Change the sailor
In some situations a highly skilled sailor in an outrigger boat might swap with a less able sailor in a non outrigger boat.
Portage
An exposed headland may be best avoided by a portage rather than by being tackled under sail or by paddling.
Outboard Motors
Some sailors carry an outboard motor so that they can effectively tow themselves. While this approach has much merit, it should be remembered that it takes as much time, effort and skill to become proficient in the use of an outboard as it does to become proficient at sailing or paddling.
Mast Head Buoyancy (SteveR)
When I first joined the OCSG in the late '90s a few boats carried mast head buoyancy in order to speed recovery from a capsize. Use of this measure has declined over the last few years, and with the notable exception of Rod, no sailors in the group now use mast head buoyancy.
The reasons for the decline in the use of mast head buoyancy are multifactorial. New ways of thinking have led to some sailors adopting an approach to capsize recovery that involves the removal of the mast prior to righting the boat. Increased awareness of aerodynamics has encouraged others to shun the idea of adding extraneous windage to the mast. Perhaps most notably the increased rise (and rise) of the use of outriggers has made capsizes less common.
Despite the disadvantages of mast head buoyancy, I believe that it is a concept which is still worthy of consideration in a minority of cases. The first class of canoes where mast head buoyancy may be worthy of consideration consists of outrigger canoes that can still be capsized. Single outrigger canoes are particularly vulnerable to being capsized, and can be quite tricky to right following a complete inversion.
A further class of canoes where mast head buoyancy may be worth a second look is the fully decked canoe with bulkheads. These canoes are superior in every way. Gear can be carried in such a way that it does not create any problems in a capsize, and these boats do not need to be bailed after they are righted. The design does have one Achilles heel, however - as the canoes come up dry after a capsize, they float very high, and are consequently difficult to get back in to. This problem is particularly pronounced if the mast is left in place. Mini outriggers provide a solution to this problem, but some choose not to use them, and these sailors may encounter difficulties as a result.
The use of mast head buoyancy on fully decked canoes offers two opportunities. Firstly, the boat will be very quick to right after a failed attempt at re-entering the boat. Secondly it might be possible to climb back into the canoe and then right it, this being a less athletic task than climbing back into a dry boat with the rig up.
Most of my experience of mast head buoyancy comes not from canoe sailing but from dinghy sailing. The first wisdom we can extract from dinghy sailors' experience of mast head buoyancy is that it is not unreservedly a good thing. A catamaran floating on its side with mast head buoyancy offers considerable windage, and may well blow away from the crew if they do not keep a firm hold of it.
Further knowledge we can import from the mechanics of how best to add buoyancy to the mast head. High tech, and high cost, contraptions exist that use life jacket technology to inflate an airbag at the top of the mast in the event of a capsize. This technology may be worth considering for our canoes, but have not really caught on amongst dinghy sailors. A much more commonly seen alternative, particularly on high performance dinghies, is a large airbag attached in the manner of a pennant. The airbag streams out in the turbulent airflow to leeward of the sail. Holt manufacture airbags in a variety of sizes, some very small indeed, and one of these airbags placed inside a custom made nylon envelope might provide a very satisfactory solution. I do not believe that this approach will ever be adopted en masse, but it might be worthy of serious consideration for some canoes in some situations.
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