International 10 Sq.m. Sailing Canoe
For over one hundred years racing sailing canoes has fascinated, exasperated, intrigued and even infuriated some of the world’s great sailors. The voyage includes the earliest known recorded planing boats, the second longest standing international sailing event, and the ability to go upwind like a stiletto through butter.
The key features of the Canoe are its relatively small but highly efficient rig, its long, slim and lightweight hull, and of course the sliding seat.
How do you sum up the appeal of the International 10 Square Metre Sailing Canoe in four short paragraphs? "The dry fly of sailing"? (Uffa Fox) "one of the most interesting things that God let man make"? ( L Francis Herreshof) "Oh [deleted]!"? (nearly everyone who’s ever sailed one)?
For well in excess of one hundred years racing sailing canoes has fascinated, exasperated, intrigued and even infuriated some of the world’s great sailors. Along the way decked canoes have provided the earliest known recorded planing boats, the second longest standing international sailing event, an enormous amount of idiosyncratic fun and the ability to go upwind like a stiletto through butter. Sailors who become smitten with the class’ unique challenge often stay sailing them for decades.
The key features of the Canoe are its relatively small but highly efficient rig, its long, slim and lightweight hull, and of course that sliding seat. The "plank" is key to the experience. There’s something very unique about sailing your boat from your perch some feet from the windward side, and while all is going well its a surprisingly relaxing experience. Physically its generally less demanding than a trapeze or wings, but it does bring some extra handling challenges.
No boat can be all things to all men, and its pointless to pretend that this is a mass market boat. But then Château d’Yquem is not a mass market wine, and a pre war blown Bentley is not a mass market car. Some special things are, well, just special, and, unlike the wine or the car, this one isn’t unreasonably expensive...
Latest Forum Posts
NYCC contact / Historic Canoe
From jimc, Tue Jun 28, 2022 5:32 am
Dear all, I've had a message from an organisation that says they have "come into possession of what is purported to be Lou Whtman's 'Manana' with which he returned the Challenge Cup to NYCC in 1952. we wish to find out if the NYCC has any interest in it but have been unable to find contact info for them." Can any of you help? And presumably it would do no harm to list any other organisations that might have an interest.
Cheers, Jim C
Random Pages
New York Canoe Club International Challenge Cup 1993 (28 Apr 2021)
San Francisco, USA
After a very windy World Championships in San Francisco the New York Canoe Club International Cup was held on the ... continue reading...
Sailing Canoes: A Brief History (20 Dec 2019)
International Canoe Europa Cup 2013 (28 Apr 2021)
Loch Lomond SC
Loch Lomond SC is the successor in kind and premises to the Clyde Canoe Club. ... continue reading...
Canoe Yawl - Martin (20 Dec 2019)
Canoe Yawl - Martin
Date: 1890 circa
Designer: designer unrecorded
This is a 22ft ... continue reading...
- THE MODERN SAILING CANOE - Irwin W. TysonTHE MODERN SAILING CANOEThe Modern Sailing CanoeShe Offers the Keenest Sailing Pleasures to Yachtsmen WithAcrobatic Agility and a Sensitive TouchBy Irwin W. TysonOriginally printed in "Yachting", July 1949Imagine, if you can, a 17-foot boat that will sail at 16 knots andone that you can watch from a distance of five feet while you sailher. Imagine yourself taking a full capsize, getting your boat upagain and under full way in just 30 seconds without a drop of waterin her bilge. And, if you are interested in design, imagine a boat of450 pounds displacement putting a 900-pound stress on her weathershroud - a boat whose center of gravity may sometimes be a good twofeet outboard of her weather rail!Had you visited City Island last Labor Day weekend you would haveseen a dozen such craft - decked sailing canoes we call them -competing for the National Championship of the American CanoeAssociation. Just two weeks earlier, many of this same group were 300miles north, in the Thousand Islands, sailing a series for the CanoeAssociation's Challenge Trophy, which has been in continuouscompetition since 1886. Meanwhile, in England, two American canoeswere seeking to wrest from the British the 63 year old New York CanoeClub International Challenge Cup which Uffa Fox and Roger DeQuinceycaptured in 1933 for the Royal Canoe Club. For the sailing of deckedcanoes is a sport of international as well as national traditions.To understand just what a decked sailing canoe is, and why it isdistinctively different from all other types of craft, one must goback to 1892 and a man named Paul Butler, for it was this one geniuswho introduced all four of the 'gimmicks' that really define thetype.Prior to Butler's time, sailing canoes actually looked much likecanoes, 15 or 16 feet long, half-decked, with modest rigs, usuallyconsisting of batswing main and mizzen. Butler, seeking to overcomethe disadvantage of his scant 110-pound weight, devised first thethwartships sliding seat to give that weight greater leverage, thenthe thwartships crosshead tiller so he could steer while out on theend of his seat, and next the automatic cleat to tend his sheetsuntil he came in. By this time he had such a fast outfit thatprudence dictated a self-bailing cockpit to keep the seas out of her.During the ensuing half century rigs have changed, rules have beenrewritten and hull forms altered, but Butler's four innovations, thehiking seat, the crosshead tiller, automatic cleat, and self-bailingcockpit are to this day the distinguishing features of the deckedcanoe. Together they form the combination that accounts for thesensational speed of these boats. Their value can be gauged by thefact that our conservative British cousins have adopted all but thecrosshead tiller in less than 60 years! Which would be a much betterjoke if they had (20 Dec 2019)
- New York Canoe Club International Challenge Cup 1999 (28 Apr 2021)
- Sailing Canoes: A Brief History (20 Dec 2019)
- International Canoe World Championships, August 2017 (28 Apr 2021)
- Our Cruiser (20 Dec 2019)