CLYDE CANOE SAILS.
With the improvement in canoe design, sails for canoes have improved very much lately ; their use at first being auxiliary to the paddle, it is only within a few years that much attention has been paid to their utility for cruising and racing purposes, and consequently beating to windward.
On the Clyde the art of sails and their gear has not reached the perfection and complication as used by Nautilus and Pearl, but is, instead, of the simplest description possible.
Plate XLVI. gives a view of the Wren's sail plan, to the scale of }in. = lft., and in design of rig is simple and easily handled. The masts, main and mizen, are good strong yellow pine sticks, 1 fin. diameter at deck, square in the step, and tapering to lin. square at the foot ; diameter at masthead, tin. ; height above deck, 8ft. for main mast and 5ft. for mizen. The mizen mast is thus stouter in proportion to length than the main, and the advantage gained in having both masts alike at the step is evident, when the mizen mast and sail can be set forward instead of the main in almost any weather. To each sail (main and mizen) there are the following ropes—halyard, tack, and sheet; and, as both sails are rigged alike, the sketches Figs. 150 and 151 may do for each.
In Fig. 150, K is the halyard block at deck ; J, tack block at foot of mast ; M, mast ; D, deck ; E, eyebolt through which tack is passed to its cleat ; H, halyard ; B S, brass socket for mast, made watertight ; Beam, an extra strong beam athwartship at each mast, to strengthen deck. The tack block is made fast round the foot of the mast, close to the top of brass step socket, and the halyard block fastening is passed through a hole in the deck and beam on the fore starboard side of the mast, then the two ends of the lashing are tied under the beam round the mast step.
In Fig. 151 is shown the masthead gear, where B repre sents the brails, C, the tra veller, with hook, on which the strop E is hung with running eye round the yard ; T, halyard block ; H, hal yard ; M, mast. Braila are
seldom used on the Clyde canoes, the folds of the sail being usually gathered in as sail is lowered. Also few canoes are fitted with a downhaul, which, although not on the Wren, is of the greatest benefit when the sail requires to be lowered suddenly in heavy winds. The ropes are of woven linen. Woven cord is very suitable, as it does not un ravel, although some never use it, as it cannot be spliced. For a mainsail sheet a good length of lin. Manilla rope is very suitable, as it is not so thin as to cut the hands when holding it in in a strong breeze. The wizen sheet is rove through a block at the stern, thence along the deck to its cleat close to the well. Paget's patent rocking cleats are by far the best, as one hitch holds anything. Sails are made of stout linen material, in cloths from 10in. to 12in. wide, and if made by a sail maker all the better. At each corner are strengthening gores, of the same material as the sail. The leech is as usual the selvage, and the head, foot, and luff are corded, instead of being, as some sails are, bound with tape.
It must be remarked that centre-boards are but little used on the Clyde; perhaps the reason is that their increased weight makes hauling canoes above high water mark when cruising and camping a nuisance.
For cruising, the Wren has a special mainsail of 25 sq. ft., and the wizen is left at home.
When being raced, little or no ballast is carried in the Wren, except about 101b. of lead, placed well aft ; and as the well is extra wide at its after end, the canoeist is enabled to sit well to windward.