Canoe sailing

[welshwhit]

Afternoon folks

What do folks think of the Endless river type set up for a canoe sail to help on large stretches of open water or slow moving river sections?

Any other viable options, looking for something to use with a pole.Th

Thanks

Drew

[Bucephalas]

Wow. Looks good.

The problem is always going to be wind direction. The chance that the wind is blowing in your prefered direction of travel is a slim one. If I had the wind coming from behind, I could easily make a spinnaker and use a kayak paddle to fly it.
The hand held type on their site would only work if you had a second poerson in the canoe to dip their paddle and use it as a sort of centre board, otherwise, the wind would just blow the canoe with little control of direction.

I see their solo sail kits but no mention of a centre board?

[Shewie]

Have you checked SOTP (http://www.songofthepaddle.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?135-Canoe-Sailing-and-Sailing-Canoes) yet Drew?

Gailainne on here will have some good pointers for you too, might be worth a PM

[Bucephalas]

Or http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WindPaddle-42-Adventure-Downwind-Popup-Canoe-Kayak-Sail-BLUE-/140674046555?pt=LH_DefaultDoma in_0&hash=item20c0d39a5b

[markie*mark0]

I made my own rig, braced under the forward thwart and clamped in place, i used some old 1" diameter gazebo ali poles as the mast, and then cut and sewn an old fabric tent into a sail, with a pole for the boom and a crude jib sheet to make it taught, looked great and i was really excited to use it....

But in reality canoes arnt meant to sail haha, the lack of a keel made it unstable and because i used mine mostly on rivers the wind was hit and miss....

[John Fenna]

I use a canoe pole set through a thwart with a hole in it and a "shoe" glued to the floor of the canoe...
The sail is triangular and has a pocket into which the pole fits - a boom made from shock corded tent pole in a velcro closed pocket along the bottom of the sail - the sheets are just float rope sewn to the end of te boom pocket...

[boatman]

I like my windpaddle on my SOT and since I saw a method of linking the sail's line to my buoyancy aid have very good control. Edging the open canoe would give you some lateral resistance.

[Grooveski]

I've never tried an Endless River rig, have traveled with other folk who were using them though and they struck me as a real handy convenience sail. Doesn't take long to set up, catch a fair bit of wind and if you'd usually be carrying your pole anyway it's not a lot of extra to pack.

My rig is an old Mirror dingy bermuda sail cut down a bit(they go for peanuts on ebay sometimes). Canoe pole mast and 1" alloy tube boom. Has up and downhauls and a kickerstrap. Really must get my act together and knock up a gooseneck.
The jib's for light breeze days.
Everything hangs off the mast on four jubilee clips so it only takes a minute to get the pole back for poling duty if required. The mast hoops are stainless curtain rail hoops from b&q.
It's a work in progress.
.....and I suspect always will be. Footering about with it is fun, it's had a fair few changes made even since these pics were taken.

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i68/Grooveski/LSHIEL_JUN/LSHIEL_JUN_10.jpg

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i68/Grooveski/Gubbins/JIB_1.jpg

[welshwhit]

Thanks for the replies folks.

I'll hopefully have a mooch around on SOTP abit later if I get the chance Shewie, good idea that

I'd have me pole with me anyway, and its more of a fancy a break from paddling jobby rather that a dedicated sail for canoe sailing.

Think I'll go for that rig as it all comes in a neat kit, just need to swap out the thwart, and in the summer months it'll make a nice way of cruising Bala lake with the kids!

It'll make a change from wrestling with my tarp when the need arises!

Thanks for the input everyone!

Drew

[welshwhit]

By the way, sweet looking rig tha Groovski