Canoe Rig: The Essence and the Art: Sailpower for Antique and Traditional Canoes [Hardcover]

Todd Bradshaw (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2001

The artwork will get your attention, and the detailed descrptions will make this book a keeper. The author is a sailmaker by trade, and an inventor by heart.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Author/illustrator Todd Bradshaw was born in Waterloo, Iowa. He and his wife, Marite, make their home in Madison, Wisconsin, where Todd builds sails for a living under his shingle Addiction Sailmakers. Addiction was the name of his wooden Star-class sloop. She was rescued from oblivion, fully restored and then struck by lighten. For fun Todd rebuilds old boats, and designs new ones. His background in art and music, as well as having owned backpacking and canoeing businesses, are just some of the puzzle pieces that have converged to create this book.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Wooden Boat Publications (January 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0937822574
• ISBN-13: 978-0937822579
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 11.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #166,007 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #8 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Outdoor Recreation > Kayaking > Whitewater Kayaking

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a treat!, December 21, 2000

By 

Stephen C. Lansdowne (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Canoe Rig: The Essence and the Art: Sailpower for Antique and Traditional Canoes (Hardcover)

This new book is chock full of clear, colorful computer drawings of details of various sail rigs, written by a guy who obviously knows what he's talking about. For the small boat enthusiast it's a real treat. Bradshaw has chapters on spars, leeboards, sails, mast support, and rigging, with an appendix featuring measured plans for sails and leeboards. It's clear and informative, and very hard to put down!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Addition to the Library, January 2, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Canoe Rig: The Essence and the Art: Sailpower for Antique and Traditional Canoes (Hardcover)

Being single, I get to be my own Santa Claus. So this year Santa brought me " Canoe Rig, The Essence And The Art". Written and Illustrated by Todd E. Bradshaw. Although it looks more like a coffee Table book, the pages are filled with information. The illustrations are computer generated 3-D and are well detailed. There is also a lot of text explaining each type of sail. In the back of the book are scaled graphics to assist in making the sails. All in all an excellent book. I look forward to trying some of these sail configurations on my canoes.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple and elegant, June 3, 2005

By 

William F. Whalen "old curmudgeon" (Citrus County FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Canoe Rig: The Essence and the Art: Sailpower for Antique and Traditional Canoes (Hardcover)

CANOE RIG is three books in one. It is a book for people interested in books, it is a book about communicating information, and, it is a book for people who love canoes.

CANOE RIG is the book which any book lover will recognize as a "keeper." This book meets all the criteria for a classic: it has the size, the heft, and the shape - you want to share a comfortable chair with this book; it has the pedigree - the publisher, WoodenBoat, and the editor, Peter Spectre, have a reputation for perfection; and it was produced by an author whose devotion to the subject shows through on every page.

When I first opened CANOE RIG I turned each page as though the next illustration was going to pop-up from the page like some of those kids books. The pictures make you feel as though you are the first to discover the simple art of a canoe with a sail. You are drawn through this book - just like the way kids used to (perhaps still do) page through magazines and slap each picture and say "mine" -- you "want" every canoe you see, and you want to know more and more about those canoes. I found myself not just wanting to own the canoe, to sail the canoe, but I also wanted the canoe on a tee shirt, too!

As to the technical coverage of the book, Bradshaw has completely covered the world of canoe sailing. From the basics of wind to the complexities of spars, leeboards, sails, mast support, and rigging, and he included an appendix with measured drawings for sails and leeboards.

I contacted Bradshaw to ask him a question: had he ever read any of Edward Tufte's books on the visual display of information. I was disappointed to learn that he hadn't, for CANOE RIG is an excellent example of the principles proscribed by Tufte -- his books are the bibles of the information age. The illustration is truly worth thousands of words, and the words are straight, to the point and from the heart. Todd did relate that his formal schooling was in fine arts, sculpture in fact. Tufte raised the bar on illustration and information to the level of art - CANOE RIG met that mark.

As a book for lovers of canoes, CANOE RIG will become a classic. It will pose a dilemma for canoe sailors - should I use this book as a text, make notes in the margins, sketch in my own changes to some rigs - or should I keep it in its original condition, to savor on cold nights in the off season? It will also bring more canoeists into the sailing brotherhood - who can look at these simple, yet elegant, craft and not wish to own and sail one?

Simple and elegant are the two words which we strive to use whether we are building our canoeing skills or building our canoes. If it's a simple and elegant display by an accomplished freestyle paddler, we will stare in awe and admiration, because to make the difficult look simple and the precarious look elegant is an art. The sheer of a wood and canvas canoe will catch our eye - for it is simple and it is elegant - but we know that behind the simple is skill and struggle and tedium, and that behind the elegant is design for strength and worth and utility. Behind the simple and elegant CANOE RIG is a sculptor who has produced a work of art.