We spent the last couple days building the sail rigs for the latest canoe set. This simple pop-up sail rig is some thing that I worked very hard designing as a way to take advantage of favorable winds without resorting to the sort of aggravating canoe sail contraptions that usually don’t work very well in the first place and make a canoe unusable as a paddle craft.
Basically a 2meter-ish mast hinges up off of the stem where it is captured by the end of the bow acting as partners. A simple sprit rig Is sleeved over that, with a single sheet for the control line leading back to open clam cleats. The rig can be set and struck in seconds with one hand which is essential for safety.
You wouldn’t think that 1 to 2m of canvas could push a small boat very fast but if you keep your paddle out of the water and don’t add any rudders or foils and just shift your weight for sail balance, you can easily hit 4 mph in 11 mph of wind and I’ve even hit 5 once or twice when it was blowing around 15. Just like every other small boat when the wind is light you’re ghosting along at 2 to 3. In longer canoes the balance of rig restricts your direction of travel to broad reaches but in my shorter pack canoes you can actually hold a fairly respectable beam reach just with the balance and natural resistance of the hull.
The nice thing about this rig for me is that it just folds up into a tiny package off to the side and lets you use your canoe just like normal until the wind happens to be going in the direction you want to. This is really the only way to trick the wind gods because anytime you show up with a sail, even if it was blowing hurricane force winds 10 minutes earlier you are certain to be becalmed. But in that case you’re now in perfect canoe paddling water. At which point the wind gods become angry and send wind, which works just fine because you can pop up the sail
This week I’m experimenting with carbon fiber masts and ripstop nylon in place of my normal anodized aluminum and 4 ounce Dacron. If it ends up being durable enough this looks like a nice refinement to the overall system. I’ll try to post some video soon of this setup in action.
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