Canoe Sailing

October-November 2006

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: > DOWNLOAD

Story by John Drent and photos by David Elderton

Eric’s lovely little rig. The canoe is a 15 ft. wood and canvas prospector with 42 sq. ft. of sail. The single outrigger was made from a section of a discarded windsurfboard.

I enjoy paddling as much as the next person, but I’ve long fantasized about harnessing a little wind energy. I’ve even tried hoisting a few, odd sails with limited success. We’ve had good results lashing two canoes together, raising a big square tarp and running downwind, but anything else really hasn’t been worth the effort.

After a number of false starts, I began to develop a deep suspicion about mounting sails on canoes. Sure, I’d seen photos—all those turn of the century wooden canoes with their white sails aloft and gentleman owners beaming with pride. Quaint artifacts from another era when men wore white collars to go boating, women packed wicker baskets with grilled chicken and table linens, and no one was in a particular hurry to get anywhere. I’ve also seen the sail ads in canoe magazines, sandwiched between ads for fifteen pound canoes that are equally at home in raging rapids or transatlantic voyages and integrated portage systems that will revolutionize your approach to wilderness travel and leave you begging for more. Oh sure.

But, skeptical as I was, I just couldn’t get this sail thing out of mind. I knew there were innumerable boats out there, carrying all manner of sailcloth. Why not canoes, just because they are long, narrow, tippy and meant to be paddled? But I’d also come across pictures of sailing canoe races down in the US. Surely some of the sailors must cross the finish line without spending all of their time swimming. Surely there was someone out there who could separate fact from fiction and shine a light on the elusive art of sailing canoes.

Sailing in ideal conditions—doing 4 knots in a canoe while eating lunch!

Turns out there was. I met David Elderton at a Dogwood Canoe Club meeting and thought right away, “Here is a guy I can learn something from.” David invited me to a canoe sailing get-together at Porteau Cove on Howe Sound, a location chosen for its reliable afternoon winds. So I spent a few hours throwing together yet another version of sailing rig, this time incorporating at least a proper sail taken from a small dinghy. Then I tried selling my wife on the idea. Grace has been mostly unimpressed by these efforts in the past and has been lobbying for a “proper sailboat”, but when I told her there would be people there who knew what they were doing and that this would be a good opportunity to get our feet wet, so to speak, she agreed. The camping would be fun anyhow.

At Porteau Cove, Grace found us a fabulous campsite while I kibitzed with the eccentrics who populate this corner of the canoeing world. I quickly realized that there was no consensus as to the perfect combination of sail and boat. There were about a dozen private boats in attendance as well as some commercial presenters. And the boats were all as unique as their owners.

Note the spray deck on Dave’s canoe.

There were boats where function was clearly more important than form. I had hoped to count myself among this group, but my function wasn’t so hot either. Then there was Eric’s exquisite canoe, a nicely curved but tender, little cedar-ribbed boat with matching candy apple red outrigger, and outfitted with finely crafted ash rudder and leeboard assemblies. It was a work of art and it actually sailed well. There was Gord’s boat—a big cedar-ribbed, square stern, freighter type canoe with a big mast and a big sail for a big guy. There was a fifteen pound canoe equally at home in raging rapids and... no, just kidding. But Brian Chandler, of Dream Catcher Boats, did bring down an eighteen pound yellow cedar and nylon solo boat that was a marvel of simplicity and lightness. Grace was especially interested in this lightweight model. Brian was still in the process of developing a suitable sailing rig for his boats and he couldn’t have come to a better place.

Jim Hartwick brought not one, but two boats to the event. One was a 16-foot whitetail canoe stabilized with two small inflatable amas (outriggers) supporting a unique fixed boom and rotating mast, with sails converted from a windsurfer. I was skeptical that so little flotation could actually stabilize as much sail as this boat carried, but a test run soon convinced me. The boat sailed beautifully up, down and across the wind. Tacking was relatively painless thanks to the amas, and a sliding seat allowed the sailor to hike far out of the boat. From Jim I learned that no boat is so good that it can’t be improved upon, therefore, every boat requires endless shop time. And I learned to never throw out a piece of aluminum or stainless steel. Apparently Jim has been sailing canoes for about 20 years and could answer most questions about the sport because he’d already built it and tried it, or he was about to.

Gord’s rig: 100 sq. ft. of sail on a 17.5 ft. wood and canvas chestnut prospector with a single 8 ft. plywood outrigger, put together on an extremely tight budget.

Jim’s second boat was a kayak, also outfitted with two amas and an ingenious sailing rig held together by complicated-looking fittings of his own design. Jim freely admitted he was heavily influenced by one of the commercial presenters at the event—TriakSports.

Grace and I didn’t actually see the Triak boats because they were so popular that they spent all their time out at sea. We could just see sails on the horizon. I’m told these are very sleek and stable boats. Apparently designer Charlton Bullock once sailed and paddled one along the west coast of Vancouver Island, which is a challenge for any boat.

We couldn’t find Easy Rider either, for the same reason, because they were always out demonstrating their boats. Fortunately both these companies have websites so we were able to see their boats on line at home. Easy Rider has enough ideas about paddling, rowing and sailing craft to keep one dreaming all through the off-season. See www.easyriderkayaks.com and www.triaksports.com.

We did get a look at one of Easy Rider’s outriggers, however. David and Carmen used one as part of their sailing canoe set-up. David has an uncommon attention to detail, an enthusiasm for research and a willingness to pay for good equipment to produce what must be a Cadillac of sailing canoes. The sail was custom made by a local specialist, computer designed for maximum efficiency. A rotating aerodynamic mast increased efficiency by about 10%. I could go on but you get the idea. All this effort was evident in the performance. David’s GPS clocked us as high as 9 knots with 2 people in the boat. With 90 square feet of sail up in gusty winds, the boat remained so stable I was tempted to stand up and walk around. It felt just like, well, a sailboat.

Dave’s ‘high tech’ rig. The canoe is a 16.5 ft. Swift Dumoine in Kevlar. It sports 92 sq. ft. sail with components from a Tasar dingy, including a rotating wing mast. The single 12 ft. outrigger is a production piece from Easy Rider. This canoe was clocked at 12 knots (22kph)!

To sum up, we had a great weekend. I’m a believer now. I’ve got a sketchbook full of ideas to improve my own impoverished sailing system. All I need is a shop, lots of aluminum and stainless steel spare parts, a bunch of time and/or cash and we’ll soon have the wind in our sails again. Grace is even willing to try sailing a canoe again. As long as it behaves just like the boats we saw at Porteau Cove. Now, about that wicker basket and grilled chicken.

© John Drent, of Surrey, BC began canoeing at age14, paddling through Algonquin Park, and has been addicted to wilderness canoeing since. He also enjoys whitewater canoeing. Parenting has recently changed his focus a bit and he is currently refitting his canoe for canoe sailing.