Wednesday 19 June 2013

Picking up my 50/50 Sailing Canoe


I have just come back from meeting two wonderful people, Geoff and Jo who sold me Caleb, a 50/50 sailing canoe designed by Paul Fisher. They live in a beautiful part of the country just South West of Shrewsbury, so it was quite a drive from Somerset to get there but worth it.

Jo kindly provided lunch for me and we enjoyed a nice afternoon talking boaty things. As an aside Geoff and Jo used to own a Skipper 17 and Geoff ran this web site for Skipper enthusiasts.

This picture was taken today, as soon as I got home I couldn't resist doing a quick garden shuffle and rigging her up with one of the two sails that came with Caleb. I believe the lug sail shown has never been used on Caleb (I might be wrong)  I need to spend a little time sorting out the rigging for this sail but hopefully it won't be too onerous. I can't wait to get on the water!


2 comments:

  1. That looks like a mighty big sail - I imagine that it would normally be used with at least one reef unless in very light airs. I don't recall if the owner before me said he had tried it out, though he did say it was professionally designed and made for Caleb and cost him £250. As you know, I never sailed Caleb at all. I'll keep looking at your blog to see how you get on with her. Looks like some nice sailing weather might be coming soon. Best wishes. Geoff.

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  2. Hi Geoff,

    Good to hear from you :) I measured the sail the other day and it is 44 square feet. This is a bit of a magic number when it comes to canoe sail rigs as it is believed to be a good compromise size between having enough sail but not too much!

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