), all about canoe, from natives' birch bark canoe to modern Royalex, aluminum, fiberglass, polyurethane and last but not the least, his majesty—the cedar canoe. All my needs were in that single book. How to sail, mastering wind. Making masts, leeboards, thwart, rudder, sails. But I was terrified about capsizing again.

Read More

Canoe Sailing Magazine - Anchoring - a Followup - the SCARY Device

New anchoring device could mean world peace, okay, less chance of rolling over at anchor

In the article "Anchoring Surely and Keenly" I discussed a few options for anchoring your canoe or kayak. One of these involved using an anchor pulpit that involves running your anchor line from hand, along the rail and through the bow-mounted mechanism that also doubles as a bow sprit that can add protection when ramming seawalls, etc. (Don't ask how I know.)

During a recent fishing trip in my sailing canoe I found the need to anchor over a promising spot. Now, not having the pulpit rigged on this boat, my anchor line is attached to the forward hand grip. Ah, now this makes it a bit iffy to retrieve the anchor because I'd have to climb to the bow to bring it in, which can be iffy at best. And it was windy, which adds to the uh, potential, for, uh, issues.

It's times like that when idea lights come on (if one is lucky) and one did for me. The image shows the result--an anchor "leash." No, it's not a new idea, I'm sure, but this is the first time I've seen it, so I'll take credit, apply for a patent and name it the "Sailing Canoe Anchor Rope Yanker," SCARY for short. (Patent Pending)

The SCARY (Patent Pending) consists of a line with a loop that the anchor line passes through. The line passes back to hand and is secured. It need only reach the anchor line with a bit of slack when anchored. The retrieve the anchor, just pull the line to bring the anchor line, uh, rope, to you or your crew. Easy, safe and cheap, though there is a (Patent Pending) which could increase the value and subsequent cost significantly.

Oh--just be ready to handle the boat when you do this. Pulling the anchor alongside while it's still planted can increase your chance of getting knocked down. If your sail is up, make sure its sheet is free! You've been warned....

Now Spring's Resprung!

Went for a nice paddle yesterday! Cool and windy--should have sailed--but made for a nice paddle anyway!
Objective was the slough just seen at upper, right in this image. Made it to the mouth but returned before going farther since I knew I'd have to paddle against the wind on the way back and wanted to leave myself time before sunset. Route (yellow line) beginning at lower, right. Wind also from lower, right, which meant that most of the trip was in cross-wind or headwind. Not bad, though, but a good wringing-out for the first paddle of any sort of the year. 5 miles round-trip.

And Now -- It's Unsprung (Unsprang?)

Wet, chilly, windy...'nuf said.

Spring Sprang (at least for this weekend)

FINALLY got to sail yesterday! Water was cold, very windy, too much boat traffic in the ICW, not enough water over the oyster bars (scraped my leeboards and rudder, but they're designed to handle that), got soaked...had a great time!

Is Spring Springing?

I've been on the coast of North Carolina for a few months now and have had it with this winter weather! Now, to be reasonable, it's not a very serious winter around here. Having just moved here from the Tampa bay area, though--it's cold, man! Windy, too. I haven't been on the water sailing or fly fishing in weeks, okay--months. I am ready for spring!

This weekend we go back to daylight savings time (or do we go back to 'regular' time? Would that be 'daylight wasting time'?) and it seems this may be the weekend that begins spring here. Ready, I am!

So, in a few days I should be getting the canoe back on the water, sailing Bogue Sound and finding new places to sail, and fly fish, of course. We'll see how it works out....

Canadian Canoe Museum Raises Sails With CSM

Built around what is now the world’s largest collection of canoes and kayaks, Peterborough, Ontario’s Canadian Canoe Museum tells the story of Canada like no other museum or cultural institution in the country. Rotating permanent exhibits, with ever-changing temporary installations, supported by presentations, workshops and award-winning education programs create a living context for visitors to experience the Canadian canoe tradition in its many dimensions. From massive ocean-going West Coast whaling dugouts to the delicate intricacies of a fur trade canoe made of pure silver to decked and open sailing canoes, The Canadian Canoe Museum welcomes visitors from all across Canada and around the world, each of whom have found or forged often surprising personal connections to Canada and its waterways through its rich and diverse canoeing traditions. For paddlers, a visit to The Canadian Canoe Museum is like a trip to the source. For others, it is a beginning, a discovery of one of the true wonders of Canada, that often continues with a hop back to the waterway for a paddle or a boat trip on the very waters where the Canadian canoeing tradition began. For directions, details and hours of operation go to www.canoemuseum.ca.

Canoe Sailing Magazine Contributing Editor, John Summers, is the General Manager of The Canadian Canoe Museum

A First Time Builder Builds a Modern Sailing Canoe

Old designs keep resurfacing in modern materials

Gary DeJong, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

One day in the fall of 2006 I dreamt of combining my interests in sailing, engineering design and building projects in wood. Over the years I have experienced the joys of sailing windsurfers, dinghies and cruising sailboats to 27 feet long. The small car-topped boat has been a favourite. My dream was to build a sailboat that would be within a reasonable budget, be completed within a year and be suitable for a first time builder.

Read more!

John Summers Comes Onboard as Contributing Editor

General Manager of The Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, joins a stellar staff

During more than two decades in the maritime museum field, John Summers has worked as a curator, historian, boat builder and educator, and has written, lectured and published extensively about watercraft history. He has particular interests in the history of yachting and pleasure boating, sailing canoes and pleasure boat advertising. Although a childhood ambition to be a naval architect was thwarted when he discovered that the profession involved doing math, Summers has continued to dabble with designing and documenting small craft. As well as designing the new 16-30 and building Somethin’ Else, 16-30 hull #2, he is restoring IC USA 132 Jelly Roll, a King Ferry Canoe Company International 10 Square Metre sailing canoe; he previously owned IC US 151. A veteran user of a wide variety of small rowing, paddling and sailing boats, John is a US Sailing-certified Level I instructor.

The 16x30 Sailing Canoe, a Fast and Nimble Sailer

Turn-of-the-Century Gilbert Boat Company design updated for S&G construction

John Summers, Contributing Editor, and General Manager, The Canadian Canoe Museum, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada

Would you like to build and sail a unique small boat that will draw admiring glances wherever you take it, let you learn new skills in the workshop and on the water and make you a better sailor? If so, you may be a candidate for the 16-30 decked sailing canoe.

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Canoe Sailing Magazine Celebrates Its First Year

Great support makes it possible, and fun (sorta)

During this year, Canoe Sailing Magazine has published about a hundred articles and has been read by more than 27,000 individuals on every continent, save Antarctica, for a total of more than 297,000 pages read and more than 41Gb of data transferred. As far as I can tell, it’s not too shabby for a pastime that’s so unknown to many people. So far.

With our success, we have established a presence sponsoring Facebook’s Canoe and Kayak Sailing Group with its ever-growing membership and the Canoe and Kayak Sailing Blog that provides readers yet another avenue to read some past articles and comments and observations that are more at home there than in the magazine.

We have also begun writing on Twitter (I guess that would be Twittering….) and we invite any of you fellow Twitterers to keep an eye on what we do and let us Twitter with you, too! Of course, if you are not yet a Twitterer, you can join easily enough and become part of this growing social network.

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