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Modified International Canoe.KA 1 BEYOND THE FRINGE.
Phillip Evans

Sliding seat and carriage removed. 16 kg.

Trapeze added.

Wings added. 16 kg. Low-tech construction of plywood, foam, glass, epoxy and small amounts of carbon and Kevlar. Could be made a lot lighter out of all carbon.

Maximum width with wings is approximately 2350. Full stretch on the wire is approximately equivalent to a comfortable sitting position on the seat.

The two wings have approximately 1.96 m sq area exposed outside the boat, Compared to a sliding seat at 500 mm wide, of about 1.6 m sq. An approximate volume of .0784 m3 and .120 m3 respectively. While the wings have a slightly larger surface area but they are of a narrower profile (40 mm) and lower volume than the seat.

Wings have a neutral lever.

Sliding seat has a 12 kg lever at 1050 mm from centerline, or 6 kg at 2100 mm from the centerline (end of seat).

Spinnaker.
22 sq m.
Two retrieval points.
Javelin pole section set up to maximum and configurations.
3 mm spinnaker halyard.
Straight pull up and pull down system.

This takes approximately five seconds with tiller clamped behind the knee of the windward leg. I found the pump up down system to have too much friction for me. A ratchet block on the spinnaker sheet. No cleats required.

Concave deck.
All the way through to the bow, allowing a sock that drains immediately any water that gets into it. Not that much gets in anyway, as there is very little nose-diving due to being able to trim the boat better fwd and aft.
Reduces weight and windage fwd.
Makes fitting spinnaker system easy.
This takes a little bit of water in the 8-12 knot range when the boat tends to stick to the water but disappears when the boat starts to plane hard and is not a problem in lighter airs.
This could be cut down heaps by running a 20mm rubbing strip, deflector, around the Sheer Line.

Transom hung rudder.
Makes boat less responsive to tiller movements and makes it harder to get rudder up.
Otherwise works well.

Sailing profile to date.

Upwind and downwind with spinnaker 4 -- 8 knots.
Stand up to sail.
Easily working in and out to full extent on the wings.
Occasionally swinging of the wire. Speed comparison down wind.
Slightly faster and deeper and then a 14 foot skiff and a 49er.

Upwind 8 -- 12 knots, gusty.
Trapezing is hard.
Constantly in and out over the edge of the wings.
Harder to work than a seat.
Looking for more power in the rig up to 15 knots.

Downwind with spinnaker 8 -- 12 knots.
Loose reaching.
Sitting at full extent of wing.
Boat easily controlled.

Upwind 15 -- 20 knots.
Very comfortable to sail the boat from the wire.
Able to trim on the boat for an after over waves and chop easily.

Need to adjust trapeze hook up and down for ease tackling and maximum leverage.

Tacking harder due to jib not self-sheeting with seat sliding through.

This could easily be overcoming with a self-taking jib.
Or the removal of the jib altogether and possibly a wing mast section with a bigger mainsail.

Tight Reaching, 2 sail 15 to 20 knots.
Full stretch on the trapeze at aft most position on the wings.
Full control, no nose-diving, able to work backwards and forwards on wings to catch waves and prevent nose-diving.

Loose reaching, 2 sail 15 -- 20 knots.
Windward foot on wing, after foot on gunwale, approximately 1 m from transom, extremely manageable, no nose-diving, not even likely.

Spinnaker reaching 15 to 20 knots.
Fully powered up.
Full stretch on the trapeze at aft most position on the wings. Body well braced with legs and trapeze wire, Trapeze ring adjusted to lowest setting for maximum leverage, extremely fast and manageable. Speed is barely slower and not quite as deep as a 49er straight lining. No nose-diving.

Loose reaching with spinnaker.
Sitting on back corner of wings. Slower but very safe.

Capsized.
The Hull float's slightly higher in the water due to the positive buoyancy effect of the wings, making it harder to get up onto the centerboard and the mast sink faster, but the wants to be there anyway?

I don't know if the wire and wings are any faster or slower over all as far as pure speed goes, but I do know that for me the usability is a lot better.

The boat is a lot easier to move around on and use, offers far more control in most conditions due to the fact that you are not restricted for and aft whilst on the wire, allowing you to trim the boat efficiently to gusts and lulls.

There is no fiddling around with the seat trim enabling full concentration on kite sets and drops and jibing. Trapezing hard is more efficient and sustainable then hiking hard. Also the body is more firmly braced to ride the wild beast.

The boat still feels and sails like an IC and is a hoot to sail.

They would also allow two lighter sailors to sail the boat together if the boom was slightly raised to allow the crew to travel underneath.

The benefits I can see of the sliding seat over the wings to me is that the seat is easier to work in the gusty 8 to 12 knot wind range. The leverage and power to weight ratio is slightly better. This changes with a heavier crew and a lighter boat.

There is less setup time involved on the land.

I have had many positive comments from non-canoe sailors of which many see the sliding seat as an obstacle.