One of the first things I tried when I was building the pack canoe system was to take both of the sails from a set of nesting canoes and put them on one boat in a schooner configuration.
The result was an aggravating contraption with no practical utility, so I shelved the idea until it popped back into my mind a few days ago when I was looking at the largest of my triple set of nesting full-size canoes and realized that I could re-purpose the rowing outrigger as a second mast step.
After a half hour of speed carpentry I had a working prototype again, I borrowed the sails from the two smaller boats, and we took it down to the river for a quick test.
Rowing up wind is never fun, (although I shouldn’t be complaining because Liz does most of the rowing) but the trip back was lovely, breezing along at 2 to 4 mph through the industrial landscape at sunset. The rig works surprisingly well at this scale!
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