Re: [Paddlewise] What's what? Canoe or kayak?

From: Kirk Olsen <kolsen_at_imaginelan.com>
Date: Thu, 08 Aug 2002 09:40:06 -0400
At 09:07 PM 8/7/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>    I have been having an argument about just what makes a canoe verses what
>makes a kayak? I thought I knew, but now I'm confused. I know there are a lot
>of you on this list which know a bunch more about this stuff then I do, so I
>thought I would appeal to you for help. What's a kayak, and what's a canoe?
>Isn't a C-1 a racing canoe? And a K-1 a racing kayak? But then I have also
>heard C-1 being applied to a squirt boat. If you paddle it on your knees
>doesn't that make it a canoe? I checked some web sites and found one that
>called C-1's kayaks. So what's the real scoop here?

C1 is canoe one person
K1 is kayak one person
C2 is canoe two people
K2 is kayak 2 people

OC1 is open canoe one person
OC2 is open canoe two people.

As to what exactly a canoe is versus a kayak I can't get there.

At first blush a canoe is paddled with a single bladed paddle and a kayak 
with a double bladed paddle.

Others may say a canoe is paddled kneeling and a kayak sitting - my canoes 
have "tractor" seats in them, kneeling isn't really an option.

You then get to the exceptions, a double paddle canoe, like a Rob Roy, or a 
traditional kayak paddled with a single bladed kayak, and I'm not capable 
of coming up with a clear "legal" definition.

I was planning on using this undefinable argument if I was ever 
harassed/ticketed for using my kayak with the canoeing permit on a local 
lake.   Take the town to court and make them define what a canoe versus a 
kayak is - I know I can't do it....

Kirk
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Received on Thu Aug 08 2002 - 06:41:15 PDT

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