Yachts, Boats and Canoes (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1887 Excerpt: ...being regulated by the diameter of the tree, and as the diameter does not increase sufficiently in proportion to the height, an unusually long craft would be very crank in a seaway. This the savage would naturally try to obviate, and hence the outrigger, which has the effect of making the narrowest boat stable and stiff under sail. In ordinary weather the weight of the outrigger to windward would be enough to keep the canoe steady, and when the wind freshened what could be easier than to send a few hands out to sit on the outrigger to act as shifting ballast? A very remarkable instance of savage skill in this class of canoe is the flying canoe of the Windward Islands. These islands lie in such a position that there is always what is called a "soldier's wind" blowing between them, that is, a wind on the beam, allowing one long reach to be made with almost a certainty of fetching the desired port. Still, it is well in such a case to be as much to windward of your destination as possible, as one can always "bear up" and run down off the wind to the port, but it is not so easy if the craft by some means drops to leeward for it to work up to windward again. To meet this requirement the builders of the flying proa adopted a remarkably clever design. The leeward side of the canoe is left perfectly straight and flat, so as to oppose the greatest possible lateral resistance to the water and thus prevent leeway, while the windward side is shaped in the ordinary way. In fact, the canoe is something like a halfbreadth model; from the windward side project the outriggers, with a small canoe at their ends. When the canoe reaches its destination the mast which is amidships, raking forward, is raked towards the other end of the canoe, and the huge sail ...