[baidarka] A Teaser: Sailing Canoes

Craig O'Donnell (dadadata@friend.ly.net)
Fri, 15 May 1998 12:03:45 -0400

Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 12:03:45 -0400
Message-Id: <l03110701b181ebc8ff5a@[205.216.99.34]>
To: <YACHT-L@listserv.surfnet.nl>, baidarka@lists.intelenet.net,
From: "Craig O'Donnell" <dadadata@friend.ly.net>
Subject: [baidarka] A Teaser: Sailing Canoes

This following will shortly be found on my Cheap Pages. This is one of the
best books ever written about canoe sailing. The illustrations are
excellent. If you've ever wanted to rig a "vintage" sailing canoe sail,
this is the book. (I already have material from Practical Canoeing on the
Batwing sail posted).

The text should be up by the end of the weekend. Illustrations will follow.

------------------------------
PRACTICAL CANOEING;

A TREATISE
ON THE MANAGEMENT & HANDLING OF CANOES
BY "TIPHYS"

LONDON:
NORIE & WILSON
NAVIGATION WAREHOUSE AND NAVAL ACADEMY, 156, MINORIES E.C.

1883.
Entered at Stationers' Hall.

FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS.

CANOE SAILING - - - - - - - - - FRONTISPIECE.
WORKING LUG SAIL - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 21
BALANCE LUG SAIL - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 27
BATSWING SLIDING GUNTER - - - - - - - - - - 35
IMPROVED SLIDING GUNTER - - - - - - - - - - 39

LONDON : PRINTED BY RICHARD BARHAM, QUEENHITHE, E.C.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER 1.
CANOEING CONSIDERED AS A SPORT.

CHAPTER II.
OF THE HULL OF A CANOE.

CHAPTER III.
ON FITTINGS CONNECTED WITH THE HULL.

CHAPTER IV.
SAILS - THE WORKING LUG - THE BALANCE LUG.

CHAPTER V.
THE BATSWING SLIDING GUNTER - ON DECK FITTINGS.

CHAPTER VI.
MANAGEMENT - SEAMANSHIP.

CHAPTER VII.
LIVING ACCOMMODATION - TENTS.

CHAPTER VIII.
ON DRESS - GENERAL ADVICE.

APPENDIX.
EXPLANATION OF TERMS - DESIDERATA - RACING - THAMES WEIRS

PREFACE.

THIS little Book is intended to meet the wants of those who are taking up
Canoeing for the first time, or who having Canoes, wish to fit them out for
cruising. Enquiries are frequently made for a book containing information
on these subjects, but there is nothing of recent date to meet the demand,
except the chapter on Canoeing in Mr. Kemp's excellent "Yacht and Boat
Sailing," which, however, besides its expense, is too "advanced" for the
purpose in question. I have almost entirely avoided the subject of
building, thinking it undesirable that beginners should attempt to build
for themselves, which is likely to lead to disappointment. With very few
exceptions, nothing is recommended which has not stood practical trial.

To the "Elder Brethren" of the paddle, if any such should be among my
readers, I must apologise for stating positively some few things which may
be regarded as debateable. It is impossible in a small compass to [gnarl]
guard every statement by an "in my opinion." I have, however, endeavoured
as far as possible to distinguish between my own views and those of others,
and, where mine diverge from those generally accepted have given my reasons
as far as space would allow.

Wherever I have quoted the writings, or inventions of other Canoeists, I
have endeavoured to acknowledge it. If in any case I have failed to do so,
let it be ascribed to inadvertence, or to the fact that the same thing is
often invented simultaneously by more than one person. My obligations to
correspondents have been acknowledged in the text, except in a very few
cases, in which silence on this point has been requested.

PRACTICAL CANOEING.
CHAPTER I.

CANOEING is one of the earliest of human inventions, and one of the most
simple, inexpensive, and enjoyable amusements of the present time. No doubt
by giving way to the modern tendency to make a canoe a kind of toy yacht
capable of nothing but what a twenty foot sloop could do more effectually,
one may make jettison of cheapness and simplicity, and introduce an amount
of difficulty and trouble which is fatal to enjoyment.

But, if this snare is avoided, nothing can beat the canoe. One day paddling
among the lilies perhaps in a stream too narrow for oars; on another
spreading white sails to the sea breeze, and safely contending with the
wave; now carried over obstacles, now housed in boat-house or shed, in a
room of the inn, or in fact anywhere that there is room to swing the
traditional cat; and again at anchor in the tide or hauled up on beach or
grass, she is herself the nightly home of her crew.

"But if canoeing has all these virtues," one is often asked, how do you
explain the fact that it is less practised now than formerly?" I will
endeavour very shortly to answer this.

It is the fate of many pastimes to "die of their own too much."
Comparatively simple at their first introduction, they are practised with
success by the numbers whom their novelty (2) attracts. After a short time
improvements, some real, some nominal only, are introduced, which add to
the difficulty, and often to the expense, of the pursuit. This, occurring
just as the effect of novelty has died out, goes far to reduce the numbers
of those who practice the pastime in question to a few enthusiasts, the old
hands finding themselves left behind by the "march of events," while
outsiders are deterred from "taking a hand in the game," by the
difficulties which have been introduced.

This has been to a very great extent the case with canoeing in England. At
its introduction nothing was more simple. Even those who could not row
found that the management of a canoe was within their power, and in it
acquired at ease sufficient watermanship for ordinary purposes.

Then improvements began; in a short time it was found that sails would
nearly double the travelling power of a canoe, and enable her to accomplish
journeys in a day which would be hardly possible with the paddle, except to
a man of extraordinary strength and endurance. For example, 120 miles have
been travelled in a day and a night by a canoe under sail, a distance which
few men would care to attempt "at a sitting" with a paddle. Sailing races
were the next step in the progress of canoeing, and in a short time it was
evident that whatever canoes might have gained by the results of time and
experience, they were beginning to lose that simplicity which was their
chief advantage at starting.

The three principal canoeing stations in the Kingdom are at the Clyde, the
Mersey, and the Thames. On the Mersey, local circumstances, and the wise
regulations of the Club, have preserved the best qualities of a canoe, in
portability, economy, and simplicity, though probably at some loss of
efficiency for sailing. On the Thames, the use of separate classes for
paddling and sailing, and lately, the removal of the Club Sailing Races to
waters where no amount of weight is any disadvantage, have produced a
paddling machine and a sailing a machine, neither of which possesses the
"points" of a canoe. On the Clyde a balance appears to have been struck
between the other two (3) though perhaps with some tendency to sacrifice
general usefulness to sailing.

At present the extraordinary skill of some few canoeists, and the no less
marvellous complexity of the rigs in which they indulge, with impunity,
through their skill, and even with advantage for racing purposes, have led
most people to suppose that canoeing, except in its most elementary form of
paddling, is something quite beyond the powers of ordinary human beings.

It is the object of the present writer to show that canoeing is not, or at
all events need not be, so difficult an art, and to endeavour to select
from the numerous inventions of the time those which may advantageously be
adopted for general purposes, or by a beginner in the art.

In the first place as to difficulty. I cannot quite say, "There is none,"
but certainly there is or need be, very little. Anyone can paddle a canoe
at the first attempt, and in two days can learn to paddle well and neatly,
though to paddle long or fast requires practice. But for real canoe
cruising, one must be able to sail as well. "Surely a man must be a first
rate sailor before he can handle such a craft as a canoe under sail?" "Not
by any means," is the answer, and the proof is that in several cases I have
known people who had never sailed any craft before, sail a canoe very
fairly indeed after half an hour's explanation on shore and a couple of
afternoons' coaching afloat.

Of course, the niceties of sailing can not be appreciated in that time, but
it is enough for a man of ordinary activity, and not frightened of water,
to learn to handle a canoe sufficiently well to make one of the party in a
cruise, during which, of course, he will be continually adding to his
skill. I will even go so far as to say, that the canoe is the best craft in
which to learn sailing. The "Una" boats, which are commonly used for
learning in, have the disadvantage that they will sail a little when the
sail is trimmed perfectly wrong, while the canoe must be sailed rightly or
not at all. Also the main and mizen rig is much more instructive as to the
turning effect of sails than any one-sail rig. A canoe has also the
advantage, for this [4] purpose, that if things go wrong, the paddle is
always at hand to extricate her from difficulties.

It may be of interest to describe the means by which a man may so quickly
acquire the first elements of sailing a canoe, and having instructed
several people, including one or two ladies, I think my method cannot be
far wrong. First, of course, the beginner should learn to paddle the canoe,
with double and with single paddle, and to steer with footgear or lines,
preferably the former. The next thing is to explain the general principle
of the thing, how the sheets must he eased off before the wind, and hauled
flat when close-hauled etc., which may well be done by a sketch or two, or
with the sails of a model. The next thing is to go on board, and in as
steady a wind as may be, to start on a reach. The mizen should be small so
as to be safely neglected in a puff, or in altering the course, and if the
canoe carries centreboards, they should be made fixtures of for the time.

The instructor should sail or paddle alongside to leeward, and explain the
management of the sheet, and how it may be eased in a puff. Then luff a
little, and as the sails shake haul them flat, and notice that if they
shake after that the helm must be put up a trifle. As soon as a clean
full-and-by is attained, it is time to try staying, for which the usual
instructions should be given. Then take the wind a little free or
quartering. The sheet can no longer be eased for puffs, so the use of the
downhaul should be shown. If there is any strength in the wind this point
of sailing should not be attempted the first day. The next and hardest
lesson is running before the wind, and to do this without a jibe often
takes as much learning as all the rest of sailing. Perhaps in this the use
of a vane or burgee might be allowed, but generally speaking, in learning
to sail, no such aid should be permitted especially when closehauled, or it
will lead to a habit of depending on the flag, which is fatal to good
sailing, and will be found very objectionable when night sailing is
attempted.

***

Craig O'Donnell
The Proa FAQ <http://www.cyber-dyne.com/~jkohnen/proafaq.html>
The Cheap Pages <http://www.friend.ly.net/user-homepages/d/dadadata/>
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-- Professor of Boatology
-- Junkomologist
-- Macintosh kinda guy
Friend of Wanda the Wonder Cat, 1991-1997.
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