Yakaboo

[Steven]

I am a kayaker...build and paddle them. I am now building a canoe sailer. This is a very difficult admission for me. Canoes are somehow second class in (my) kayak circle, a step above a raft but barely. My dignity is fragile.

I am sure that this boat I am building is in fact a sailing kayak...

I used to own a Klepper (kayak)...I equiped it with sails...it was great...but it was a better paddler than sailor (and a poor paddler at that). ...so hunted for new designs...very little that I could find that seemed fitting until I found a picture of the Yakaboo.
http://www.paddlin.com/fivelakes/frf.html
absolutely beautiful (no silicon implants either)....it was sailed by Frederik Fenger through the Carribean with subsequent book...no film yet.(1911?)
http://www.ambergriscaye.com/pages/mayan/appendix.html
Unfortunately Freddy misled his audience into thinking that he designed the boat....he never it was designed by Stevens
http://dragonflycanoe.com/stephens/
but I digress......it is a beauty but probably not a great paddler...so the hunt went on....and actually found a boat designed by Fenger in 1910...the Union Boat Club One Design

http://www.interlog.com/~timgitt/hist/dsc_m/union_boat_club_one_design.html

I have increased the length to just over 20ft (from 17), changed the deck, mast placement, rudder design. centerboard placement and design, as well as the front half of the hull. I have made the cockpit bigger and lower for paddling. In spite of all these changes I wish I could call the design my own
but it is Fenger's in essense.

I have just completed the hull and am now starting the deck. It is built with cedar strip (yellow and red cedar). Pictures will soon be available for those interested.

Does anyone know anything about this boat (Union Boat Club One Design)?
Does the "One Design" refer to a class of boat?

 

[Rob Stevens]

Mark Zalonis brought to my attention "Enchanted Vagabonds" by Dana Lamb. Originally published in 1938 (reprinted by The Long Rider's Guild Press), this book
recounts a 16,000 mile adventure in a 16ft. wood canvas vessel "a combination of sailboat, kyak (sic), surfboat and canoe" which the author built and sailed with is wife from Baja California to Central America. There are no line drawings but the book includes 48 photographs (and 13 maps). The design is decidedly beamy, with canoe-like ends, though it is decked.

 

[Dan Miller]

I have added the Union One-Design article from the June 25, 1910 issue of Forest & Stream that briefly discusses this canoe. Go to http://www.dragonflycanoe.com/d_canoes/index.html and click on the link to "Union One-Design". Several other good canoes are shown on these pages, and I have a huge backlog of more to add...

In boat racing, "one design" means all of the boats in the class are built to the same design, specifications and rig. The goal is to minimize the effect of the boat or rig on the race results, instead relying solo on the skill of the sailor to win the race. There are varying degrees of this, e.g. the hull may have to be identical, but sailors are allowed to tweak the rig, etc. Other classes are "developmental" in that they allow changes to the hull and/or rig, usually within some type of prescibed limits.

Cheers,
Dan

 

[Bill Whalen]

"Enchanted Vagabonds"

Mark Zalonis brought to my attention "Enchanted Vagabonds" by Dana Lamb. Originally published in 1938 (reprinted by The Long Rider's Guild Press), this book
recounts a 16,000 mile adventure in a 16ft. wood canvas vessel "a combination of sailboat, kyak (sic), surfboat and canoe" ... it is decked.

Great! Be sure to order this book through the AMAZON.COM link at the WCHA Virtual Bookstore! We'll reap a profit and keep this BBS going.

go to : http://virtualbooks.wcha.org/


Bill Whalen

 

[Steven]

Thanks Dan for the info!!!!
Great website (http://dragonflycanoe.com)
I had emailed the "union boat club" in Boston to see if they had any old boats left around....they had never even heard of it before.

I really like the idea of racing within set parameters (one design)...but perhaps it is not necessary to control the boats dimensions/style etc.......I would suggest a race that for the one leg the boat would sail and for the return it would be paddled. Let any size or design enter.
Any takers?
(time and place to be mutually agreed apon)
(suggest Broken Island Group west coast Vancouver Island)
Need a name for this "cup"