Published by the Open Canoe Sailing Group

Bala - Another Canoe Sailor's Gale (SteveR)

I suspect that I was not the only canoe sailor who experienced a feeling of disappointment as I lay in my tent early on Sunday morning, listening to the wind howling through the trees on the campsite at Bala. Wind this year has followed a pattern of feast or famine and the prospect of another abandoned race seemed likely. No sooner had we had decided to abandon the day's racing when, just slightly, the wind began to drop. A hasty rounding up of all potential competitors and the race got away in a Force 3.

The course started with a reach out of the bay to a turning mark clear of the shallows. Keith took an early lead in his newly

DaveT sporting his new homemade sail.

modified decked sailing canoe, but found the boat quite twitchy in the building wind and death rolled his way to a capsize by the mark. His boat was soon back upright, and with the help of its modified deck and self-bailer, he soon had it dry and regained his position with the leaders. The wind continued to build as we sailed down the lake to the leeward mark, and made for some exciting sailing as the fleet bunched together on the run, with DaveS and Wally just a little ahead.

As we rounded the leeward mark the outrigger canoes simply exploded on to the upwind section of the course, loving the breezy conditions and the rapidly building waves. Meanwhile all bets were off as DaveS lost his lead whilst he fumbled with an

New member Ian in 'Coot', his Petrel design canoe.

uncooperative outhaul. The fierce conditions soon split the fleet into three discrete groups. The outrigger canoes were having a pointing battle with the positions being determined simply by who could keep their boat sailing the flattest and therefore the closest to the wind.

The decked boats were sailing well in the strong winds with Keith leading them and in fact beating most of the outrigger boats to the windward mark. For the undecked boats the Force 5 wind and big waves represented survival conditions. Well done to everyone who made it home in an undecked boat!

MalcolmC sailing at Bala.

The reach across from the windward mark to the finish was exciting to say the least. After doing so well on the beat Keith lost his second place position on this leg, with Bernard's outrigger canoe proving to be at an advantage over Keith's monohull when reaching in such wild conditions.

I again found the new Solway Dory Osprey to be a fantastic boat in strong winds, enabling me to finish with a considerable lead. Sailing with Keith and Dave in their monohulls on the day before the race led me to believe however, that had the winds been lighter on the day of the race, then the race results might have told an entirely different story.

Canoe Sailing Gets An Airing In PBO (RoyB)

Over the past year or two many in the OCSG have said that we need to advertise ourselves more widely. In the past year we have had a letter in 'Watercraft', one-and-a-half articles in the BCU's 'Canoe Focus' and one in 'Canoeist'.

Now 'Practical Boat Owner' in its May 2003 issue has published a piece entitled 'Sailing Canoes' in which Colin Briden describes how he had a PBK15-type kayak built by TyroneC from a design by Paul Fisher. His rig consists of a 20 sq. ft. lateen sail ("enjoying something of a revival among members of the Open Canoe Sailing Group"...!) with a boom crutch very similar to that in John Bull's 'Sail your Canoe'. A daggerboard reduces leeway and a push-pull tiller moves the rudder. With a length of 15' 8" and beam of 26" 'Sandbagger', as the craft is called, has 35 lbs of lead ballast.

Colin Briden clearly enjoys the sea. He has sailed in Bridlington Bay and writes of "exhilarating sails, including an eight-mile run down the coast of Arran". He adds that "it is quite possible to sail her clean under, although she always comes up again". By now he believes 'Sandbagger' to be a seaworthy craft with "tremendous speed" on a broad reach and "surprisingly good" upwind performance. He enjoys the simplicity of his boat, which means he uses it much more than he would a dinghy.

Our website is quoted at the end of the article. Whilst much of the article is reminiscent of OCSG developments 10 years ago, it is refreshing to hear of someone gaining such satisfaction.

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