Line #52 Main/ImprovisedSail


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13	[[quoteright:350: [[WesternAnimation/AroundTheWorldWithWillyFog https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/willy_fog_sail.png]]]]
14	[[caption-width-right:350:Row, row, row your boat...]]
15
16	->'''Mr. Conklin''': Let's try to get organized, shall we? Clear thinking is the ticket. Lacking an oar, we shall need to improvise a sail immediately. I shall need a large, white garment. Miss Brooks?
17	->'''Miss Brooks''': You won't get a stitch from me.
18	->'''Mr. Conklin''': Well, then, Boynton. I suggest we use your shirt as a sail.
19	->'''Miss Brooks''': [[LoveInterest Second the motion. And let's throw in his undershirt, too, sir. Ha. His shirt ought to do nicely.]]
20	-->-- ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'', "An American Tragedy"
21
22	You build a sailboat or raft and want to sail it on a pond, stream, or lake or ocean. But [[OhCrap uh oh!]] Your boat doesn't have a sail, what do you do?
23
24	The simplest thing you can do is use something as a makeshift sail, whether it be a your dress, pants or shirt. Sometimes everyone's clothes are sewn together to make a sail. Sometimes may even be made of improbable materials. But that doesn't matter in most cases. Either way, now that your boat has a sail, on with ye journey!
25
26	Essentially, this is a trope where a boat or raft of any kind is devoid of a regular sail before being given an unorthodox sail.
27
28	Can be a part of {{MacGyvering}}. May overlap with DesertedIsland.
29
30	Similar to this is: ImprovisedParachute.
31
32	----
33	!!Examples :
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35	[[foldercontrol]]
36
37	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
38	* In ''Anime/LupinIIIPart1'', after stealing a dozen classic paintings, Lupin and his gang sail away on a boat whose sail is made out of the sewn-up paintings themselves.
39	[[/folder]]
40
41	[[folder:Arts]]
42	* An early Gil Elvgren pinup ("Short on Sails") has a topless girl sitting on a raft with a bra flying from the mast.
43	[[/folder]]
44
45	[[folder:Comic Books]]
46	* One ''ComicBook/AdventureTime'' comic had Marceline the Vampire Queen serve as a sail on Princess Bubblegum's raft by assuming the form of a giant bat and clinging to the mast.
47	* The ''ComicBook/{{Viz}}'' character ''Felix and His Amazing Underpants'' often does this with... well, guess.
48	[[/folder]]
49
50	[[folder:Film -- Animation]]
51	* In ''Animation/CatCity'', Sgt. Lazy Dick makes one out of a leaf.
52	[[/folder]]
53
54	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
55	* In ''Film/CastAway'', Creator/TomHanks' character escapes the island after making a raft, the sail of which is the corner section of a port-a-john that washed up on shore. He had tried sailing out before, but the improvised sail gives him the extra power needed to make it past the waves breaking over the surrounding reef.
56	* In the film ''Film/ISailedToTahitiWithAnAllGirlCrew'' a rival boater sabotages the protagonist's sails, so the eponymous all-girl crew use their dresses to patch the sails. Now he's got a sail which looks like a cut-out chain of people out of folded paper.
57	* In ''Film/TheLastFlightOfNoahsArk'', two bands of survivors join forces to build a boat to get back to civilization. For propulsion, flags sewn together make a sail. This might not count because the boat isn't launched until after the sail is in place.
58	* In ''[[Film/Napoleon1927 Napoléon]]'' (1927), the [[UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte title character]] uses the ''Tricolore'' as a makeshift sail when fleeing his native UsefulNotes/{{Corsica}}.
59	* In the ''Series/GilligansIsland'' film, ''Rescue From Gilligan's Island'', the Howells donate many of their spare clothes to be used for sails. [[FridgeLogic The sets of clothing that only comprised part of the luggage they had taken with them on the ill-fated three-hour cruise.]]
60	* A plot device in the John Candy movie ''Film/SummerRental'', where a pair of his character's under shorts are used in lieu of a sail, while entering a sailing contest against another vacationing family.
61	[[/folder]]
62
63	[[folder:Literature]]
64	* Literature/HoratioHornblower and his crew must improvise sails and masts several times throughout the Hornblower Saga. Notable examples:
65	** ''Beat to Quarters'': During the first fight between Hornblower's frigate ''Lydia'' and the enemy ''Natividad'', both ships lose a mast and the associated sails to enemy fire. When darkness and bad weather force them to break off the battle, both crews must jury-rig their ships with replacement masts and sails before re-engaging the next day.
66	** ''Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies'': The packet ship carrying Hornblower and his wife back to England gets caught in a hurricane and is nearly sunk. With all the masts gone and the ship kept afloat only by her buoyant cargo, Hornblower and the remaining crew must improvise a mast and sails in order to reach land before they die of hunger and thirst.
67	[[/folder]]
68
69	[[folder:Music]]
70	* A Russian bard song "Blue Striped Pants" ("Little Boat"), sung to the tune of "Red River Valley", has the lyrical protagonist using the titular pants as a sail. It ends badly; wind carries the pants away and the protagonist is stranded on a boat, alone, with no means to steer and in his longjohns.
71	[[/folder]]
72
73	[[folder:Mythology]]
74	* In ''Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh'', Gilgamesh breaks the mechanism that powers the ferryman Urshanabi's boat, and is forced to gather sticks to make into an absurdly long pole to push against the bottom of the river of death. It turns out he miscalculated and they're one stick-length short, so they have to use the mast to make up the difference (since touching the water directly is fatal). Gilgamesh himself serves as the mast, standing with his arms extended, "wearing" the sail.
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Radio]]
78	* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': In "An American Tragedy", Miss Brooks, Mr. Boynton and Mr. Conklin are stranded on a rowboat in the middle of Crystal Lake. Mr. Conklin suggests using Mr. Boynton's shirt as a sail. Miss Brooks ups the ante:
79	-->'''Mr. Conklin:''' Let's try to get organized, shall we? Clear thinking is the ticket. Lacking an oar, we shall need to improvise a sail immediately. I shall need a large, white garment. Miss Brooks?\
80	'''Miss Brooks:''' You won't get a stitch from me.\
81	'''Mr. Conklin:''' Well, then, Boynton. I suggest we use your shirt as a sail.\
82	'''Miss Brooks:''' [[LoveInterest Second the motion. And let's throw in his undershirt, too, sir. Ha. His shirt ought to do nicely.]]
83	[[/folder]]
84
85	[[folder:Video Games]]
86	* ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPaperJam'': When a group of Toads needs to use a raft to sail back to the mainland, Paper Mario uses himself as the sail.
87	[[/folder]]
88
89	[[folder:Western Animation]]
90	* In ''WesternAnimation/AroundTheWorldWithWillyFog'', when Inspector Dix and Constable Bully are lost in the jungle, they build a raft and they make sails out of their jackets (pictured above).
91	* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' had Arnold and Gerald going out fishing. They took off their shirts to make the sail on their boat. Arnold provided both his blue overshirt and his red flannel undershirt.
92	* In ''WesternAnimation/LittlestPetShop2012'' "Littlest Pet Street," Blythe and her dad are stranded on a desert island because the Pet Jet has crashed and isn't airworthy. Blythe asks if it's ''seaworthy,'' and they wind up sailing it home, with a sail made of her dad's Bermuda shorts. Doubles as an odd ChekhovsGag, as he'd bought the shorts to wear on his staycation.
93	* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/MrBogus'' showed Bogus and Brattus sailing down the river in a raft, using Bogus's pants as a sail, with Bogus just standing in his GoofyPrintUnderwear.
94	* The ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' short "Salt Water Tabby" ends with Jerry sailing away on Tom's picnic basket and using Tom's bathing suit as the sail.
95	[[/folder]]
96
97	[[folder:Real Life]]
98	* TruthInTelevision: on rare occasions in RealLife, this can be a highly effective survival technique when lost at sea. [[http://www.navy.forces.gc.ca/cms/4/4-a_eng.asp?category=15&id=642 One such incident]] was logged by the HMCS ''Charlottetown'' on January 7, 2008.
99	* During World War 2, the US aircraft carrier ''Intrepid'' was hit by an enemy torpedo in her stern, rendering her rudder useless. Steering with the propellers wasn't good enough, so the crew of this 800-foot-long, 27,500-ton, state-of-the-art warship had to rig an enormous sail out of canvas scraps in order to steer her back to Pearl Harbor for repairs.
100	* In Real Life, even ''masts'' can be improvised, and this trope is known as '''jury rig'''. A skilled sailor can use ''any'' spars or oblong objects for jury rig and ''any'' suitable fabric (or even tarpaulins) for sails. (Needless to say, on an actual yacht, sails can be used on positions not originally intended to, such as storm jib for a jury-rigged mainsail.)
101	[[/folder]]

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