Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Gabagouache Sail Plan

Been racking my brain on what sail configuration to set up on Gabouache the 26' Voyager canoe we will be paddle sailing during the Tip of the Mitt next week.
.
Things were looking really good when I won a bid on e-bay for a 55sq ft spinnaker, it was a golden moment as it was simple easy to set and stow.
.
Disaster struck when the seller would not ship the item as they had not figured in their shipping cost appropriately. Paypal + ebay + foreign seller = no sail/sale.
.
So I have been going through the boat house looking at sails masts and other assorted items I have collected over the years; A drift in a garage of worn out tired gear.
.
I came up with something like this for Gabagouache; though I have never seen Gabagouache up close, let alone paddle or sailed her. We're going over early to sort through the gear and see if we can rig something up that wont dump us into the pond if the weather starts to build.
.
So I am bringing over a couple of masts, 5 different sails from PAS's, jibs, tarps and a Balogh traditional canoe sail. Duct tape chicken wire and a bit of luck we may get something pulled together before Monday.
.
It's tough when you don't have the canoe in front of you testing some of this out; what worries me the most is all the pictures I have of canoe sailing with square rigs or some other configuration like above in the photos is they are all under sail in pristine conditions; Lake Michigan likes to kick up it's heels and I don't need a rig to come crashing down.
.
This should be interesting; Watch the KCA Blog next week as I will try to up date while underway on Gabagouache.

1 comment:

sandy said...

Looks like you have given yourself plan A, B and C.... You got it!! Can't wait to see what You come up with!