How to Rig The Wharram Melanesia 16 Sailing Canoe

How to rig a homemade crabclaw sail on a Melanesia 16 sailing canoe. My rig was made from a couple of small willow trunks and a cut down spinnaker as per James Wharram’s plans. I did a few modifications such as add some mahogany cleats and a small spreader setup. I sailed this boat extensively in the summer of 2023 and it is a fine vessel. The rudderless steering was easier than I expected to get accustomed to. The flexible booms enable a sort of “auto-reefing“ in winds grater than 15-20 kts. The canoe is not a proa and sails like a trimaran on one tack and a catamaran on the other. Here are the plans for the boat: