Sitting on the floor is Mark’s wooden canoe – built by a client on his first canoe building course, a robust looking Paul Fisher Prospector 15. Mark has rigged her with a Solway Dory 55sqft Bermudan canoe rig with the SD rudder and tiller system and his own leeboard. With flotation bags in place, the Prospector shows intent. Mark is a keen member of the Open Canoe Sailing Group who frequently meet on the nearby lakes like Coniston. He also shows me a racing sailing canoe, designed by Tyrone Currie, that he bought a year ago
“Fabulous fun to sail, very fast and easily driven, and exciting sitting out on the sliding seat!”
Mark uses a pair of gull winged floats with the canoe to minimise the chances of a capsize.
“For open water and sea, gull wing floats are a good idea as they just act as a safety feature to avoid a knock down.”
Mark is also a huge fan of the Solway Dory Bermudan rig over other canoe rigs, primarily because it can be very easily reefed by simply rotating the mast. This, Mark says, is critical in a sailing canoe on open water. Standing up and moving around is not usually an option so reefing has to be carried out as easily as possible and, given the narrow beam on a canoe, is, if anything, more important than on a dinghy.
Mark with client Mike (and Milly the dog), Mike built this beautiful cedar strip decked sea kayak with Mark on a 1:1 course "Both Mike and I are really pleased with the results"
Mark with his wife Kath, on Herbert's Island in the middle of Derwentwater - Mark and Kath choose a calm day and paddled the coracle together to speed their journey along!
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