Published by the Open Canoe Sailing Group

After a spot of lunch a much smaller band of participants opted for a sailing/paddling event. Rod set a much shorter triangular course with a paddling first leg from the beach, then a beat and a broad reach before repeating it all for a second lap. Thus canoe sails had to be set, derigged and reset during the race to reinforce the need for this operation to be doable on the water and under a bit of pressure - always an interesting exercise! And so it proved to be with Keith, this time solo, making best time on the first paddling leg; then making a right pig's ear of setting sail and drifting off downwind. His sailing performance wasn't up to

much on the first lap either, probably due to using a five-meter sail reefed down to comply with the sail area allowed. His second lap was better but he was still at the blunt end of the finishers. DaveM did well on this event showing his easy familiarity and well practiced routine at setting and dousing his sail on the water, as well as good sailing and paddling performance. MikeW fought manfully with the course and the demands of the event to finish fifth and last (but declared himself pleased with the achievement). Sorry the finish mark was retrieved before you completed the course, Mike!

Other Stuff At Bala (KeithM)

There were some members getting out in new boats for the first time. Both were new models from

Solway Dory; JimB taking delivery of his Shearwater from the Daves; TonyB also sported a new Shearwater, having handed custody of his trusty Lark to his twin brother, Terry; DaveS was sailing Solway Dory's new model called a Fulmar, which is fourteen and a half feet long and uses the same hull form as the Grey Owl that was built in wood for Renate. This version is in fibreglass and is decked, with the smaller cockpit - so perfect for adventuring solo. GavinM and SteveR were in their recently acquired Shearwaters and MikeW is still getting to grips with his newish-to-him Avocet.

On another part of the campsite there was a gathering of friends, all loosely connected with each other through being at college way back, including some of our own members, Ali and JohnH. They always have a gathering there at this time of year and a good handful of them have canoes, many with sails. Some were off-the-peg rigs from Solway Dory but several were home-developed and/or improvised for use on more paddling expeditions. We enjoyed seeing them and swapping stories; it's good to hear of people who just get out and go places with their sailing canoes.

Canoe Boys - Chapter 8a (Alastair Dunnett)

At the 2008 Winter Meet some material from the account of a canoe expedition from the 1930s was presented as it had been featured on Radio Scotland in an Outdoor Adventure strand. It was a journey made under both paddle and sail power and the story was also told in a book, a new edition of which has recently been published. PaulW was sufficiently intrigued by this to write to the publishers to gain permission for part of it to be reproduced in Gossip. Here is the first instalment: N.B. readers should remember the context of when this was first published (as 'Quest by Canoe') - 1950!

The modern kayak or decked canoe was first designed in the eighteen-sixties by an energetic Christian called John MacGregor. He adapted the design from the craft used for open-sea work by primitive peoples on the edge of the Arctic, clothed its framework with rigid planking instead of skins, worked tirelessly to devise

The sea wants to know,
Not the size of your ship,
Nor built with what art;
Nor how big is your crew,
Nor your plans for the trip,
But how big is your heart.

handy suits of sails, and called the craft Rob Roy after the most dashing member of his clan.

In a succession of Rob Roys, MacGregor canoed through most of the rivers and lakes and along most of the coasts of Europe, leaving excitement and an outbreak of canoe clubs in his wake. The books he published about his trips are still the wisest and the most adventurous of their kind. With the coming of the small powerboat, canoeing fell into a decline until the Rob Roy design was

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