Hawaiian Fishing canoe with sail. Here it is, and considering that this is a first, I am quite content with. However I am still debating whether this sail is a balanced lug or gaff-sail. Maybe somebody can help me on this subject. I researched this sail for many hours in order to get a clearer picture about its rigging. This would have helped me to locate the type of sail the Hawaiian used in the last two and half centuries. But for sure it certainly was not something fancy, nor complicated considering the tools, materials and means available. What puzzled me most was whether the rope going up 4/5 length of the mast served to lower or raise the sail or simply to raise the yard in order to take the wind. I tend to believe that the yard was balancing on the mast by a simple system of goosenecks or boom iron and that there was no halyard so to speak off, but just a rope to control the yard. The boom, certainly, was attached and rotating on the mast with jaw and parral, something I tried to imitate on the model. The panels on the sail are made out of paper thin Cedar and lemon wood and bend with the help of a toppinglift. As for the hull on this model, it is carved out of some extremely curly Koa. The stand of this model has its own little history, which you can read about in the category “Woods of Hawaii” in this same blog.
