# New to sailing, hailing from Austin, Tx at the moment. Any open canoe sailors here?



## Wind&Water (Aug 4, 2011)

Great forum you guys have here, I've already picked up a lot of useful tidbits! First off, I am 47 yrs old & went aboard a sailboat for the very first time in my life, a 27' Catalina, 2 months ago. I was instantly hooked. I've owned powerboats in my time, and have been an avid canoeist and kayaker for some 30 years, I'd always seen all those ropes & rigging on sailboats and thought..."wow, what a pain in the _*_ that must be."

I can't afford a new toy right now, but my eye fell upon my 14' Rogue River canoe. After some Google-ing, I was surprised & pleased to find out that not only is it possible to sail a canoe, but at one time in our collective history it was a wildly popular pastime. And in some places, like the U.K., (my hat is off to you guys across the big pond) it still is.

I drug the canoe into the garage.

I picked up a daysailer boat from Craigslist with severe hull damage but good rigging for cheap, and the organ transplant surgery began. I'm happy to report that scarcely one week later, I was blissfully sailing across Lake Georgetown. Great fun, & the canoe is an awesome means of sailing a small craft AND bringing along all one's camping gear, folding chairs, cooler, and of course the now sailing dog... It's still a work in progress, hydrofoiled outriggers are next on the list, but I just don't have time to tinker with it now....too busy sailing! It has a 21' carbon fiber roller reefing mast, 62 sq ft sail, 2 leeboards (though I usually only have 1 in the water unless it's really windy) a spring loaded kick up rudder and PVC pipe outriggers.

I posted a video to youtube of it, you'll see what I mean about the need for the hydrofoiled outriggers lol : ‪Homemade Sailing Canoe‬‏ - YouTube

But, even at that, I've had her out 5 times now on full day long sailing adventures & one overnight camping trip in wildly varied wind conditions with no capsizes, and only swamped her once, when fully loaded with 2 people, gear, cooler & hit a powerboat wake wrong while heeled over. The PVC outriggers did their job amazingly well, she remained sitting upright patiently while we bailed her out & simply resumed sailing.

At any rate, just wanted to say Hi, and share my 'late start in life' addiction to sailing....hard to say where it's going to go from here!

Cheers........Steve


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## christyleigh (Dec 17, 2001)

Well....... I started late too....6 boats and about 26 years ago I did basically the same thing -



















Welcome.... and Enjoy


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## WanderingStar (Nov 12, 2008)

Amazing, isn't it?
I've been sailing since childhood. But a few years back I found myself boatless and bought a double paddle canoe (think undecked kayak) with a sailrig. It was late fall, so I took it to Fl and learned to sail it there. I have no outriggers, I use ballast. But I still have to be careful to keep her upright, and feather in fresh breezes. The first time I kept her upright in a fresh breeze with the sail full I cracked the hull. She was never built for the stress and only weighs 45 lbs. I have other boats now, but she's a great travel boat.
Welcome aboard. Love the pics.


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