"Yanie" wrote in message
m...
Someone recently mentioned to me the idea of a long river trip, and we
were debating different types of craft that we could use. Somehow I
became hooked on the idea of joining two canoes into a catamaran, as
in the linked diagram.
...
http://www.beowolf.org.uk/misc/sailing_canoe.png

Sure. This is a common lashup, and it can be used to run big 'unrunnable'
whitewater too. Wenger used it to run the Liard Grand Canyon in the 80s.

Hth,
Fred Klingener

Thanks for all the comments. If the talk ever comes to anything I'll
have some confidence in trying it out.

Yanie ) writes:
Thanks for all the comments. If the talk ever comes to anything I'll
have some confidence in trying it out.

Should mention something else. You can pull in the windward side of a
square sail until the wind splits, part going in front and part in back,
to get vacuum on the front of the sail and pressure on the back. More
power that way. Lotta people think a square sail only works with the wind
blowing directly on the backside. Not so. Pull the windward side in until
the edge is starts to curl back, then let it out just until the edge stops
curling.

Also, you look up at the sail a lot when sailing a canoe so a hat with a
brim and sunglasses are good to have, especially when the sun is sitting
just off to the side of the sail.

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