There are two options available for the position of the paddler: sitting, or kneeling. Traditionally, the paddler kneels on the floor of the canoe, with the backside resting on a seat or thwart. Seats thus are installed close to the gunwale of the canoe, usually with spacers to make them level to the water. There is enough space for the paddler's feet to extend underneath the seat. The knees are placed as far apart as comfort allows, and generally the paddler shifts close to the side on which he or she is paddling - bow and stern paddler on opposite sides, for obvious balance reasons. Knee padding, and some kind of support under the instep (like a boat cushion), is all that is required to render this position comfortable for hours on end.

The thwarts and seats in the traditional canoe are not safe for sitting while travelling: they are well above the water-line, so that the centre of gravity of the whole craft is raised above the water line. Most canoeing accidents are the result of two paddlers sitting up on the seats, and both shifting their weight to one side suddenly. In windy conditions, the canoe that was recently your high and dry means of transport becomes that disappearing red dot the wind is taking away from you at a rate faster than you can swim. Sitting on the seats, in a canoe meant for kneeling paddlers, is an invitation to disaster.

The paddler who must sit, then, needs the right kind of seat. If you have bad knees, you need this option. Please do not compromise on this. The only safe canoe is the canoe in which the centre of gravity is below the waterline. You need specially placed thwarts, in order to sit for paddling.

Clipper is one of the companies that have decided that canoeists simply will not kneel, so you will see their designs and comments about the seat placement which assume a seated position. Wisely, their seats extend downwards from the ends, so that the centre of gravity is well below the water line. This offers at least a more stable way to be seated. However, I have paddled in a Clipper, and I would disagree with their rather condemning comments about their seated position offering greater control than kneeling. In a kneeling position, I am able to tilt and hold my canoe at any angle, much greater control than I felt I had in their seat system. Paddling tandem, with my knees down, I can react quickly enough to counteract even the most unpredictable shifts in weight from my bow paddler. But if the paddler must sit, designs like the Clipper seats are essential.

The safest way to paddle solo is on your knees. To make it more comfortable you might well to make yourself a special cushion to fit under your insteps (to prevent the flattening of your ankles and loss of circulation to the feet). I made one from blocks of foam from some old sofa cushions, covered in a vinyl cloth. It is about 32" x 24", and 4" thick at the front and 16" thick at the rear; it's like a big wedge of foam. I kneel on the forward edge, and the 16" thick rear part supports my insteps. I slip a boat-cushion between my heels and my butt, and sit comfortably like that for hours, shifting to the side on which I am paddling.

One other design factor to check on regarding thwarts, is the yoke of the canoe. It should be absolutely at mid-point, so that when you shoulder the canoe it is balanced. A shaped yoke, with neck-hole and contoured shoulder rests, can make it comfortable enough to carry half a mile into that perfect pristine lake that will never see a motor on it.

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Gandalf: Do you mean you want to know how to canoe, or that you want to own a canoe, or that you would like to go for a paddle in a canoe?

Bilbo: Well, er, all of the above, I suppose...

So you've decided on a canoe for your cross continental odyssey (or your weekend to the lake country). But now you have to get out your credit card and shop smartly. No, Virginia, Cheaper Is Definitely Not Better. To shop smartly you need to know (a) what different shapes you're going to see, and what their various advantages or disadvantages are; and (b) what different materials will deliver in weight, durability, comfort, and performance. This article is all about the materials.

The cross country vehicle traveller might enjoy showing off an aesthetically beautiful craft. If you are into impressing other people, you will want to choose a cedar-strip canoe, or a wood-canvas canoe. The latter is one of the strongest and toughest canoes ever built. An 18 foot Wood-canvas canoe was once seen going down the Yukon River with a snowmobile perched on planks laid across its gunwales.

Wood Canvas Canoes

Wood canvas canoes are incredible sturdy. My 13 foot wood-canvas canoe came off the roof of my car once at 90 kph (about 55 mph) and sailed over the vehicle behind me, landing on the highway right on the point of the bow. I stopped the car, walked back, picked up the canoe and tied it back on (properly this time!). It had minor damage on the bow, and I discovered years later during re-canvassing that two ribs and two planks were cracked - but in the meantime it was just fine, and covered hundreds of nautical miles.

However, both the cedar strip (covered usually with an epoxy or fibreglass coating) and the wood-canvas canoe are almost certain to be the heaviest, and the most difficult to maintain or repair away from home (not to mention being the most expensive to buy).

Aluminum Canoes

Aluminum canoes are amongst the most durable, but they are also heavier to handle, and in the act of canoeing itself they are cold (on cold water) and brutally hot when you first get into them in summer, and (worst of all) the noisiest craft ever asked to carry a peace-seeking paddler. They clank, literally, with every ripple. Once in my life, at a summer camp, I joined in a three-night out-trip in aluminum canoes. I will not willingly get into an aluminum canoe again in this lifetime.

Fibreglass Canoes

Fibreglass is also relatively heavy, but it is easy to repair. An early canoe expedition film showed a fibreglass canoe going down a river, capsizing against a rock, and being torn literally in half. The paddlers retrieved their gear (in waterproof containers) and both halves of the canoe. With the patching kit they carried they were able to re-join both halves, restoring the canoe completely, and continue on their trip.

Kevlar Canoes

Kevlar and Royalite (or its cousin Royalex) are two compounds used for many modern canoes as lighter alternatives to fibreglass. These materials deliver the greatest strength to weight ratio. For example, one site lists a 16 foot canoe in Fibreglass at 59 pounds, and the same canoe in Kevlar at 48 pounds. Again, the new construction processes which introduce layering of different materials can offer you strength, lightness, and durability, but with greater expense.

Summary

With all the options you face, let me make my basic suggestions, narrowing the field down to two choices.

• For strength and beauty and comfort in paddling, and relative ease in wilderness repair, look for a 16 foot wood-canvas canoe, 14 foot if you don't want to do overnight work.
• For light weight, and toughness on a variety of beach materials, choose a Kevlar or Royalex canoe (again, 16 feet for significant tripping, 14 for day trips or solo.

On a long-distance vehicle journey I would probably sacrifice beauty and strength for weight. Read this article to learn about how to sit in a canoe over a long distance.

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2. Canoe vs Kayak Comparison – Which Boat is Best?
3. How to Sit in a Canoe: Paddler Position
4. Technitop Rooftop Tent Review

Tumblehome

Tumblehome refers to the angle of the sides of the canoe at the midpoint. A canoe with completely vertical sides has no tumblehome. If the sides slope outward from the centre you have flare. If the sides are rounded so that the upper parts of the sides slope inward toward the centreline, you have tumblehome. Tumblehome is built into a canoe for the purposes of manoeuvrability and wave resistance. The solo canoeist kneels just aft of mid-ship, but to the side the paddle is working. This puts the canoe on a serious list. A canoe with adequate tumblehome, though it is seriously leaning over, still presents a vertical side to the oncoming waves, and the buoyancy centre is directly underneath the paddler's weight. With no tumblehome, you might be able to stay dry, as most slop will bounce downward, but the canoe will be less stable. A canoe with flared sides is most likely to welcome relatively small waves, motorboat wakes, and unexpected belches from the Loch Ness monster right into your canoe.

These are exaggerated cross-sections, to show you what you are looking for. If you know you will never be alone in a canoe, the issue of using it on a list is not as pressing; however, if there is a big weight differential between the stern paddler and the bow paddler (the stern paddler must be the heavier, or you will have unbelievable steering and stability challenges!) then you will find some tendency to lean the canoe slightly, and having that vertical side to present to the wave is important.

Some canoes with good tumblehome are designed with a ridge along the sides, offering something of a "keel" when the canoe is on a list.

Bottom Profile

Bottom profile determines stability and speed. The flatter the bottom, the more stable the craft. However, the flatter the bottom also means the more surface area in contact with the water, which means greater drag. More rounded bottoms tend to be less flexible, less stable, and faster. (Remember, we are speaking about canoes, not the female of the species!) Adding a keel to a canoe increases its tracking ability for long flat-water travel, but also increases drag. Canoes made of Fibreglass, Kevlar, or similar materials that are light are often given a keel for the soul purpose of stiffening the canoe floor. However, keels are bad news in river work or around tidal currents, both of which can deliver powerful hidden cross-currents. In a borrowed 16 foot Frontiersman (a common canoe in summer camps) a partner and I shot a narrow channel between two islets, and nearly flipped when the fast tidal cross-current caught the two inch keel that ran the length of the canoe, which I had completely forgotten was there. But for long distance flat water canoeing with tandem paddlers, a keel is not a bad thing. If you have not spent hours and hours developing your "J" stroke in the stern, you will find a keeled canoe slightly less work in correcting your steerage.

Canoe Rocker

Rocker refers to the relative flatness or curve of the canoe lengthwise. A flat canoe is stable, and delivers the most buoyancy for its size, since the water is supporting it equally over the majority of its footprint. However, it tends to be sluggish, offering the most resistance to the water, and it doesn't turn easily since both ends are equally submerged. Some rocker will allow you to turn the canoe easily with a few strokes.

This profile shows a minimum amount of rocker. A canoe of this shape, with no keel, will provide great manoeuvrability, solo or in tandem, yet allowing reasonable tracking for long straight tripping. More rocker allows more ease in turning, essential for river work.

Canoe Hull Rise

Rise refers to the height of the bow and stern points relative to the sides at amidships. Traditional Ojibway birch-bark canoes were constructed for shooting rapids in rivers, and the bow and stern rise on these craft is extremely high, allowing the bow to plunge fairly deep into a river without shipping water. This can be handy in any rough water; however, the higher the rise the greater the exposure to wind. No rise allows little attack to significant chop, or motor boat wakes (one of the most common and annoying hazards for canoeists). The diagram above shows a reasonable amount of rise. Many contemporary tripping canoes are designed with an almost flat gunwale line, making them less likely to be blown off course, but not as protected when attacking high waves.

Canoe Hull Depth

Depth, as common sense suggests, will affect seaworthiness and load bearing ability. The depth of your canoe determines freeboard (the distance between the waterline and the gunwale at the centre of the canoe). Obviously, the less freeboard, the less your chances of keeping the crests of relatively small waves from climbing over the side. Too deep a canoe (for your particular load needs) means that you will present so much canoe to the wind that in windy conditions you will be sailing more than paddling, highly annoying when the wind wants to take you 90 degrees off course.

Length

The combination of length and width determines speed and bearing capacity. Questions to ask as you prepare for your expedition are:

• Do I need this canoe to carry one or two people?
• Do I want this canoe to take me miles at a time, or just into a small lake to sit and fish (or take pictures, or duck-hunt?)
• Do I need this canoe to bear enough gear for overnight tripping, or just day trips?
• Will I be able to lift this canoe easily onto my vehicle, and portage it to where I want to launch?

For two people who need enough gear for a couple of nights out, there is little need to look beyond a 16 foot canoe, though a 17 or 18 foot canoe which is narrower will bear the same load, and be much quicker to get there, though less manoeuvrable. You have to think of your vehicle: how much boat will protrude beyond the bumpers? How many times do I want to crack my skull on the gunwale when I go around the back of my car?

Shorter canoes may carry enough for a few nights out for two people. There are hunter's canoes which are short, wide, slow, and extremely stable, but you wouldn't want to take them very far. My wife and I, in our early twenties, did an 8 night saltwater trip (with two points of access to supplies) in a canoe which is nominally a 14 foot but actually 13 feet along the gunwales. We carried a minimum of gear. Nowadays, in our advancing middle age, we need a 16 foot canoe to carry some of the comforts we require (like tent, air mattress, and a bottle or two of good Merlot). The solo canoeist can get around happily with a 12 to 14 foot canoe. Portaging the small canoe with the paddles strapped in and all necessary gear in one backpack, is realistic, if your canoe is not already 70 pounds.

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3. Canoe vs Kayak Comparison – Which Boat is Best?
4. Sea Kayaking in Baja Mexico

Raenelle and I are experienced kayakers - we do enough of it back home in the waters around Vancouver and along the coast of Vancouver Island - so we knew what we wanted: a double kayak, complete with rudder, spray skirts, well sized paddles, and of course safety gear including life-jackets and hand pump. Most of the kayaks we saw in Mexico were these little hard molded plastic thingy's that you sit on top of. There are holes in the bottom to put your feet so water comes up to the top. They're OK for tooling about in a shallow and sheltered bay, but anywhere else would be a lot of work and really unsafe (I'd rather swim). These full size kayaks we had were perfect.

So early one morning we got up just before sun rise to paddle out into the waters for one of those unforgettable Baja mornings. I prepared the kayak and we set off. Out in the distance there was splashing, so we headed for it.

Kayaking in a Pod of Dolphins

To our amazement, we were paddling the kayak straight for a pod of about 30 dolphins who had nothing better to do than play. They were jumping fully out of the water, splashing around. They would come up beside us, look us straight in the eye, and "gukgukgukgukguk" at us (maybe you've heard the sound of dolphins chattering on a nature show or at an aquarium).

It's a little unnerving to see them all around you. There were moments when they were on all sides of us, swimming back and forth under the boat, along side, jumping ahead and splashing in the distance. They're certainly not whales, but dolphins are large mammals!

We could whistle and we'd hear them whistle back under the water. There were full grown adults, mothers and babies. As the pod moved away we would follow. They'd stop 500 m away from us and play and wait for us to catch up. When we did they'd play some more, maybe eat, then move on. It went on for a few hours.

We didn't count on going whale or dolphin watching when we set out to kayak the Sea of Cortez that morning. But as it always seems in the Baja, there are always little gifts like this one waiting for you whenever you least expect it.

Photos

We took hundreds of photos, but we only had our cheap camera that takes a few seconds to focus - it was nearly impossible to capture any of the good flips and jumps the dolphins were displaying for us. In any case, I've added some of the better ones below.

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1. Canoe vs Kayak Comparison – Which Boat is Best?

Handling the Waters

The open Canadian Canoe goes most places a kayak will go, though not so quickly. Rough waters can be a problem because the canoe is open. Specialists will equip themselves with splash covers for their canoe, so that they can handle the same rough waters that a kayak can handle. An experienced solo canoeist in a smaller canoe can handle much rougher water than a pair of paddlers in a larger open canoe. Rough rapids or violent ocean tide-rips are only for the expert paddlers, in the right type of craft, whether canoe or kayak. The kayak, with its covered body, splash cover (a transition garment that is a waterproof apron tied around the paddler's waist and snapped in place around the cockpit when the paddler is in place) and its closed compartments, allows for much safer and drier travelling should the waters turn rough.

The kayak generally has a much lower profile to the wind than the canoe and is much easier to steer in a chosen direction. Some canoes have high sides, and catch the wind so much you can spend your whole day paddling on one side, just to stay on course. With experience, one learns to balance the stern stroke with the wind to achieve the right course, and to "tack" the canoe much as a sailboat tacks, so that you can change paddling sides occasionally.

While travelling, the canoeist has easy access to any gear in the canoe - as does the rain and splash; for that reason, the use of small tarps in a canoe is a good idea, as is a one inch frame floor cover of some kind, to keep gear raised off the canoe floor where rain water and slopwater accumulate.

Physical Considerations

The kayaker sits, usually with a small lower back support, and footrests (or tiller levers controlled by the feet). Larger bodied kayaks allow for the knees to be up somewhat. This writer, who suffers from chronic lower back pain, finds the kayak position unsustainable for more than an hour at a time. The proper canoeing position is on the knees with the backside resting on the thwart. Amongst canoeists there is a debate between the so-called purists who insist that kneeling is the best and safest position, and the manufacturers and users of some modern canoes equipped with seats that are on the water-line. The seated canoeist, in the opinion of this writer (based on forty years of ocean and lake canoeing), is forfeiting a critical control element. When the paddler is kneeling in a canoe, the knees transmit most of the paddler's weight directly to the floor of the canoe, allowing the slightest shift of weight to control in an instant the canoe's angle of approach to the waves. (See the next article for the performance of differing shapes of canoe hull.) The seated canoeist attempts to exert that control through the Gluteus Maximus, and through the heels, a much less reliable physical control. Most of us have a backside much narrower than the spacing of our two knees, and considerably softer as well. By the way, the regular thwarts in traiditonally designed canoes were never intended for sitting on during travel; most canoe accidents happen because paddlers are sitting up on the thwarts, in which case their centre of gravity is high above the water-line, rendering balance very precarious in any but the flattest water.

The paddling rythm in a kayak is steady and unchanging (for long flat-water travel) and the muscles are in constant use,left-right-left-right. The competent canoeist, using a steering stroke in the stern (two paddlers) or midships (solo canoeing) can paddle on one side for a good length of time, and then switches sides. This has the effect of changing the muscle use periodically, which can give at least the sensation of a rest for one set of muscles. It also evens the calloussing on the hands. I have often paddled for 3 or 4 hours at a time, fishing or travelling across major channels.

User Convenience

Here's a typical experience comparing the two craft launching from the same location: my wife and I were setting out in our 13 foot wood-canvas canoe one day from Gabriola Island (near Vancouver Island, on the West Coast of Canada). A couple arrived at the beach with a two person kayak at the same time. We each took the same time to untie our crafts and carry them to the shore. I portaged our canoe on my own. It took the two of them to move the kayak. My paddles and cushions and lifejackets were all strapped into my canoe, and by the time I had unstrapped and put them in position,my wife had the picnic bag and water bottles from the car and we were ready to launch. The kayakers were still putting on their splashcovers and unloading their paddles from their SUV, as we pushed off from the shore. We were about halfway to the marine park that was our destination, some twenty minutes later, when the kayakers finally caught up with us and passed us. In other words, the canoe is simpler to prepare and load, though slower to paddle.

If fishing is to be part of the day, and it often is on those wonderful side trips you hear about from the locals in the bar or around the campground firepit from travellers who have been exploring already, then the kayaker has some special challenges handling rod and reel, and gaff or net.

Boating a large salmon or a wall-eye in a kayak can involved a bit more intimacy with the fish than many of us desire! On the other hand, I have landed a 30 pound salmon in my canoe with no trouble, and once a 20 pound ling cod that had foolishly chosen to make lunch of a small rock cod I had hooked. My dog was in the canoe on that occasion, and thought seriously about swimming home until the cod stopped re-arranging my tackle and the dog discovered that there was enough room in one canoe for her and a 33 inch fish.

Vehicle Loading

Any canoe 16 feet or less can be fairly easy to shoulder (there is a technique to "throwing" a canoe over your head) and if your vehicle is not too high it can be transferred onto a roof-top carrier. The Kayak that will carry you both will take both of you to load and unload, though it will take less width on the roofrack. Two single kayaks can easily be mounted on most flat-roofed cars and SUVs, with special mounting hardware. Length can be an issue. A two-person kayak will extend beyond the rear of most vehicles. Wind resistance will be slightly higher for a canoe than for kayaks, so you need to assess how much of your journey will be at highway speeds where wind resistance becomes a significant fuel drain (anything over 50 mph or 80 kph).

Foam blocks are available which go over the gunwhales of a canoe and allow it to be tied directly to the roof a vehicle; however, these cannot provide the secure tie-down of ropes or straps applying downward force directly down the canoe sides and under a roof rack. Beware the kind of roof rack which clips to a drip moulding or under the top of the door opening. Straps can work loose with a combination of getting wet and drying out and the vibration of rough roads and/or high speed slip-stream effects. The positive metal clip is a minimum standard for security, and the built in roof rack, either stock or after-market but installed by the dealer, is the most reliable. Bungy cords are tempting because they are quicker than tying knots, but are to be avoided. If your companion is on the other side of the car and the bungy you are stretching slips out of your fingers, serious injury and possible divorce can follow.

I once lost my canoe from the roof rack on my Volvo (travelling at 90 kph) when a large Semi passing in the opposite direction at high speed created so much suction it actually lifted the canoe, which then unhooked the bungy cord as it settled back on the roof rack. It was a sick feeling to look in my rear view mirror and see my canoe sailing over the Volkswagen behind me and crashing to the pavement.

Related Articles:

1. How to Sit in a Canoe: Paddler Position
2. Canoe Hull Design
3. Canoe Construction Materials
4. Sea Kayaking in Baja Mexico