Published by the Open Canoe Sailing Group

Canoe Sailing In Finland (RoyB)

The editor has received news from Finland. It seems that canoe sailors there use the facilities of canoe and sailing clubs to organise training and regattas. They were thus able to put on a weekly evening canoe school during the summer months with on average 6-12 participants. Naturally this puts their sailing on a quite different footing from our nomadic system. Racing plays an important part, including a 'day-touring contest' on the sea accompanied by a rescue boat. I imagine that a rescue boat features at the sailing clubs too. Canoes are divided into classes, this year ACA and a loosely defined 'touring class'. They expect to have more classes next year. Their national championship took place in August this year and is open to foreigners.

As well as the ACA class they describe the reintroduction of the old Swedish IIIC class with 7.5 sq. m. of sail, now in GRP, which sails well at sea. Outriggers are also mentioned, as well as a trimaran under construction.

An important driving force behind all this activity seems to be the new chairman of the canoe sailing branch of the Finnish canoe federation, Risto Lehtinen, whose name has already been mentioned in GOSSIP. He has already won 30 medals in canoeing, including sprint racing, canoe polo and

marathon.

More information can be found on the following web-sites:

Finnish Canoe Federation;
Finnish-language canoe sailing (Yahoo group discussion forum);
Uutiset;
Kuvagalleria.

These last two sites have results and pictures from the championships at Lahti; probably text is in Finnish and Swedish.

One photo from Finland.

Sail Harmony (RoyB)

Never one to neglect new developments in aerodynamic technology, I would draw readers' attention to a recent article by Ian Sample in 'The Guardian':

Aeroplane wings work better if they hum gently, according to aircraft engineer Ian Salmon of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, who found that pumping sound waves over a plane's wings made air flow across them more efficiently, producing up to 22% more lift.

Flexible plastic panels that vibrate to make sound at the flick of a switch were built into wing surfaces. Pure tones produced the best results, but Mr Salmon also tested the effects of playing music.

"While I've not tested a large selection of music, I can say that Spiderbait is more effective than Radiohead", he said.

Plastic panels aside, I have undertaken some preliminary research in the privacy of my bathroom. Rod Stewart's 'I Am Sailing' was an obvious candidate, but seemed to lack driving power, as did Debussy's 'La Mer'. Handel's 'Water Music', intended to accompany rowing, lacked continuous flow. First results suggest Mendelssohn's atmospheric, swelling 'Fingal's Cave' might be best played during the rigours of an OCSG race, whereas the lusty airs of Gilbert & Sullivan's 'HMS Pinafore' (all 2 hours of it) should accompany a cruise.

I look forward to members' alternative suggestions and a waterproof CD player at future meets. Indeed, we could assemble a compilation of tunes to be sold to ClassicFM as 'Sailors' Sunday Songs' and do away with the subscription fee altogether.

Birch Bark (EddieP)

Recently, on holiday in Nova Scotia, Canada, Ellie and I had a most memorable afternoon's experience with two Mic'Maq native Canadians in two of the first birchbark canoes built by the nation for some time.

We had visited the Bear River reservation on the west side of the province due to it having a brand new visitor centre-cum-community centre. A very high quality display illustrated every aspect of this tribe which lived formerly as salmon fishermen, on the lower reaches of rivers and the sea shores.

A birchbark canoe was on display, and so a conversation ensued a la technique shown in the recent Ray Mears' documentary. Seeing our interest (the first canoe had split quite badly in the heat of the building), we were offered a short paddle that afternoon in two canoes with our hosts on their local

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