origami sailboat

Origami sailboat

Here are the instructions, with origami diagrams in ascii art. The dashed lines indicate edges, the dotted lines indicate where to fold, and the comma lines indicate a crease made previously. (Not all creases are indicated in diagrams.)

1. Begin with a square paper. Fold and unfold the middle, making a crease.

     - - - - - - - - - - - -
    |           .           |
    |           .           |
    |           .           |
    |           .           |
    |           .           |
    |           .           |
    |           .           |
    |           .           |
    |           .           |
    |           .           |
     - - - - - - - - - - - -
   

2. Fold the left and right sides toward the center line.

     - - - - - - - - - - - -
    |     .     ,     .     |
    |     .     ,     .     |
    |     .     ,     .     |
    |     .     ,     .     |
    |     .     ,     .     |
    |     .     ,     .     |
    |     .     ,     .     |
    |     .     ,     .     |
    |     .     ,     .     |
    |     .     ,     .     |
     - - - - - - - - - - - -
   

3. Make 45-degree creases at the corners.

           - - - - - -
          |    .|.    |
          |  .  |  .  |
          |.    |    .|
          |     |     |
          |     |     |
          |     |     |
          |     |     |
          |.    |    .|
          |  .  |  .  |
          |    .|.    |
           - - - - - -
   

4. Make a half way crease.

           - - - - - -
          |     |     |
          |     |     |
          |     |     |
          |     |     |
          |.....|.....|
          |     |     |
          |     |     |
          |     |     |
          |     |     |
          |     |     |
           - - - - - -
   

5. Fold the top and bottom towards the center.

           - - - - - -
          |     |     |
          |     |     |
          |.....|.....|
          |     |     |
          |     |     |
          |,,,,,|,,,,,|
          |     |     |
          |     |     |
          |.....|.....|
          |     |     |
          |     |     |
           - - - - - -
   

6. Now we've got a little square. Slide out the corners of the original square paper so that it looks like the next diagram.

           - - - - - -
          |     ,     |
          |     ,     |
          |===========|
          |     ,     |
          |     ,     |
           - - - - - -
   

7. Your origami so far should look like this.

           - - - - - - -               - - - - - -
          /              \           /|           | \
        /                  \       /  |           |   \
       = = = = = = = = = = =      = = |           |= = =
        \                  /       \  |           |   /
          \              /           \|           | /
            - - - - - -                - - - - - -
   
            front side                  back side
   

8. On the back side, fold diagonally so that corners b and d are fixed, while c points down and a points up.

             - - - - - -
           /| .         | \
      a  /  |   .       |   \   c
        = = |     .     |= = =
      b  \  |       .   |   /   d
           \|         . | /
             - - - - - -
   
              back side
   

9. Fold c towards b.

                 /| a
               /  |
             /    |
            |     |
            |     |
        - - |    .|- - - - -
      b  \  |  .  |        / d
           \|.    |      /
             \    |- - -
               \  |
                 \| c
   

10. TADA!!! We're done. Congratulations.

                    /| a           _  _ 
        _  _      /  |            / \/ \
       / \/ \   /    |
               |     |
               |     |
       b,c - - - - - - - - - - - d
    --------\                  /--------
        H2O   \              /   H2O
                ------------          H2O
    

How to play a magic trick on someone using this boat.

To play the trick, tell someone to hold on to the sail of the boat. Now tell that person to close their eyes. Secretly swing corners b and c to point downward.

              /| a
            /  |
          /    |
         |     |
         |     |
         |     |- - - - - -
         |     |          / d
         |     |        /
          \    |- - - -
            \  |
              \| b,c

Tell that person to open their eyes. Surprise! You're not holding on to the sail anymore, but to the tip of the boat! How did that happen? It must be magic.