Define Canoeing

[Conor Buckboy]

I'm a kayaker mainly but am suddenly taking a large encroach into canoeing. Mainly at first Open boat Canadian style canoes but now moving onto to use my playbaot wth my canoe paddle and also my sea kayak. Obviously these are both sit in boats without a saddle or kneeling apparatus. Is this still canoeing?

Got told at my local pool that I wasn't doing it right when I was playbaoting in my sit in boat with a canoe paddle, people saying I need to get a saddle in their for it to properly count.

Thoughts? I much prefer sitting in as I can use all my experience kayaking for edging and rolling etc, and get to enjoy my sea kayak in a strange new way.

[Chris Bolton]

I would define canoeing as anything with a single blade. Many open canoe paddlers will sit when on flat water, and there are 'sit style' marathon racing canoes. Paddling C1 while sitting is not 'wrong' but it's not anywhere near as effective or fun as kneeling; you can get much more reach, cross deck strokes are easier, edging is no different, rolling is easier than in a kayak once you've learned how.

[stonercanoe]

Going to moan! Bloody BBC never get it right. Sports personality of the year, quick clip of sprint kayak and the well paid presenter says he won canoe gold!
Maybe don't worry about definition. BBC and most other broadcasters don't!
Jason

[Jim]

Even if I use a short shaft paddle sitting in a kayak with single blade paddle feels all wrong/awkward. Convert that playboat to a kneeler and find out for yourself. BUT - ignore boat/paddle snobbery, you don't have to 'do it right', just do what feels good for you.

And do yourself a favour - learn to switch from the start, it gets too hard later.

[jmmoxon]

In Britain all of it comes under the canoeing banner. But where does SUP stand & as for duckies..?

Mike

[garya]

When is a canoe a canoe ... ?

Is it when you have one paddle and are kneeling on the floor, what is it when you are sitting on the seat ?

Is it a solo or a tandem with two.. when you have three is it now a crew boat ?

When you link them together with lashings and a spar is it a raft ? when you are giving instructions to mange the boat are you now a guide or a helm ?

If you put up a sail to sail it would the crew call you skipper instead ?


All that matters is that you can make the boat go where you want it to go with elegance and skill... and it is fun too.

GaryA

[Arthur]

This is a bit like defining the difference between craft and art, but let's not go there.

[Adrian Cooper]

This come up from time to time and Gary has indicated some of the anomalies. It is a nonsense to define a craft by the type of paddle. If you are sat in a kayak and someone passes you a single bladed canoe paddle, has the craft magically transformed into a canoe. And the corollary, if you are sat in a canoe and someone passes you a double bladed kayak paddle, has the craft now become a kayak?

You can make a judgement on the name you give a craft based on its general appearance. It only gets complicated when you switch to less conventional methods of propulsion. Paddling a kayak with a single blade kneeling down is usually described as C1; this doesn't change the craft to a canoe, it changes it to a C1 and if you want to call that either canoe or kayak you might be approximately right. (or wrong)

[Chris Bolton]

it changes it to a C1 and if you want to call that either canoe or kayak you might be approximately right

I've always understood C1 to mean single seat canoe, just as K1 means single kayak, and similarly for C2, K2. A C1 is a canoe, irrespective of what it might be if it had a sitting seat and a double paddle. But I'm only making the point because it's being discussed, it doesn't matter what you call it.

[GregS]

Canoeing is a generic term covering pretty much any human or wind powered craft. It's actually easier to highlight the few categories of craft which are NOT canoes: rafts, rowing boats, dinghies, yachts and motorised craft, etc.

[Adrian Cooper]

Can I add kayak to your list, Greg? Or is this also a canoe? The discussion really only arises when paddlers want to distinguish between canoes and kayaks not when they want to distinguish between canoes and yachts. Although, saying that, sailing canoes might have their own particular peculiarities.

[Chris Bolton]

It's actually easier to highlight the few categories of craft which are NOT canoes: rafts, rowing boats, dinghies

So what, other than history and the shape of the stern, makes the International 10m2 canoe a canoe rather than a dinghy? But does it matter?

[banzaine]

Regardless of what you call it, it`s a great exercise to learn to manoeuvre and roll a ww kayak / sea-kayak with a single blade, whilst sitting. Ask the "know it all`s" at the pool what they would do if their paddle shaft snapped mid-rapid or as they were being buffeted against a wall/cliff by waves/current?