166 
FOREST AND STREAM 
SAILING THE OPEN CANOE 
A SERIES OF ARTICLES THAT WILL TELL YOU JUST 
HOW TO SELECT, RIG, OPERATE AND ENJOY ONE 
I. Balance. 
C ANOE sailing is becoming more pop¬ 
ular every year. It has stepped into 
the foreground. 
The decked sailing canoe—machine, if 
you please—with its complement the aqua¬ 
tic acrobat, has passed along the same 
time and way that the expensive schooner 
yacht has gone. In its place has come 
the single-sailed open canoe. Oddly, the 
same era marks the advent of the practical 
racing sloop, or half-rater. 
Every lake, bay and large river in the 
country now has its fleet of sailing canoes. 
But only certain sections have developed 
properly balanced canoes, able to sail on 
all points of the wind with minimum of 
effort. The large number of inquiries re¬ 
ceived, for information regarding neces¬ 
sary outfits and methods of rigging canoes, 
has led Forest and Stream to have prepared 
a series of four articles on the subject, of 
which this is the first. 
If all canoeists knew their crafts could 
be made to sail wherever they wished to 
direct them, the sport would enlist many 
new enthusiasts. And another great handi¬ 
cap to the pastime lies in the lack of knowl¬ 
edge on the part of manufacturers as to 
the proper construction of equipment for V 
sailing purposes. To express it mildly, the 
stock canoes and rigs, as far as sailing is 
concerned, are entirely unsuitable. 
They will not beat into the wind or tack, 
will not reach without drifting off the 
course, and will not run fair without “wal¬ 
lowing” to and fro or dipping their spars 
in the seas. No consideration apparently 
is given to the center of lateral resistance, 
center of effort, center of weight or to 
steering, all of which are essentials in any 
type of sailing craft. A canoe can be made 
to sail just as well, proportionately, as the 
most expensive sailing yacht. But until 
manufacturers study their patterns and put 
forth better models, canoeists will do well 
to assemble their own equipment and rig 
their own boats. 
T HE open canoe—the craft’s highest 
type—should be sailed with one sail, 
a lee-board or boards, and a single¬ 
blade paddle for steering. 
By JULE MARSHALL. 
Consider sailing the open canoe “into the 
wind”—that is, in the direction from which 
the wind is coming. It will be seen that 
the action of the wind upon the sail would 
be, first, to drive the canoe sidewise. To 
counteract this tendency a lee-board is used. 
This is parallel to the keel. Projecting as 
it does below the keel, it gives lateral re¬ 
sistance and checks to a great extent the 
tendency of the canoe to drift before the 
wind. In other words, when pressure is 
exerted on the sail, the canoe forges not 
sideways but ahead. 
We have) then, two forces acting upon 
the canoe. And it is only by arranging 
Bring the Center of the Sail 6 Inches Aft 
of the Center of Lateral Resistance. 
these forces correctly that we can make the 
canoe go where we want it to. 
Consider that instead of a sail, we have 
a line attached to the canoe below the exact 
center of the sail, and a force equal to the 
pulling force of the sail attached to this 
line, with the lee-board down. The prob¬ 
lem is to drive the canoe straight ahead 
without the canoe sheering off one way or 
the other. In other words, keep the keel 
line perpendicular to this line of force. To 
do this, we must have the line attached at 
the center of the canoe. This point is 
called the center of lateral resistance. 
The simplest way to calculate the center 
of lateral resist¬ 
ance of any canoe 
is to sketch, to 
scale, on a piece 
of cardboard of 
even thickness, the 
submerged section 
of the canoe. In¬ 
clude in this sketch 
the submerged 
section of the 
lee-board. Cut this 
cardboard out and 
balance it across 
a knife edge. A 
perpendicular line 
where it balances 
the center of lateral resistance. In the 
case of any triangular sail, like the lateen 
or leg-o’-mutton, the center of effort is 
found by connecting any two corners with 
the centers of their respective opposite 
sides. The point of intersection of these 
two lines is the center of the sail. 
I N arranging the sail on the canoe, be 
careful to bring the center of the sail 
about six inches aft of the center of lat¬ 
eral resistance. This will again balance 
the effect of the paddle which, while acting 
as a rudder, also forms lateral resistance. 
It will also give the canoe a slight tendency 
to point into the wind when there is no 
steering force used. When these two points 
have been figured out, the sail and lee- 
board attached at proper positions, and the 
crew in the center of the canoe, it will be 
found to balance, and so be easily steered. 
A properly balanced canoe always carries 
its steering paddle on the same side of the 
canoe over which the sail is hanging, no 
matter whether you are using the board as 
a lee-board or windward-board. If you 
take the paddle out of the water, holding 
the sheet close-hauled, the canoe will in¬ 
stantly point into the wind; and when the 
paddle is dropped in on the opposite side, 
the sheet will swing over, fill with wind, 
and the canoe will go off on the opposite 
tack. 
Always consider your balance from a 
question of possible errors: either the canoe 
will not point into the wind, or you cannot 
prevent it from pointing into the wind. 
In case the canoe will not point into the 
wind, it is because the center of the sail' 
(center of effort) is ahead of the center of 
the canoe (center of lateral resistance). In 
this case, either the sail must be moved 
back or the lee-board moved forward. In 
case you cannot prevent the canoe from 
pointing into the wind, the center of effort 
is too far back of the center of lateral re¬ 
sistance. In this case, either the sail is to 
be moved forward, or the lee-board is to 
be moved aft. 
The perfectly balanced canoe is a great 
convenience to the sailor. It brings the 
handling of the sail, the lee-board and the 
They Offer the Camper Ideal Sport. 
will pass through 
How the Open Canoe Looks Under Sail. 
