Years of Real World Testing Early tests of the MindFood Sail Canoe on a shakedown cruise on Crane Lake in Northern Minnesota, summer 1998. This sailing canoe uses windsurfing components for its boom, sail and mast. The windsurfing sail is mounted on a quick release aluminum frame that also supports lea boards. The lea boards were exchanged for a full dagger board trunk in a later design. The rudder kicks up so you can launch, or sail in shallow water. A totally new design is being developed that will be appropriate for a wide variety of canoes. The new sail brace and rudder bracket is constructed out of light weight composite materials. The design shown on this page went through six primary design revisions and each version was comprised of many minor design revisions. This test canoe was sold in the spring of 2003 to a family with a cabin on Lake Itaska, located in Northern Minnesota. An ideal home for this canoe. In the photo below notice the rudder in the kicked up position. The wooden stern brace that appears on one of the early models is no longer being used. The main sheet attachment point is on the back side of the dagger board trunk in this design. Notice also that the lea boards are gone in keeping with the addition of the dagger board. This photo was taken way up the North Arm of Rainy Lake in the Spring of 2001. We had to pack in enough water for 6 people for a one week stay at a Cabin we rented. We had a motor boat and the canoe was towed behind with many huge containers of water. This canoe tows very well because it has an underbody that is made for planing when you have a motor on the back. Towing the canoe at 25 mph with the dagger board down with a heavy load of water and gear was easy and predictable. I expected the canoe to sink in the big waves or capsize but it trailed along in a very uneventful manor. Adding a solid structure like a dagger board trunk to a flexible composite canoe body is in general practice, a bad idea. The main reason for this is that when you drag the canoe over a rock or tree the body of the canoe flexes but the inflexible dagger board trunk does not flex and causes a stress point in the body of the canoe. In the Discovery, I extended the flexible plywood base of the dagger board trunk forward and aft, port and starboard, to provide some spring and flex transition between the flexible canoe body and the inflexible dagger board trunk. Notice in the fore ground and in the stern, that this canoe has a fixed aluminum brace that runs fore and aft to provide additional rigidity to the body. The aluminum is plastic coated and attaches to the bottom of each seat in the stock factory configuration. The dagger board trunk ties into and replaces the stock aluminum tube where the dagger board trunk rests on the bottom of the canoe.

Sail reduction is accomplished, as in windsurfing, by changing to a smaller size sail. This sail is a 6.5 meter sail. The test canoe is an Old Town Discovery Sport, with a square stern. The Discovery Sport is available in 3 sizes, 13 feet 1 inch, 15 feet 3 inches and 17 feet 3 inches. Shown here is the 15 foot 3 inch version with a 6.5 meter windsurfing sail. The 15 foot 3 inch Discovery Sport has a capacity of 850 lbs. It sails well with two large people and has ample capacity for gear and supplies. It is well suited for extended trips but is too heavy to be easily portaged. Its just the right kind of wide body canoe to hang a big sail on and see what happens ;-) The square stern design of this canoe plus its weight give it poor paddle characteristics. There is a pronounced tendency for the stern to swing out and try to lead the bow when the canoe glides without being directed. The glide of this body is rated at poor. In highly gusty veering winds with gusts above 25 miles per hour this wide heavy canoe handles well. The mast support - lea board support employs state of the art aluminum welding. It will not fall apart or self-destruct even under the most demanding conditions. The aluminum frame concept proved itself to be too expensive to be a practical design. The entire sail-dagger board assembly takes less than 2 minutes to completely remove from the canoe. Upon removal, you have a Discovery Sport that can be paddled, rowed or can accommodate up to a 5 hp outboard or an electric trolling motor. With this sail canoe you have a fast, non-polluting sail boat with a long range and high payload capability. The Discovery Sport has a stable hull design with integral positive flotation and an under-body well suited for sailing. The Discovery Sport features a full keel for added directional stability. This sail canoe is a durable design that was used for a variety of test applications. Notice in the above head on photo, that both lea boards were in the down position at the same time. This created additional drag which was made worse by the fact that it was placed on a wide canoe body of relatively short length. This resulted in a lot of water being forced between the canoe body and the lea board blade. One of the benefits of this design is its silence. There are no flapping sails, clanks, or scrapes. The hull is insulated with an internal layer of closed cell foam that provides flotation but is also a good insulator from cold water and absorbs noise well. This is a quiet ride, perfect for bird watching, enjoying wildlife, fishing or long trips. The windsurfer sail is truly wonderful in light wind situations as every bit of wind is used with maximum efficiency. This canoe rig has been tested in winds up to 25 miles per hour using a 6.5 meter sail.

see rhine design for more information about Minnesota This page was revised on 6-7-2003