Less is More.... or Less; Anyway, It Beats Paddling!

At the start of this Tillerman Tempest , whereupon reams of internet verbiage has been spilled on sailing minimalism, I put a teaser out there on my Boy Scout adventure.

It was the annual Troop 855 summer trip, a canoeing trip in the 1960's on Moosehead Lake, Maine. The memory is a little hazy but it was 5 or 6 days, with the first three days island hopping directly in the face of an unrelenting 15-20 knot wind. It was grueling; three boy teams per canoe and no one wanting to be a member of the slacker canoes bringing up the rear. Constant paddling. And at end of the day, the water was so cold that only the one well padded member of the Troop could swim for more than 30 seconds.

When we finally turned around to head back and the stiff winds were now behind, it didn't take long for me to hoist my poncho on a paddle lashed to the middle spreader. Aaah!, our stroke rate was now cut in half, we could relax and take the day in. At our first rest stop we were busily converting two canoes into a catamaran with a double poncho rig when the Scout Master put his foot down. Too dangerous he said and with that we were back to paddling.

Lashing something together on a canoe to catch the wind is not original, I seem to remember that Lewis and Clark expedition did it..... I'm sure the French Voyageurs did it. It is probably the minimum you can get away with and still say you are sailing. Lets go to YouTube where this fellow has added a yardarm. Also, the freeboard up front seems to be pushing it. I don't think I would have this rig up in any more breeze.......