Moreover
the American canoes used in paddling races are much larger, i.e., wider and deeper, though shorter than the English " single-streak"; indeed, the singlestreak could not be "sat" if a raised seat were used, and it is only by careful practice that one can sit her for effective workthat is, in the extreme models. The open Canadian model, in which a single blades, or half-paddles, are used, is decidedly the favourite river canoe of the present day. Though a considerable number of Rob Roy type, or quasi-Rob Roys, may be seen on any of our large rivers, they are dropping out. For real travelling, the Canadian type, with its open body, lends itself so easily to ample stowage of camp gear, to quick stowage or discharge, and to easy transportation, that it is only the inexperienced who will, for river or small lake travelling, take the small decked" canoe of Rob Roy type or the later modifications thereof. ،، Where, however, the tour is to extend to crossing large lakes or to cover some open estuary work, the decked canoe is almost a necessity; but then it is advisable, for such work, to go to the sailing canoe type for safety and comfort. I have had experience on large lakes, in a small decked canoe of semi-Rob Roy type, of being wind-bound on an island with food supply growing short and seas running too heavy to allow even a hope of crossing to main land; luckily, the wind gave in before the man had to.
A fine summer evening is apt to tempt one to make camp on an island, so as to be free from inquisitive visitors, both of man and of animal nature; but morning may break with a summer gale blowing, and then is the time to appreciate the value of every detail of the complete sailing cruising-canoe.
In the first place, her reserve of stores will, or may be, ample, but even if the rough water has to be faced, she will do it, if properly handled, in anything less than a real hurricane.
With regard to travelling in canoes on inland waters, it is well to point out that such work is of two distinct kinds, and that to accomplish each in perfection needs a totally distinct canoe type for each. For the quick-running, shallow, rocky river, with vicious rapids and dangerous falls, with forest portages and the necessity of camping out each night, there can be no question that the open or partly decked Canadian type is the best. The Rob Roy type is well enough on easy rivers, canals, ditches, and such like; but in a really bad rapid, and for rough portaging, she is a poor craft. The camp kit, clothes and stores that can be stowed in canoes of the Rob Roy type are about fit for a doll, certainly not reasonable for a man, unless an hotel is more or less a certainty every night; even then, in addition to the time wasted in minute packing and unpacking, there is the frequent experience of getting all the cargo soaking wet, and stores spoiled after a wet passage through a rapid, or by CANOES AND CANOEING] the leakage common after a few days of bumping on rocky shallows.
In the Canadian type all the perishable stores, clothes, bed-clothes, charts, &c., can be stowed in waterproof "kit-bags," i.e., long, cylindrical bags with an internally flounced mouth, which can be fastened so as to be quite watertight. The tent, preferably furled on or around its poles, so as to be ready for immediate setting up, can be stowed lengthwise in an open canoe, whereas it must be disjointed and packed away in parts in a decked canoe. The kitbags, cooking gear, and other stores stow amidships; and the two men (preferably two) are stationed, one in the bow and the other in the stern quarters of the canoe. In this way, when she grounds on a shallow the crew jump out and guide her or partly lift her over; or in a few moments the cargo can be lifted right out and landed, and the canoe can be carried over any obstruction. Everything should be lashed in, so that in the event of a capsize nothing is likely to fall out. In this connection, a plan of mine, which will take a lot of beating, is-fit a removable 6 ft. canvas compartment to the middle third of the canoe. It is made thus: One sheet of fine, close-woven duck, either "in the piece" or built in cloths 6 ft. wide, is cut to a length sufficient to lie close across and around the inside and bottom of the canoe, and then across to meet in the centre at the level of the gunwale or top-sides. Two pieces of duck are cut to form bulkheads or ends, of the exact form and size of the transverse section of the canoe; the top of the after one is cut at about I ft. above the level of the gunwale height so as to leave this I ft. to fold in; the other forward bulkhead is preferably left at its top 6 ft. long, so as to act as flap or cover overalls in wet weather. The edges of the bulkheads, so far as they represent the cross-section of the canoe, are then closely and strongly sewn to the edges of the sheet which forms the bottom and sides and lids, and these edges should be neatly roped and have suitable beckets for lashing down to the bottom and sides of the canoe. When packed with all the bags of stores and gear, the two flap edges, having eyelet holes, can be laced or tied together, and the forward bulkhead flap part is then folded aft over all and forms a roof. The whole thing may be waterproofed with linseed oil, or the top flap only; in the former case this "bagwell" will be found very useful as a waterproof ground-sheet for sleeping on. Or, on a pinch, when caught out at night without the proper tent, the canoe can be bedded on shore beneath suitable tree branches, and the bag-well suspended therefrom and spread by a few bent sticks around its real bottom (now its roof). A very fair bedroom is made, and the front flap will just about cover the kit. If the canoe has a fair amount of end decking, say 2 ft. 9 in. or 3 ft. on a 16 ft. canoe, the open body of the canoe will be thus covered in, and be pretty nearly, if not quite, rainproof.
Such quarters, of course, are rather cramped for two men, though ample for one; but it is far better to sleep dry in a semi-sitting posture than to have to drag through a wet night with no shelter.
Kit and Equipment. The first point to which an experienced canoe-cruiser looks, after assuring himself of a suitable canoe and an expert companion, is a reliable night camp-kit. There is no such thing as a "standard camp-kit"; what is a perfect kit for one man may be the very reverse for another. One man will fiddle over an intensely wonderful mechanism for cookinga spirit-stove surrounded by a swarm of little pots and instruments (of about half of which he will lose tally in a two weeks' trip) and take an hour morning and evening in packing and unpacking a sort of Chinese puzzle; while another man does the whole work of cooking over a fire of drift wood with a tin Billy-pot, a fry-pan, a tin mug and a tin dish. As to clothes, the experienced man will have nothing but flannel and wool. The only linen fabric in his outfit will be handkerchiefs and perhaps a white cap cover for hot, sunny days. The bedding may be summed up thus: two thick blankets, one to go folded as a mattress for warm nights, or both to be used on cold wet nights; one inflatable pillow covered with blanket bag (which can be taken off and dried at the camp fire). A suit of pyjamas of thick wool must be taken, and a pair of old fishing wading stockings, cut to knee-boot length, are very useful for early morning wet grass movements when packing and launching.
Matches should be kept in corked bottles, and tea, tobacco, sugar, salt, and many other stores which are liable to suffer from damp, should be kept in carefully fitted tins stowed in waterproof bags; especially biscuits, which are the most convenient bread stuff that can be carried. As to adjuncts to camping, those essential are an efficient lamp with store of wick and oil, a small axe, and several sailor's sheathknives. A can of petroleum is not a bad thing in camp for quick fire-getting in wet weather, but it is a fearful nuisance in the canoe unless it is absolutely oil-tight in DD2 THE ENCYCLOPÆDIA OF SPORT [CANOES AND CANOEING every way. If a gun is taken, it should be provided with a bag-cover like a sponge bag, absolutely watertight when its neck is tied tightly; and the cartridges can be carried tied in a sponge bag-indeed, sponge bags of mackintosh are extremely useful in many ways in canoeing, where rain and duckings are not unknown.
Canoe Sailing. We will now turn to what is really the leading feature of present day canoeing as a sport-and that is, undoubtedly, canoe sailing. Canoe sailing, with one exception, which we will mention and then leave altogether out of consideration, is now clearly divided into two branches, namely, the sailing canoe and the canoe yawl. There is a further claim upon the title "canoe" which is in no way legitimate. It arises when some small yachts, heavy, bungling, deep-draughted chunbunthe old stringent rules of classification were relaxed.
While retaining canoe form of great excellence in the body of the canoe, and even in many of her fittings, such as centre plate and rudder and sail area, the relaxation permitted the use of the effect of unlimited beam as a sail-carrying power, while the rule at the same time limited the actual beam to a ridiculous minimum. The rule limited the beam of canoes to 30 in. (at the present moment 42 in.), and with the man sitting on his deck and leaning out to windward as the puff struck his craft, sail had to be carefully handled, the rig had to be perfect in all its working parts and more or less get-at-able; therefore there was necessity for a practical "well opening"-indeed, the early sailing racing canoes were as fully fitted and as able 15 15 M 13 11 5 9 7 3 M 0 goes, claim, because they have a sharp ended stern, that they are canoes. If this were admitted, is not a first-class battleship, with her sharp-ended stern, "a canoe"? Form, as we said in opening this article, must be taken in conjunction with capability of performing the duties common to all canoes such as navigating shallow waters, and with portability. Here it might be retorted- You opened by bringing in a torpedo boat as of canoe form." Yes, but bear in mind that small torpedo boats can navigate in shoal water, can be hoisted on board larger ships, and can be portaged from water to water by railway train-whereas a battleship cannot. 66 Now the class to be wiped out is remarkable in its way it is the racing machine class. It has grown upon the sport of canoeing as barnacles grow on a ship's bottom; it has grown upon fair canoeing, upon true excellence of model and rig, and upon good seamanship; it has engrafted the athlete and the acrobat upon the sport of canoeing. Neither of them was wanted, and the result has proved very bad for the sport-to a degree never anticipated when cruisers as any could be under the knowledge of the time. The relaxation came in, and though the beam of the canoe remains limited, the acrobat is permitted to use a sliding seat across the deck whereby he slides his whole body, legs, and all, right outside to windward, and thus obtains such an amount of sail-carrying power that he is more in actual danger of capsizing to windward than in the ordinary way of to leeward; he gains the advantage of nearly 8 ft. of beam without its disadvantage in surface, and yet this is over a limit of 3 ft. of beam, i.e., 5 ft. advantage in a size of craft in which an inch tells as much as a foot does in a yacht.
In addition to the acrobatic plan or balance seat allowed by the rules (up to 1909), the racing machine is not required even to have a hole in her deck. Some canoes have been produced in England without any "well," or hatchway even; some here and in America had sails of standing rig, i.e., not hoisting or lowering or reefable, but stuck in as in model yachts. In these craft the sheets are trimmed for the leg of the course, and CANOES AND CANOEING] off she goes at gun-fire; the man is out on his slide, 4 ft. outside his canoe, and he can do nothing but steer and balance till he comes to the turning mark on the course.
Here he quickly snatches a fresh trim of sheets for the new leg of the course, and off he goes again. If she gets an extra heavy knockdown puff and capsizes, all the agile acrobat has to do is to jump out on to the centre plate, which is now lying horizontal on the top of the water, and to prise the canoe up, using the slide-seat plank as a lever. 66 The true canoe, fitted to be useful and comfortable, otherwise than for mere pothunting," has no chance in racing against this machine type of canoe and man. The racing class is now, by the legislation passed at the autumn meeting of the Royal Canoe Club, held in November, 1896, so well overtopped by the "cruising canoe دو of real sailing, against the highly successful raids of the racing machine and the acrobat. Now, in the spring of 1910, the sport stands on a very different footing :
The sliding seat, and, indeed, the racing canoe, were abolished in the autumn, 1909; the sailing canoe rules have been completely altered to two classes of comparatively large canoes, found to be suitable for cruising work; and these rules are now guarded for reasonable terms of unaltered existence in that to alter the rule, even in the minutest detail, requires a four-fifths majority vote.
Canoe yachts, and canoe yawls, are no longer considered as classes in the Royal Canoe Club and in the Clyde Canoe Club, the two leading bodies of canoeing in England and Scotland. There can be no question that the possibilities of canoe-travel over wide lakes and along sea coasts have been immensely bettered in the most recent designs class that, “machine racing" being no longer a certain road to winning the chief cups and prizes, intending competitors will have at least the option of building a useful, comfortable craft with a very fair chance of winning prizes by sailing skill and merit, rather than by mere acrobatic skill and luck.
Of the various canoe clubs in England, unfortunately, no two have the same rules in entirety; there is no governing power, no canoe racing association. The "British Canoe Association" is not a legislative body, but is a club which invites other clubs and individuals to its annual camp-meet; and it holds handicap races, including boats. Of late, however, the senior club, the Royal Canoe Club, has thrown all its races open to members of all other recognised clubs, and to gentlemen amateurs. As such visiting competitors must build under R.C.C. definitions, the production of craft within these rules is steadily insinuating through the outports. Thus far we see the history and state of canoeing up to 1897. It is useful to know what the sport has gone through. The struggles of the true canoe and the science of canoes, brought about by sound legislation in the clubs. The latest class, the A canoe, which is the leading class in the Royal Canoe Club and in the Clyde Canoe Club can be sailed fast and safely in wind and wave that would have stopped or sunk the old type of cruising sailing canoe. First cost of canoe has probably gone up with the increased size and the perfection of fitment; but as a man's small yacht, or travelling house-boat, she is good value in building cost, and absolutely the cheapest type of craft to run, in proportion to the work got out of her.
The rules of classification in the Royal Canoe Club are (1910): Sailing canoe :- The "A" class canoe shall be sharp at each end. Length overall not exceeding 18 ft. Beam not over 4 ft. Depth outside from top of deck at middle line to under side of garboards anywhere up to 2 ft. from either end shall not be less than I2 in. Side deck not less than 1/4 beam of the canoe. Plank not less than 1/4 in., deck not less than in., and bulkhead not less than in. finished. One complete bulkhead not over 6 ft. from mid- THE ENCYCLOPÆDIA OF SPORT [CANOES AND CANOEING length. Ballast, including any metal keel, to be not less than 130 lb. Sail area actual not to exceed 150 sq. feet. No seat shall be extended beyond the side of the canoe. Hatchway not less than 36 in. in length, and not less than 16 in. in width १ 13 15 3 51 CRUISING CANOE. BODY PLAN (SEE P. 392).
LWL throughout that length. Unless otherwise stated in sailing race conditions, "A" class canoes are to be sailed single-handed. "B" class sailing canoes :- A "B" class canoe shall be sharp at each end. Length overall shall not exceed 17 ft. Beam extreme shall not exceed 42 in.
Any excess of length or beam to be multiplied by 5 and added to the waterline length for rating purposes. 1 No seat shall be extended beyond the side of the canoe. Load water line shall not be less than 12 ft. 6 in., measured with owner on board in racing position. Minimum depth outside from top of deck at middle line to underside of garboard taken anywhere up to 2 ft. from either end shall not be less than I2 in. There shall be two fixed bulkheads of wood, which are to be not less than 5 ft. 6 in. apart, nor more than 8 ft. apart, and not more than 5 ft. from mid overall length.
There shall be a direct opening to the space between these bulkheads of not less than 16 in. in width for a length of 3 ft.
The deck at each side shall not be less than + beam. Scantling, minimum finished, plank, 1 in.; deck, Tin.; bulkheads, in.
LW × SA Rating shall not exceed 0'3 LW 6,000 = R. 3 = R.
In calculating the rating, figures beyond the second place of decimals shall be ignored. Sails: The certificate of rating shall be for one rig and suit of sails only, which may include a storm sail not exceeding 75 sq. ft. area. Only one certificate can be held at a time. The load water line shall be marked on the canoe to the satisfaction of the official measurer. It will be noticed that, compared with the 1 The excess of length or beam mentioned is for small differences by accident in building or for visitors canoes of slightly over one or other limit of the rule. 66 دو "A" class, the "B" rule is decidedly complicated, and owing to a variable quantity rating formula, a considerable divergence of sail area and length may be found in the boats of the class. Also, there being no weight stipulation, the racing man's scheme is to build as lightly as possible and to have a very light plate; consequently the featherweight racing canoe is invited, and she is expensive to build and fit, and requires most expert handling to keep her from capsizing. In the "A" class there is no question of rating; she has simply to comply with leading dimensions, allowed sail area, and to have no less than 130 lb. in her keel or ballast. This latter stipulation enables the man who puts that weight into keel to have an uncapsizable canoe without being at a disadvantage compared to others in his class when racing. “ دو The Clyde Canoe Club "A" class rule differs only from the Royal Canoe Club rule in some extra stipulations added which have only the effect of tying a man's hands in the scope of his design. They are the above "A" rule, plus centre plate to be liftable above the keel; sectional rise of bottom at two-thirds beam not over 4 in.; fixed draught not over 10 in.; main sail not over 125 sq. ft.; length of well opening not less than 4 ft.; width of side deck not less than IO in; she shall have two bulkheads, or, instead, two end air-tanks." There is no stipulation as to weight of keel, hence the "featherweight" trouble is within the class. The extra stipulations are merely what the cruiser of some sorts CRUISING CANOE. HALF SECTION AT MIDSHIPS. of waters would of himself put in, but they would bar some men who use other waters, or who want to keel-ballast the canoe, i.e., by a liftable bulb plate, as to be uncapsizable. For large lakes, subject to heavy CANOES AND CANOEING] squalls, this is a serious objection to the enforcement of a housing plate, and a direct invitation to the racing man's advantage over the safe cruiser. It is intended to facilitate beaching, but that is a mere convenience, and craft have been fitted with bulbed plates where the bulb remains outside the case, close up under the keel, and such OCE SPREET SAIL FOR CRUISING CANOE. craft can be beached with sufficient ease when necessary, while all the time afloat they are far more seaworthy. دو The "B" class of the Clyde is 18 ft. by 3 ft. beam, and 85 ft. total sail, so it does not fit in with the Royal Canoe Club "B" class. But the latter would go in the Clyde "A" class with great effect.
The racing of the Clyde Club is on Loch Lomond, a place which, except under the shelter of the islands, can be very rough and dangerously squally; but it does not blow every day; anyway, knowing the waters, I should say that a sailing canoe of the English "A" class would have lovely cruising on the loch, whatever the weather may be. On the whole, one must regret that club rules too often introduce uncalled-for restrictions, which are vexatious to the expert canoe man, and utterly puzzling to the novice. It will be seen in the long-time history of the sport, above given, that ill-considered legislation has at times played havoc with the sport, and that, as the racing sport to a large extent places canoes on the sale market, the endeavour of the clubs should be only to countenance rules which will furnish, under the best obtainable simplicity, a good type of cruising canoe. Of course, with the progress of years, canoe fitting has become in many ways-far too many and technical here to set out more perfect for both racing and cruising, but the type of canoe and rig depicted in this article shows a canoe that would be hard to beat at average travelling work.
The modern underbody rudder, the roller foresail, the roller reefing mainsail, and several other novelties, are more racing than cruising improvements. They have appeared from time to time in the Field-with scale drawings-and, if put together, would make a fat book. Certainly the extra beam now in favour gives far more comfort in cruising than was ever known in old days; but paddling ability, of course, falls off with size, weight, and beam. I have, however, found when cruising in company with the paddleable canoe of older type that the perfect sailing qualities of the modern sailing canoe put me easily ahead in all conditions except a dead calm; and at night my comfortable quarters were palatial compared to the old 30-in. craft. The use of the canoe-yawl is that she can (or she is faulty in design if she cannot) do all the sea-going work which can be got out of a small yacht, say, up to three or four tons; she can accommodate her one or two ،، دو crew (according to her size). She can be hoisted on a yacht's davits, or on to a railway truck, or be carted for transportation to any part of the country, or on a steamer, or on her own wheel-carriage; she can be housed in a shed or boat-house; she needs no professional crew. Where the yacht cannot go the yawl can go that is, SPREET SAIL. SAIL HALF LOWERED. into harbours which are all but "dry"; she can also go up shallow creeks and rivers.
In short, she gives the least expensive and the most extensive form of yachting. So far as open sea is concerned, a well-built THE ENCYCLOPÆDIA OF SPORT [CANOES AND CANOEING and fitted canoe-yawl with a liftable bulbed centre-plate would do all the work that has been done by small boats crossing the Atlantic, and at about one-third the risk that they encounter.
The "cruising canoe" can do very nearly all the work which a "yawl" can do, but of course must be put to it with greater caution. Those who "fears nothing 'cause they knows nothing," as was said of the Brighton trippers when out sailing, have no business to go canoe-sailing; they only bring a bad name on the sport and a silly end to themselves. It does not follow that an ? expert yachtsman can sail a canoe; quite the reverse is my experience; but an expert canoe-sailor is seldom at fault in yachtsailing-indeed, many of our best yachtracing men have graduated in sailing canoes. a General Type of Canoe. - As before said, it would be too long a matter to give description and drawings of the numerous types and models of sailing canoes of the present day, or of all their fittings. I therefore confine myself to giving scale drawing of the general purpose type, the " cruising canoe (and a drawing also of the "A" class canoe and her sail plan). More properly it is the "sailing canoe," in which both cruising and successful racing may be enjoyed. The same model enlarged makes an excel- "1 lent canoe-yawl, and the racing man will find that he cannot depart very far from her lines and principles in attempting to produce a racing machine-that is, a successful machine-so she may be taken as typical of canoe-sailing in general, leaving variations of detail to those who desire special racing or special cruising qualities.
In the elements of design which go to make a sailing canoe the leading principle to which the designer has to give way is " promise." Every item in the above design is fixed to an eighth of an inch by reason of compromise; if one went boldly for one desirable quality, probably half a dozen other useful, if not actually needful, qualities would be sacrificed. com- It will be seen, of course, that the body plan from which the building moulds for sections are taken is drawn at double the size of the other plans; this is on account of space in the publication. The sections given are 2 ft. apart. commencing at I ft. from the fore side of stern. There watertight transverse bulkheads at No. 5 and at No. 12 stations. There is just comfortable space to sleep in (that is, for anyone accustomed to canoe-camping). The 1 See Figs. I and 2, pages 388 and 389. are masts step in watertight cases so as not to let rain drain into the stowage spaces, which, it will be seen, are got at through the two hatchways. The centre-plate can be unpinned and then lifted clear out of the cance; it should be 80 or 100 lb. in weight.
The canoe is preferably built in the manner known as ribband-carvel-that is, 1/4 in. or 3/8 in. planks are brought edge to edge as in ordinary carvel building, but here ribbands of 3/8 in. x 1/4 in. mahogany are laid fore and aft on the inside and cover the plank joint, the plank edges being riveted or screwed into the ribbands. It forms the strongest light build, and if well done is least liable to leak or crack; the only timbers" or frames required are one at each bulkhead and one at x. Sometimes, small steamed ribs are let in next the plank to help it stand bumps, but they weaken the ribbands for a certainty. 66 All such fittings as hatch-covers, dropplate rudder, deck-steering yokes, tillers, wheels, cleat racks, centre plates, spar doors, indeed a hundred and one important little fittings have from time to time been perfected till their working is now certain, but a description even of the necessary fitments would be far too long for this article. Sails. Possibly the sail plan will give those who are novices to canoe detail the best general idea of the canoe as a whole.
As to any particular sail plan, or even type of sail, it is extremely difficult to decide which is better than another-it depends so essentially on the proficiency of the man who is to use it. Simplicity in rigging is often as dangerous as the greatest complication of strings and blocks can be; 1 have myself worked out six distinct types of sail, and among them I have even now difficulty in picking the one likely to be most suitable all round; but taking that which I have myself found very effective for sailing and handy for cruising, I give a drawing of it, and remind my readers that the rigs of all kinds are fully represented in all detail in Canoe Travelling and in Yacht and Boat Sailing.
There is one elementary point in regard to canoe sails which should always be present to the mind of anyone about to rig a canoe or desirous of criticising any given canoe rig design: it is that a boat's perfect rig may be a canoe's poison; the crew of the boat or yacht can stand about and move fore and aft in her, but the crew of one man in the canoe must do everything from one position and must handle the boat at the same time that he manhandles the sails. This may be appreciated on drawing a sectional sketch of the CANOES AND CANOEING] canoeist sitting out on his slide deck seat; he steers with a "flail" handle to his tiller. Assume that an extra heavy streak of wind now lays his canoe flat; he must either "spill" his sail by letting go his peak halliards, or he must jump on to the centre-plate to right her. The "sheets" must be kept fast, otherwise the sail goes into the water more and more, and when he rights her by balance, the boom with the sail full of water swaggers out on the opposite side and probably capsizes her again; indeed, it will do so time after time.
There are many who say the sail should be on single halliard so as to come down on one string being let go. I am certain from long experience that, at the "agony angle," it never will come down, and therefore prefer a main, or jaw-halliard, and a dangerous in "gybing"; the boom does not top up, and it either hits the man in swinging across or it goes smash into the water. Hence abaft-the-mast rigs are growing in favour from the handling point of view.
Of all the rigs I have tried and have seen tried, the hoisting-spreet rig is about the best, it gives the shortest spars for area, and if neatly rigged is the most capable of many changes and uses. In 1870 I brought out a hoisting-spreet, but it had the fault then of being practically a standing-spreet so far as its spreet was concerned; it was really a sliding-gunter spreet. Since that time, finding it a most effective sail, I modified or improved the idea till I got to what may be called the lowerable-spreet, and in 1885 and 1886 I rigged sails of this nature, only differing in that one was a proper A 7 6 5 4 3 2 12 2 3 Scale of fou ALT B. ৫. 44 3 D Open. paddling canoe canadian. type THE RIVER TRAVELLING CANOE. peak halliard. The peak halliard on a puffy day can be carried in hand from tack to tack and be worked far more effectively than the sheet, provided the boom is held by its topping lifts. In such weather the mizen of course must be reefed that is to say, except in close racing. Caution is the first quality of a seaman-dash and daring go with caution, but there is no such thing as a foolhardy seaman; a foolhardy man is no seaman. On the mizen no jaw-halliard is necessary, but it may well be fitted, and I prefer to have it; it is only one extra line, and it has many uses. Perhaps, however, this is going too far into refinement of sailing.
Of the many rigs which have been used, the balanced battened lug is probably the most popular and possibly the most effective, but it has some decided faults for those who sit high on a deck seat. It is the most spreet-sail hoisted by the luff-rope and headrope at the throat angle (see p. 391, col. 2), and the other had a luff-yard and a spreet so as to use a shorter mainmast. In effect, that rig was a gaff main-sail with a jibheaded top-sail, the yard of which did the duty of a topmast. This sail has since been produced, we will not say copied, on several American canoes, but they all miss the very point of the rig for which I brought it out.
As we are not here dealing with the refinement of detail of a racing rig, I take the hoisting and lowerable spreet-rig as the most simple and effective rig that is, the roped luff-sail. The sail plan ¹ shows this rig set and a sketch shows it partly set, or also partly lowered, as it can be for a heavy squall or a bad gybe, or for coming into port among a lot of craft. In this case the main or jaw-halliard is kept fast, and the 1 Given on p. 391. peak is lowered. The luff-rope on the sail must be strong, and dressed with linseed oil so as not to stretch or be affected by wet or weather.
The sail plan shows a big mizen; this can be shifted into main position and a small mizen can be then set aft, the mainsail and spars meanwhile lashed along on deck; this is specially useful in bad weather or when a night trip has to be made. All the riggings and the semi-automatic reefing gear are fully described in the books I have already mentioned, and they are of the first importance to the successful working of the rig. 66 Canoe design, of course, is never finally perfect, but with increased experience certainly a better craft is produced to-day than ever saw the water in the early years of the sport. It is, therefore, that, with permission of The Field, I reproduce here my design for a canoe of the newest, the A," class. This canoe and all about her abilities, reasons, and fittings appeared in The Field of March 20th, 1909, and April 3rd, 1909. Since that publication I have had the canoe built, with one or two slight differences of fitting, and so on, made for racing, as a general purpose canoe, specially intended for lake cruising, and camping in.
One difference (see drawing of "A" class) is that my plate with its bulb is different in shape, and is "hung" in the manner shown in the cruising canoe (Fig. 1), and so it is liftable up and out of the canoe, a very useful feature in cruising. The plate is 65 lb., and the lead plates on its lower end about 75 lb. 140 lb. Now a pound of fact is worth a ton of fiction in a squall, and I can say from frequent tests that with this keel, with the centre of the lead at 3 ft. below water line when upright, the canoe is uncapsizable; she has been knocked down flat on her side by a squall, often, so can any yacht, but she will right again immediately if the wind eases off, or the craft is brought head to wind. The wide side deck has prevented any water being shipped when she is flat, and the two bulkheads give her reserve flotation.
So she is by actual experiment, in ordinary sailing circumstances, a safe craft, uncapsizable, unsinkable. The model is of modific "coble" type, and when the rudder is housed, as dotted in drawing, and the plate is up, she can be beached stern first in a considerable sea.
If rowing be adopted, she will row stern first best, as all cobles do, and she will tow stern first steadily.
The rig shown is standing lug with roller reefing, 125 ft. in mainsail, and 25 in the [CANOES AND CANOEING roller-foresail. The mast is shown fitted to lower; this is a great comfort in travelling where bridges are commonly met, but for racing or sea work the mast should be stepped down to the keel. The keel shown in the drawing is rather masive for a canoe, but this design was made with a view to lake work, and though sandy bays may be found, gravel shores and stones are more common. The flush garboards and no protruding keel, found in nearly all of the "B" class canoes, would cause the bottom of the canoe to be chewed to pieces in one or two rough-wind landings before she could be hauled up.
A lighter plate could, of course, be carried for cruising, provided sail is reduced. The lifting power of the man is the test of how much weight there may be; assume that the owner can lift a plate of 100 lb. in and out of the case; he would probably find that a rig of mainsail 80 ft. and foresail 20 ft. (or mizen) would be as much as he could usefully carry on a wild, squally lake, whereas on a river he might carry 150 ft. or more. But the rule requires 130 lb. for ballast, so the owner's judgment as to best mode of ballasting should only be warned that below 130 lb. she would be capsizable.
She Designs of Paddling Canoe. - The drawings here given of an open canoe of Canadian type,¹ show a canoe 16 ft. long by 32 in. beam, 7½ in. freeboard, and 4 in. draught of water. would on that draught displace about 480 lbs., so that, if the canoe comes out, say at 72 lb., with all her gear, canvas, pack, &c., and the crew at about 308 lb., she would carry about 100 lb. of camp and other gear.
The midship pack of gear, spoken of above, would fit between the two cross-beams, with 6 in. of it tucked under each. The crossbeams are built into the canoe, but the seat thwarts, shown shaded, are dropped in, dove-tail fashion, so as to be removable; the cross-beams can also be so fitted if it is intended to sleep in the canoe, and to remove them.
Paddles, single blade, are usually 5 ft. 6 in. long; but a much longer one is often useful, and at least a couple of spare paddles should be carried on a cruise. A jointed double blade paddle is often favoured, but is only advisable when a single hand is to work the canoe, and the journey is mostly on quiet flowing rivers or canals. For navigating rapids or lakes with two men in the canoe, far more effective work can be done with single blades"; these should be of the toughest 1 See drawing on p. 393.
X Feet 2 3 اس 4 "A" CLASS SAILING CANOE OF THE R.C.C. RULE 1909.
X 5 C 010 CANOES AND CANOEING] THE ENCYCLOPÆDIA OF SPORT wood, even at the expense of being a trifle heavy, and they should be protected at the blade end by copper-shaped bands riveted on each side, as shown in the sketch.
For ordinary river work, nothing looks [CANOES CANOES AND CANOEING canoes of the Stricklands of Lakefield, Ontario (which can be got at Strickland's depot at West Drayton, England). But for rough, knockabout work, probably the Macatawa sheathed canoe, of North American Indian model, would be found 19.8 8..7.. - *125 13..6.. d 20 12.7 12.3 106 LR Effort Leaf 6..3.. 11.6. *247 Jeet- -4.3. 4.10.. 2 3 Scale of Feel 4 5 6 "A" CLASS SAILING CANOE. better than varnished cedar or mahogany, built up ribband-carvel fashion, such as may be obtained to perfection at Turk's, at Kingston-on-Thames; they are amply strong enough for all but the roughest camping cruise. These Thames canoes are run very close in build and finish by the > 8 the most lasting; and of course for real cruising work, appearance goes for nothing compared to efficiency.
The Macatawa is a wooden-built and planked canoe, sheathed with a tough prepared fabric, cemented over the outside and finished with repeated coats of paint; the CANOES AND CANOEING] life of such a canoe among rocks and snags must be immensely superior to that of the ordinary wooden canoe. G. Harris, of Laleham-on-Thames, imports these canoes.
As to price, a 16-ft. open canoe with three single blades should not exceed £18.
THE INSIDE OF A TRAVELLING CANOE. 66 Many of them can be got at a guinea a foot," and the best of finish, with carpets and cushions, comes to about £20, complete.
Clubs, &c. The institutions for the promotion of the sport of canoeing, though not very numerous in England, are sound, going concerns with solid capital; they have, or the sport has, suffered much in the last ten years from the rapid growth of small yacht sailing and cycling. The small yachting, in half-raters, was injurious to canoeing; but many men are now finding out to their cost that a half-rater racing machine is not a bed of roses, even for the pleasure of sailing, and is a little heap of expenses out of all proportion to the sport it furnishes, and such men are coming back to canoe sailing and cruising.
The Royal Canoe Club leads canoeing in England; its headquarters, or club house, is on the Thames at Kingston, and in 1897 a new and permanent club house was erected with all conveniences for housing members and their canoes. The paddling regatta, including some sailing, is held annually on the Thames at Kingston, and the sailing regatta, a fortnight's racing, is, in 1910, at Aldeborough, a salt water, and fine, open, sailable estuary in Suffolk. The club has two £50 challenge cups, one for paddling, the other for sailing, and gives a large number of prizes for all classes of canoes.
The Mersey Canoe Club at Liverpool is almost as old as the Royal, and is a very stable and sporting institution. The "Mersey has not given way to racing quite so extensively as the older club, but دو none the less it has produced some very excellent canoe sailors, and some canoes and canoe-yawls of considerable merit. Knowing the Mersey well, I have no doubt that were the Mersey Canoe Club now to institute a useful class of sailing canoe, and to give a substantial programme of Saturday racing for the season, the canoe would, on the Mersey, above all places around our coast, show itself in front of small "raters" and open boats in giving sport and pastime for money expended, and the club would have to look for a more extensive boat and club house on the influx of members. The Clyde Canoe Club, now housed on Loch Lomond, is in every way flourishing; its two sailing classes are nearly the same as the Royal Canoe Club classes; it holds a number of cruises and races throughout the season, and has a large membership.
It is impossible here to go into the history or even description of all the canoe clubs, or to decide whether some are not more properly "sailing boat" clubs; and as some of the clubs are so bashful of appearing in print, it becomes difficult to know whether they are flourishing on thousands of pounds of capital, or have become shelved on the A TRAVELLING CANOE AFLOAT. glory of past attainments. There are, or were up to a late time, the following clubs: the Humber, the Wear, the Tyne, the Sunderland, the Northern (on the Tyne), the Ulster, the Midland, and the Forth.
The real commanding charm of canoeing over all other aquatic sports is that where there is water there is the canoe's sphere of action. It matters not whether the water be sea or a mere brook, a lake or a fish pond, canoeing can be more or less enjoyed, especially if the right type of canoe for the nature of the water is chosen. The canoe, in one form or other, may be an adjunct THE ENCYCLOPÆDIA OF SPORT [CANOES AND CANOEING to yachting, to fishing, and to shooting; she may be useful for travel, for exploration, or even for war; but, above all, the sailing canoe on moderately open water is the finest of health-givers, and is so at the least cost.
The canoeist can at his own will sail alone or elect to sail in company; not so the yachtsman, who must have a crew, if not guests also. The canoeist can carry his hotel with him; not so the shooting or fishing sportsman, the hunting man, the cyclist, or the golfer. All these are dependent on house or hotel when the sport is over, whereas living in a canoe is part of the sport of canoeing.
WARINGTON BADEN-POWELL.
GLOSSARY.
Apron. The mackintosh cover put over the canoe "well" opening when the canoeist is seated in the "Well" (q.v.), in order to prevent waves from splashing into the body of the canoe. It is not infrequently replaced by a sliding wooden Hatch.
Back-board. A board usually hung from the deck coaming, or the bulkhead directly behind the paddler, against which he leans, and presses his back when paddling; his feet giving pressure from the foot-stretcher.
Beam. The greatest width of a boat.
Bearings. The line of flotation formed by the water upon a boat's side and bottom when, with all on board, she has come to the angle of best stability for such displacement, or sail pressure.
Brace.-[See STRETCHER.] Burdens. The boards laid upon, but not fixed to, the lower part of the frame of the canoe.
Also called Floor-boards.
Camber. The arch of the deck from one side to the other; contrasted with Sheer, which is the curve fore and aft.
Canoe, A light boat, sharp modelled at each end, of light draught of water, and destined to be propelled by a paddle or paddles held in the hand without fixed support. There are three main types. (1) The open, Canadian, or undecked canoe, used for paddling purposes only, and accommodating any number up to ten or more. The native boats are mostly of birch bark, but those of the same pattern imported into England are usually of bass wood. They are all built with a smooth skin, i.e., the planks do not overlap one another, but are put side by side and caulked or ribboned. but have not been adopted generally in Europe, and canvas canoes are frequently built by amateurs, though seldom seen from boat-yards; the canvas canoe is, with suitable internal structure or frame, about the toughest for real rough work.
Carvel-built. A boat with flush, edge-to-edge planking.
Coaming or Combing.-A thin plank on its edge fastened around the "well" (q.v.), to prevent the water on deck from running below. Cock-pit. [See WELL.] Drip-cups. Leather cups set around the shaft of the paddle to catch the drippings from the blade.
Dug-out.-A boat consisting of a log with the interior dug-out or hollowed, the primitive form of the canoe.
Floor-boards. - [See BURDENS.]