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On 2 Sep 2004 00:18:03 GMT, (William R.
Watt) wrote:

In sailing terminology any double ender is a "canoe" hull. A sailing canoe
is just as much a sailboat as any other, and a much better performer than
some, like those dumpy New England catboats.

Harumph.

=============================

Harumph indeed. The first vessel I ever sailed (or sailed on) was a
13 ft aluminum canoe with a nicely constructed sailing rig, mahogany
leeboards and a rudder with control lines. To me, at age 13, it was
the finest boat in the world and whetted my appetite for bigger and
better things. I knew next to nothing about sailing when I started.
Common sense told me that it was impossible to sail into the wind so I
asked someone more experienced how it was done. He explained that you
could only sail at an angle to the wind and that the leeboards would
keep the canoe from sliding sideways. After pondering that for a few
seconds I asked how you go to where the wind was blowing from. The
reply was that you had to zig zag. That sort of made sense so off I
went with that as my only sailing lesson. It was great, and the canoe
and I had many adventures that summer on Lake Ontario.