212 
E O RES T A N I) S T REA M 
SAILING THE OPEN CANOE 
II.—HOW TO FASHION THE SAILS AND EQUIPMENT 
By JULE MARSHALL. 
stiff mast and with but two lines, the hal¬ 
liard and sheet. It is true that the lateen 
sail cannot be reefed practically. But the 
canoe with reefed sails is a rare sight these 
days, the idea being to have the proper sail 
area on each particular canoe. The pro¬ 
portions of sail areas to the individual 
canoe as adopted and used by the Amer¬ 
ican Canoe Association, is forty square feet 
for the standard canoe, sixteen feet in 
length by thirty inches over¬ 
all beam. For each F&czlc ' nc ^ beam 
increase, two square 
area is added, and 
inch the length is 
the sail area is 
one-sixth 
foot. The 
bug” model 
feet of sail 
for each 
increased, 
taxed 
square 
“1 a d y 
lateen 
T HE canoeist was ad\ised last month 
through Forest and Stream , at the 
close of the first article in this se¬ 
ries, to apply yachting principles to his 
canoe when regarding it as a sailing craft. 
In justice to the canoe, it should be ex¬ 
plained that the latter, in past years, has 
contributed much to the knowledge of 
yachting. In a measure the canoe has 
acted as the model, for every conceivable 
design of sail and plan of rig has been 
worked out at some time on canoes. This 
can be readily understood, since the smaller 
craft requires less time as well as less ex¬ 
pense for experimenting. 
Unlike most developments, which pro¬ 
ceed from the simple to the complex, the 
development in canoe sailing rigs has been 
quite the reverse. The first canoe sailing 
rigs were very complicated and difficult for 
one man to manage. Rigs with tall masts, 
that could not be easily stowed away and 
were ungainly on the canoe when the sails 
were furled, the use of rings on the mast 
that were liable to jam in hoisting and 
lowering, the difficulty of handling sprit 
or batten and extra lines have caused all 
but two types of sails to become obsolete. 
To-day the lateen and the leg-o’-mut- 
ton, the simplest of sails, are used the 
most. The leg-o’-mutton is best used 
on the double-rigged boat, which will 
give it the minimum number of 
spars, four in all. And this rig 
does not necessitate the very tall 
mast that a leg-o’-mutton sail 
would require as a single rig 
The lateen sail is the same 
practical sail that it has 
been for centuries. Whil 
the lateen has always 
been used in canoeing, 
it was not considered 
practical by the ~ 
earlier canoeists, 
for it seems thev Lay the Sailcloth Out On the Floor and Design It Something 
had not devised 
means for hoisting and lowering it, having 
held the yard to the mast by means of a ring 
over a pin in the top of the mast. With the 
addition of the halliard, this sail has be¬ 
come the most practical one for open canoes. 
T HE lateen sail is a simple triangular 
sail with a, low center of effort, with 
a yard and a boom of equal length, 
convenient to stow and carry, a short and. 
sail is an exceptionally fine design, and has 
been in use fifteen years or more. It is made 
of a very fine unbleached cotton duck, known 
by the trade names “zephyr” sail cloth and 
“balloon silk,” among others. It comes about 
forty inches in width. Four widths are 
sewed together w r ith an overlap double 
seam. The middle seam forms a reinforce¬ 
ment to the sail and runs from the tack to 
the center of the leach. With the sail cloth 
laid out on the floOT, the points “tack,” 
“peak” and “clew” are laid out according 
to measurement given in the illustration, 
and are connected by straight lines. The 
“draft” or roach on the spars and leach 
arc then sketched on. 
C ONSIDER carefully the lines of your 
canoe. If your model is of the round 
bottom type, or narrower on the 
waterline than its overall beam, you will 
want but a slight draft. If on the other 
hand your canoe has a “tumble-home” and 
has its greatest width at or near the water 
line, it will be best to give the sail all the 
draft possible, keeping in mind that you 
must not have a fluttering sail when point¬ 
ing reasonably close. 
Cut your sail along the outside lines, 
allowing for an inch or more for hemming. 
After hemming, a double thickness of can¬ 
vas tape is sewed on along the head and 
the foot of the sail, in order to keep it 
from stretching. The corners of the sail 
are reinforced by applying pieces of the 
sail cloth. Batten pockets, i inch by 12 
inches, are sewed on the leach dividing 
that side into four equal parts. Cedar 
strips are later inserted in these pock¬ 
ets and are tied in. These strips hold 
the roach out flat. A grommet 
(Number i) is inserted in each ex¬ 
treme corner of the sail for raw- 
hide thongs. Along the head and 
the foot, quarter inch galvanized 
rings are securely sewed on at 
intervals of 6 inches. Num¬ 
ber O grommets may be sub¬ 
stituted for the rings. 
These are inserted in the 
tape about nine inches 
apart and are laced to 
the spar in a spiral 
fashion. A cutting 
die and special 
punch are needed 
for the grommets, 
but only a needle 
and linen thread are necessary for applying 
the rings and the latter make a neater and 
more yachty appearance. The sail when 
finished can be made mildew repellant bv 
giving it a bath in a solution made by dis¬ 
solving lb. of sugar of lead and pow¬ 
dered alum in a vat of water, allowing the 
sail to soak over night. Then instead of 
wringing it, hang it up in the shade until 
it is thoroughly dry. Spars and mast 
Cleus 
Like This 
Make the Mast and Spars From Clear White Spruce; Here Are Details of Their Construction 
