Tacking and Beating

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Tacking and Sailing on a Beat with Spring Creek

If beating a course windward didn't take so long it would be nothing more than great fun,
but it quickly turns into work and for those canoe sailors who are unskilled, it could sour
the whole experience. Sometimes I'm tempted to take down the sail and just paddle, but if
there's wind it always proves to be faster to sail. If the wind is too strong for the rig, it's too
strong to paddle in safely. I still wish beating was more pleasant.

Pointing into the wind at about a 45 degree angle is the best the Bear Creek Mirage with
Spring Creek sail can do. That's not a very high course and does mean a lot of sideways
travel. Even more has to be added to each leg because tacking this rig is so slow. In a
good wind you'll be set back quickly during that tacking scramble, and if the current is
working against you, well, it may be time to set up camp on shore and wait for better
weather.

Beating heels the boat over to a degree that may terrify canoeists who are accustomed to
overturning when the boat starts to lean. Spring Creek's outrigger system prevents that in
most cases -- I've never been able to overturn the boat so far. But, until you develop some
real skill, a good breeze will bury the lee outrigger underwater and really slow down the
boat. When you learn to run the boat properly, the outriggers seldom touch the waves and
you make good progress.

It's tacking that is the weakest point of this combination. When the time comes to turn
ninety degrees and cut the opposite course across the wind (that's called tacking), this
light rig turns into the wind and stops. There's no momentum to carry the boat through the
unpowered part of the turn, so everything stops working and most of the time you have to
use the tiller to oar the boat around.

In any case, whenever you tack you have to switch the tiller to the mount on the lee side of
the boat, or it won't sit deep enough in the water to control the course. If you're sailing with
only one keel board down because the wind is light, you have to lower the lee keel and
raise the windward keel as well as switching the tiller, and by the time you've done all this
and gotten back on course, you might be just about back where you started. It's
something that takes practice, and tuning the boat becomes an obsession. Everything that
catches air in a bad way gets stowed. Anything that makes the boat go faster gets done.

Keel Boards

Most canoes and kayaks have almost no keel
-- smooth hulls shaped for quick turns don't
grip. Without keel boards you'll be pushed
downwind even on a beat.

Tacking and Beating

Shifting sail from side to side quickly when
changing course on a beat (going upwind) is
what we call tacking. In a converted canoe we
also call it a clusterf---.

Jibing, Running and Reaching

The fast way to travel will also get you into
serious trouble without constant planning.

Setting a Course

Sailing is easy. Getting where you want to go
by sailing there isn't. Some tips for journeys
in small boats.

Sail Canoe Camping

Suggestions for safely enjoying the thousands
of miles of inland lakes and rivers in the U.S.