A personally fascinating piece of Western History is the rise and fall of the Decked Sailing Canoe. This section of the CCSA Website will explore the people, the society, and the craft behind this movement and the evolution of the decked sailing canoe into the contemporary IC.

"These canoes... There is nothing I know to equal it. There is the feeling of speed, and the clean rush of air, as the water rushes swiftly underneath you. There is also the joy of gliding low and swiftly over the water, the only sounds being the swish of your canoe through the water and the singing of the wind through your mast, rigging and sails. At sixty.. I still look back with a quickening pulse and tingling of the blood at the exciting moments on the end of a sliding seat in a lightweight canoe."

- Uffa Fox, Sailing Boats

Navigate CCSA Site Go to page: IC Life What's New Photos Where To Get A Boat In the archives so far: A collection of lines drawings for various decked sailing canoes A searchable database of excerpts from misc. historical publications Historical Photo Archive Uffa Fox "Winning the Canoe Championship of America", 1934 Uffa Fox "International Canoe Class" from Sail and Power, 1937 Uffa Fox "International Canoe Class - Flying Fish" from Racing, Cruising and Design, 1937 Uffa Fox "Craft I Have Owned and Sailed" from Thoughts on Yachts and Yachting, 1938 Uffa Fox "International Canoe Class" from Sailing Boats, 1959 "Canoeing under Sail" by Maurice D. Wilt, from E. Schoettle's Sailing Craft, 1928 Sailing Canoes: A Brief History. pub: American Canoe Association, mid 1930's. Gordon Douglas "1933 - The Year of the International Challenge Cup" from Sixty Years Behind the Mast, 1986 Gordon Douglas "We Challenge for the International Cup (1936)" from Sixty Years Behind the Mast, 1986 "The Modern Sailing Canoe: She Offers the Keenest Sailing Pleasures ..." by Irwin W. Tyson from Yachting, July 1949 "A Short Sketch of the Life and Work of W. F. Stevens." by F. H. Froling from Forest and Stream, June 1921 "A Canoe Cruise from New York to Sag Harbor, L.I." from Forest and Stream, June 6, 1903 "The Past and Future of American Canoeing: 1880 - 1900" from Forest and Stream, January 6, 1900 Excerpts of "Champion Canoes of Today" from Outing, 1897, detailing Gilbert-built "Mab" "... canoe sailing is the highest and most intelligent form of sailing, the most interesting and the most healthy branch of sailing and indeed any sport. ... Sailing a light canoe under a cloud of sail is the nearest approach by man to the controllable flight of a bird and the governable passage of the fish in the water, and all that can be legitimately introduced to perfect such action should indeed be welcomed." ... Warrington Baden-Powell, 1889 Elsewhere on the Internet: Canoe and Boatbuilding for Amateurs by W.P. Stephens, 9th Edition, 1903. Canoe Handling. by C. Bowyer Vaux, 1885. Canoes and Canoeing. by C. Bowyer Vaux, 1894. Practical Canoeing. by Tiphys, 1883. Canoe Cruising and Camping. by Perry D. Frazer, 1897. Building a Decked Sailing Canoe - an Article from 1915. The Canoe Aurora; a Cruise from the Adirondacks to the Gulf by Charles Neide Alone in the Caribbean. by Frederic A. Fenger. Replicating Canadian Ralph Britton's 16X30 "Tomahawk", Antique Boat Museum, Clayton, N.Y.