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The Viola plywood Sailing Canoe plan has the characteristics of a performance sailing dinghy with the portability of a wooden canoe. We also have a great video. 75lb/34kg hull
Read Below for more Information or see our long list of articles about the Viola Sailing Canoe
Kits For Viola 14 Canoe
Europe – Viola 14 Sailing Canoe Precut Plywood and Timber Kits
Americas –Viola 14 Saling Canoe Precut Plywood and Timber Kits
The simplicity and light weight of a sailing canoe with the hullshape and stability of a good sailing dinghy. Viola is 14ft (4.3m) long and 40 inches wide for stability.
The hull comes out at a very rooftopable 34kg or 75lbs. Just a little heavier than an RS Aero and around half the weight of a Laser.
Note how the nose lifts nicely without the crew having to move aft.
Why a Sailing Canoe?
Our different sailing canoes have different mixes of sailing and paddling ability. Some use existing canoes and add the sailing function.
For an overview see our page about practical choices about performance, handling and advantages and disadvantages of different sailing canoe concepts.
Link – Four Sailing Canoes in Plywood and One Outrigger Canoe
Regatta and RAID Event performance
The Viola 14 Sailing Canoe has blitzed some long distance events 11th of 150 entrants.
11th out of 150 in major Netherlands Event
1 hour ahead of next boat in RAID event
More Videos below
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Joost’s Experience building and using the Viola for two years – Paddling, Camping, Sailing, RAID and distance events.
Part 1
Part 2
The simplicity and light weight of a sailing canoe with the hullshape and stability of a good sailing dinghy. Viola is 14ft (4.3m) long and 40 inches wide for stability.
The hull comes out at a very rooftopable 34kg or 75lbs. Just a little heavier than an RS Aero and around half the weight of a Laser.
The main market is the same as the RS Aero – people who want a fun dinghy with good manners, good performance and easy enough to get onto the water singlehanded.
Similar to our BETH Sailing Canoe which has modern performance even though it is has a traditional Yawl Rig. but the aim with Viola was for a cool minimal mainstream boat.
Simple plywood construction for the Viola Sailing Canoe
Everything that could be stripped out of the Sailing Canoe hull was – on paper and we resisted temptation to add more as we went. Very much the process with the now well known Goat Island Skiff. Nothing to remove, nothing to go wrong. A minimal light boat is often the fastest.
This lovely prototype of the Viola sailing canoe plan has been trialled by Joost Engelen and Viola Spek over the last two years.
It is built from four sheets of 4mm plywood. We recommend using gaboon to keep the weight down as far as possible to augment the portability.
Plans and Kits for Viola 14 Sailing Canoe
Most boats are built direct from the plans available from our Agents.
Kits are available in Europe and the Americas
UK and Europe – Viola 14 Sailing Canoe Precut Plywood and Timber Kits
Americas –Viola 14 Saling Canoe Precut Plywood and Timber Kits
First Sailing of the Viola 14 Sailing Canoe – 4.7sq m sail option
This is one of their first videos after building the Viola.
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Viola, Joost’s wife was a dinghy racer when young but has had a long break from competitive racing (apart from RAID events and fun sailing on the family Goat Island Skiff). She really likes how this boat handles and from the start, she has felt very confident to go out sailing in it. She has capsized the boat a few times and finds the recovery easy enough. In her own words, after the first sail,
What a fun and easy boat to sail!
Viola Spek after a 8 year gap from solo sailing
Spars in the Viola sailing canoe plan are simple cheap aluminium tubes to keep the cost down.
Video Two More Viola sailing canoes together in Hungary
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Viola Sailing Canoe Rig Option 2 – Bigger Laminate Sail 6sq m
Back to the Netherlands:
Joost felt the boat was quick but perhaps too easy to sail for his body weight so we developed a bigger rig as an option. It uses the same bottom mast section as the smaller rig so gooseneck, vang and other expensive systems don’t need to be purchased twice.
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RAIDing in the Netherlands with the 6.3sq m balance lug on the Viola.
The surprise was to find an open sailing canoe that is more than capable in strong winds in a RAID format. This was with a larger balance lug. The balanced lug (a speciality of ours) allows more sail on the sailing dinghy/canoe with less heeling moment and dropping the rig is possible for going under bridges in the Netherlands or reefing for stronger winds.
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Photos from the Dorestad RAID
Strong wind and rough water performance of the Viola Sailing Canoe in the Dorestad RAID – canoe vs sailing dinghy.
In last year’s Dorestad RAID event it blew strong on a couple of days. The Viola Sailing Canoe was out sailing when some of the other boats were deciding to continue or not.
When the speed comes on the bow lifts just a bit without the crew needing to move aft – a common setup in the best sailing dinghies.
Passed the 2 boats that were still in front of me and reached the lock we had to go through to find the first boat. The smallest 3 boats made it there first (2 twelve foot class boats and the Viola 14 canoe – not sure what that means though!).
Then some gentler sailing on some canals with one bridge to pass under the second reef (3.7m2). One reef would also have been manageable here. Then onto a lake with a horrible 50cm chop with strong winds (Bft. 5 maybe, reefed sail was just okay).
Deep reefed on one of the strong wind days. The yard and boom for the balance lug sail were recycled from a carbon windsurfer mast bought new. It was cut to get the right bend requirement for the canoe yard.
By far the smallest boat in the fleet, but one of the most capable.
Hull dynamics stop the bow of the sailing canoe from getting into trouble.
I was quite surprised at how nice it looks, but you can see from the videos how power builds and there is pressure on the boat the bow rises nicely keeping out of trouble. That was part of the thinking that we have worked on over the years and it is a substantive part of the process of developing the lines of this specific sailing canoe plan.
And it worked great here!
The Viola Sailing Canoe has good performance in light winds too
On the final light wind day
The third day was most enjoyable from a sailing perspective, tacking up some canals in a perfect constant upper Bft. 3 under full sail.
Started in last position but was well ahead of the fleet at the lunch stop. On the way back the boat sailed away from all other boats easily.
The last day there was very little wind. Here the low drag hull has an advantage even though it has a lot less sail area in comparison to the other boats.
Sailing on the Sea and Capsize with the Viola Sailing Canoe – the sailing dinghy stability pays off in another way
Floating the Viola has enough stability to allow Joost to stand up to raise and lower the sail and mast with no trouble.
Joost has sailed it on the sea in rough conditions a couple of times. He recommends a self-bailer for such conditions but finds steering, balance and predictability good.
Righting from capsize is easy for either Joost or Viola. The trick is not to rush the boat. The harder you press down on the centreboard, the more water will be inside the boat when it is up again.
Gentle raising keeps the water down to a bucket worth and boat has good stability and can sail with no problem.
Good Sailing Dinghy Performance with Sailing Canoe ease of handling off the water.
Joost’s articles are here –
Viola 14– Part One
Viola 14 – Part Two
Kits For Viola 14 Canoe
Europe – Viola 14 Sailing Canoe Precut Plywood and Timber Kits
Americas –Viola 14 Saling Canoe Precut Plywood and Timber Kits
Several Canoes? Then you need a triple storage rack to build yourself
