I remember my first boating experience. Now please remember, for me boating was this new fangdangled thing. I live in manitoba, we have a number of lakes of various sizes, rivers, and many "creeks" usually called rivers anyways.

So there I was young about ten, my hips had widened and annoyed the heck out of my mother. Up top I was straight as an arrow with shoulders that did not widen to match my hips, another annoyance to my poor mother.

I was put into a life jacket for a drill, I was casually tossed out of the boat near shore. It was either by my uncle, whose boat it was, or my dad I don't remember which. Well due to my rather usual body the life jacket floated just fine but I had my arms up so the life jacket stayed up and i went down to bottom really quick. Thankfully I could swim as I did grow up with a shallow 3 foot then 4 foot pool.

Since that was the smallest life jacket available and as evidenced it didn't work for me I just went without. Back in those days anyone could operate a boat and life jackets were not required.

I thought of it as a grand adventure going out in this aluminum boat, I believe it was a fourteen footer Lund But I could be wrong. Grandpa had the sixteen. Not much we did some fishing, again at the time licenses for fishing was not needed. The lakes were clear with no slime, and very little reeds.

Unfortunately that same lake now has a fair amount of slime and lots of reeds. Such a pity. The cave system, which was a natural system, between lakes was neat. Now those same caves have been reinforced and cleared for deeper boats. One or two exist as they used to but have been blocked with rocks to prevent people from navigating them as some channels have been cut instead elsewhere.

The slime on our lakes is from 2 cycle motorboat exhaust as well as some excessive sewage, be it from people with old cabins, or just hanging overboard. Some of the lakes now have limits on motor boats. 4 cycle engines. Others have no motor boats, except the marshal who has an electric.

I bring this up as last summer my friend(or as dorothy keeps insisting boyfriend) took me out sailing....in a canoe. One that had been left to rot after being busted. Fiberglass canoe. He patched up the hull somewhat and we tested it in creek behind his house. It leaked but not that bad. We patched that up went out and it didnt leak.

Went to another larger river and tested it again...found a leak and once again I got wet. Simon was in his kayak, with sail rig. I was in canoe with a board wedged in bow and a cheap portable hammock as a makeshift sail. Had fun, got wet. No dipping overboard.

We did more repairs including the overlooked hole near the top side that let in water in river. The keel is bad being either a wood one or a steel, both long rotten and gone so the bottom of boat tends to bow upwards in middle. I fashioned a piece of cedar with a hole in it partway for a makeshift mast pole mount and fiberglassed that to bottom of canoe.

It's not marine fiberglass just regular stuff. It might last dunno seems fine so far. We also made up a sail, called a spirit sail, from some Tyvek housewrap. Simon had made up some rudder and leeboards before he bought his sailing rig for his kayak. We tied them on to the canoe and went on the river two more times. Figured out one or two improvements, then went to a much much bigger lake and had fun sailing for four or five hours non stop.

Well I found out that at 3 or 4 knots the bottom of the canoe vibrated like crasy, having sail turn itself around while in middle of lake is NOT a good idea as the line would not pull itself free against the wind, and the leeboards were rather useless being made of wood that wouldn't stay down for long.

Trying to paddle with a boom in your face since neither the sail or boom could be turned down didn't help. Still it was fun but sailing in a canoe that isnt really good with a makeshift sail, rudder, and leeboard setup isn't the best.

But it was fun and took my mind off my recent passed father.

It's currently winter in Manitoba so I have been working on my own sailing canoe design. I have emailed a few people for information on sails and/or sail design. For the first sail I don't want to spend a ton of money on a specially made sail for the simple reason I may have to change it. After all low hanging trees while sailing are a big problem for most of the sailing I will probably do in the future.

Ive looked at tons of designs available. Unfortantly most of them are either very heavy, require plywood which is very expensive and not available locally, or just plain won't work for me.

Ive learned a few things. One leeboards and canoes don't mix. Centerboards/daggerboards are a better idea. Two I will need a mast and boom setup that is easy to remove and take down. Also short, which means I will have to use a second sail, called a jibe, in front of it. Tie downs, called stays, for ropes. Eight ropes and a canoe paddle make a very nice tangled mess. A better rudder system that can be pulled out is also a good idea. The dagger board will have to be wide, or long, but short as well.

So far I'm leaning to a strip canoe hull, made out of easily available spruce. Since this is mainly a prototype good grade cedar for something I may modify seems a waste at this time. Since the hull is covered with epoxy anyways the wood doesnt matter that much. Just have to eliminate as many knots as I can.

Still working out the details of how to build it, such as what I am going to need for support under the decks that are fore and aft with compartments. A keel will be built probably with an aluminum wear strip on it. Not much of keel but enough to keep bottom of boat in the right bow shape!

Keeps my mind busy, and more importantly off of my loss which still hurts far too much.