Just sit back, relax and enjoy a few videos of sailing canoes. The first is a simple treat for the eyes and ears. I love these small boats and I love this classic accordion music. The second is a commentary by the designer of the Artemis sailing canoe, Axel Schmid. I find his English almost as soothing as the accordion music. He gives a wonderful brief history of the sailing canoe and a fascinating description of the design process leading to his Artemis. Lastly, allow me to present the work of John Floutier, a British builder who has recreated the classic Rushton Princess, a sailing canoe from the 1880s. He built this from plans drawn up from an original Rushton Princess in the Adirondack Museum. The Rushton Princess is a wooden craft of exquisite beauty. And as Axel says in his video, “There is no excuse to build an ugly boat.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNx3e86e6nI&t=89s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUFDYPijiOo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-TNI19FkOg
All those sailing canoes are a far cry from my current Pungo 120 plastic kayak with my homemade sailing rig. But my kayak is comfortable, stable and sails surprisingly well. I have a decent sprayskirt so I can handle a rough Chesapeake Bay. Still, I’d like to upgrade. I have the plans for Ian Oughtred’s MacGregor sailing canoe and have been studying them for years. Maybe it’s time.
TTG
We just returned home from the Port Townsend, WA Wooden Boat Show. You would love it! Three days of walking the docks, talking to owners and being invited to see some very fabulous “fancy” wooden boats as well as many small sailing vessels fitted out with oars rather than a motor or engine. A good time for anyone who loves “messing around in boats.”
Laura,
Some* pics: https://woodenboat.org/boats/
*like 150 or so…
Mark Logan,
That’s a nice compilation. Thanks
Laura Wilson,
I’ve often read about that show, but have never been. There’s another wooden boat show at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut that i read about every year, but I’ve never been to that one either.
While down at Camp Peary, I spent a lot of time at the Mariners Museum in Newport News among their small boat collection. It was an auditorium-size building chock full of wooden boats. I thoroughly enjoyed that.
TTG,
That canoe is definitely the cats meow. Especially when you bring the fish aboard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LybidL4FRaY
Fred,
I see those are Lake Ontario catfish. Way bigger than what I was familiar with further inland. We called them bullheads and were never thrilled with hooking them. Around here, I never did any fishing from my kayak. I was thinking about going after our snakeheads, but they fight like tuna until you bash their heads in. Good way to capsize in a kayak, but it’s been done.
Hornpout we called them in northern New England. Small but tasty with eggs for breakfast after fishing for them with cane pole all night.
TTG,
I’ve been watching the snook and tarpon take that baitfish off my dock these last 3 mornings. Full moon last night too. Fine thing at 4am when the dog decides he needs to go out.