Found this website the other day and thought some might find it interesting.
Kayak_Ken (in a canoe)
Kayak_Ken (in a canoe)
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Building a War Canoe
- Thread starter Kayak_Ken
- Start date
The term "war canoe" is an artifact from the use of competition among kids camps. In Maine they were never used by natives for war. Yes they were used for trade. Voyageur canoes are still fairly common in the North and many camps near my house have some 25-30 footers usually wood and canvas.
Kirk Wipper founder of the Canadian Canoe Museum often visited here at the Maine Canoe Symposium and had a special dislike for the use of the term "war canoe" as in Canada that was not the role of longer bigger canoes.
And in Maine these big canoes have a role in getting many new people out on the water to learn of river ecology and responsible stewardship.. Hopefully in Florida too.
https://www.pressherald.com/2013/04/27/big-appeal-for-big-canoes_2013-04-28/
Kirk Wipper founder of the Canadian Canoe Museum often visited here at the Maine Canoe Symposium and had a special dislike for the use of the term "war canoe" as in Canada that was not the role of longer bigger canoes.
And in Maine these big canoes have a role in getting many new people out on the water to learn of river ecology and responsible stewardship.. Hopefully in Florida too.
https://www.pressherald.com/2013/04/27/big-appeal-for-big-canoes_2013-04-28/
G
Guest
Guest
I have had some good times in one of those big, multi person canoes, racing it as a mixed 8 around Wye Island several times. One especially trip where the hardworking bowman was recruited on promises to stop halfway through the race for a relaxing sandy beach picnic. Chips longing gaze at each sandy beach we passed grew in intensity for 12 miles, until the finish line was in sight.
Bow and stern can require some work in one of those boats, the mid 6 motors have far less responsibility.
http://www.clippercanoes.com/mariner/
The Mariner is an awesome big boat, with enough rocker to make it river runnable. I had a couple Bring Your Hangover Hair of the Dog New Years Day trips down the Susquehanna in it as well.
Years ago, and for some years, there was a forlorn Clipper Langley or Voyageur on a trailer at Carolina Heritage Outfitters on the Edisto. Uncovered, filled with leaves and muck, and in need of some TLC.
http://www.clippercanoes.com/langley/
The last thing I need is a 29 foot canoe that weighs 400 lbs, and a dang trailer, but I thought about making an offer.
I much prefer solo to tandem, but, heck, if I am going to have company in the canoe it might as well be with 8 or 10 friends.
Bow and stern can require some work in one of those boats, the mid 6 motors have far less responsibility.
http://www.clippercanoes.com/mariner/
The Mariner is an awesome big boat, with enough rocker to make it river runnable. I had a couple Bring Your Hangover Hair of the Dog New Years Day trips down the Susquehanna in it as well.
Years ago, and for some years, there was a forlorn Clipper Langley or Voyageur on a trailer at Carolina Heritage Outfitters on the Edisto. Uncovered, filled with leaves and muck, and in need of some TLC.
http://www.clippercanoes.com/langley/
The last thing I need is a 29 foot canoe that weighs 400 lbs, and a dang trailer, but I thought about making an offer.
I much prefer solo to tandem, but, heck, if I am going to have company in the canoe it might as well be with 8 or 10 friends.
Bow and stern can require some work in one of those boats, the mid 6 motors have far less responsibility.
http://www.clippercanoes.com/langley/
The last thing I need is a 29 foot canoe that weighs 400 lbs, and a dang trailer, but I thought about making an offer.
[/QUOTE]
With 20+ years experience in a few of these, between training and racing (Adirondacks,Yukon, and elsewhere) I have something approaching 10,000 miles as bow paddler in several different Voyageur canoes. Voyageurs built by: Pat Brown Boatworks (Adirondacks NY), Grasse River Boatworks (Canton NY), and Texas Yukoners (somewhere in TX).
No need for a trailer with the right set-up and light weight construction::
32 feet long - Far less than 400 pounds! Solo Portaging!
Easy to load and carry on trucks or SUVs
On the "Dome" overlooking Dawson City, YT
top: beginning of the Yukon 1000 mile race at Whitehorse in a 7-seat carbon fiber 34 ft 150 pound voyageur
Bottom: required stop at Eagle, AK, to show our passports on the Y1K
Another year with a different 6-seat 28 foot voyageur ready to go in another Y1K race:
Fun in the Yukon rapids:
http://www.clippercanoes.com/langley/
The last thing I need is a 29 foot canoe that weighs 400 lbs, and a dang trailer, but I thought about making an offer.
[/QUOTE]
With 20+ years experience in a few of these, between training and racing (Adirondacks,Yukon, and elsewhere) I have something approaching 10,000 miles as bow paddler in several different Voyageur canoes. Voyageurs built by: Pat Brown Boatworks (Adirondacks NY), Grasse River Boatworks (Canton NY), and Texas Yukoners (somewhere in TX).
No need for a trailer with the right set-up and light weight construction::
32 feet long - Far less than 400 pounds! Solo Portaging!
Easy to load and carry on trucks or SUVs
On the "Dome" overlooking Dawson City, YT
top: beginning of the Yukon 1000 mile race at Whitehorse in a 7-seat carbon fiber 34 ft 150 pound voyageur
Bottom: required stop at Eagle, AK, to show our passports on the Y1K
Another year with a different 6-seat 28 foot voyageur ready to go in another Y1K race:
Fun in the Yukon rapids:
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G
Guest
Guest
Oh heck no. I have seen how much effort and responsibility is required of bow and stern paddlers vs the mid motor 6 or 8. Even as a mid motor I desperately wanted to switch sides after a few hours.
Friends have taken a Clipper Mariner down the Green in Utah a couple times as a 4 paddler party barge, with a couple seats removed for copious gear storage. I am sorry I missed them by a week on that trip, IIRC they had 127 cold beers left at Spanish Bottom.
I could have prevented that.
We do switch sides All paddlers sit single file in my race voyageurs. The mid seats are on side-to-side rolling seats in each voyageur I have raced (except for the vey narrow barely single seat width "Slenda Glenda"). Bow and stern seats are right against the gunwales anyway. We hut about every 2 minutes on the stern's call. Sliding paddlers all have to be alert to the huts to not miss sliding and potential disaster. My race stroke rate is between 55-70 stokes/min, depending on the need at the time.
My favorite (other than than in the Yukon) local paddling segment is the very winding and twisty 2.5 miles (wish it was longer) of Brown's Tract of the Adirondack 90-mile race. Constant S and haripin turns in a narrow river, less wide than half our boat length. Lots of work but very satisfying. Way up in front I initiate the turns, stern paddler follows my lead, 4 mid paddlers provide constant power.
My favorite (other than than in the Yukon) local paddling segment is the very winding and twisty 2.5 miles (wish it was longer) of Brown's Tract of the Adirondack 90-mile race. Constant S and haripin turns in a narrow river, less wide than half our boat length. Lots of work but very satisfying. Way up in front I initiate the turns, stern paddler follows my lead, 4 mid paddlers provide constant power.
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Depends on the size of the paddler and the station.. Naturally Superior Adventures runs trips with a voyageur canoe on Lake Superior. Becky Mason and Reid co led a long trip up the Pukaskwa coast. Some doubled up some single.
At the Maine Canoe Symposium the voyageur canoes at Winona Camps are wide enough for two aside and the kids just love them Dan Eaton of Small Boat Shop in Denmark restored the over a hundred year old canvas and cedar Old Town voyageur canoes
Stern skids are needed for initiation of the actual turn. I in the bow cant make the boat turn before the stern but my initial power draw signals the stern to do a hard sweep then I hang on with a high static bow draw.. It sure is alot of force to hang on to that hanging bow draw as the crew keeps the power going.
At the Maine Canoe Symposium the voyageur canoes at Winona Camps are wide enough for two aside and the kids just love them Dan Eaton of Small Boat Shop in Denmark restored the over a hundred year old canvas and cedar Old Town voyageur canoes
Stern skids are needed for initiation of the actual turn. I in the bow cant make the boat turn before the stern but my initial power draw signals the stern to do a hard sweep then I hang on with a high static bow draw.. It sure is alot of force to hang on to that hanging bow draw as the crew keeps the power going.
When I first started racing, I carried a heavier wooden paddle to do a bow ;jam rudder for those fast hairpin turns. It turns the boat very quickly when necessary, but drains a lot of speed. I never dared to do that powerful jam with an expensive carbon bent paddle - fearing too much force on the blade. Then with more experience I got stronger and do power draws until I tire on the bigger turns and then I just hang it there to pull the bow around the turn, as the stern paddler draws, prys, and sweeps (I get so focussed in front that I never really know what goes on back there ).
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Well Sure! You're focused on locking your feet or knees under the seat, cantilevering way out and hanging on.. you best cause the alternative isn't nice! When I did this in amateur regattas like at Blue Mountain Lake I think I used whatever paddle was at hand.. It sure wasn't carbon.
How fast do you think a crew could paddle it over the course of a mile and say 100 miles.
Kayak_Ken (in a canoe)
Kayak_Ken (in a canoe)
Typical comfortable cruise speed is 6.5mph, but we can easily hit 9mph or more in short sprints. Do the math. 1000 miles downstream on the Yukon (mostly flat water current) takes us just over 6 days with maximum daily allowed 18 hrs/day on water of almost constant continuous paddling.
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