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What is this canoe?
We were in Cooperstown this past weekend, where a big paddling regatta was
being held. We saw a LOT of cars with the same type of canoe on top: straight, flat bow and stern, with a peculiar diamond shaped cross section at the middle. Most of them had a fitted cloth cover on them. What kind of canoe is this, and what is the special attraction of this apparently popular boat? ****************************** Got wood? Check out my exotic hardwood pennywhistles at fair prices...http://www.Busmanwhistles.com |
What is this canoe?
They were marathon racing boats. The width at the diamond section is to
meet a rule spec. Monday was the General Clinton 70 miler with shorter races being held on Sat. and Sun. |
What is this canoe?
BREWERPAUL wrote:
We were in Cooperstown this past weekend, where a big paddling regatta was being held. We saw a LOT of cars with the same type of canoe on top: straight, flat bow and stern, with a peculiar diamond shaped cross section at the middle. Most of them had a fitted cloth cover on them. What kind of canoe is this, and what is the special attraction of this apparently popular boat? ****************************** Got wood? Check out my exotic hardwood pennywhistles at fair prices...http://www.Busmanwhistles.com These are marathon solo racing boats. The rule (http://www.uscanoe.com/2002canoespec.html) reads that width of the boat has to be at least 14.375% of the length at the 4" waterline. That works out to 32" wide for 18'6" (max length). To minimize the wetted surface and prismatic coefficient, the boat is sharp pointed, narrow, and flares suddenly. Gene Jensen, who probably originated the species, tried a number of variations with sharply flaring wings, some with sort of a bubble back, trying to hit the best combination of speed, ability to turn bouys, ride wakes, and handle deep and shallow water. A number of variations exist, with variations on the theme from a number of different builders, but most of them still have the unique 'diamond profile. Typically, the boats are made of kevlar, wood strip, or carbon fiber and weigh in the 20-30lb range. One other point - the cloth covers are travelling covers to protect the boats from bugs, hail, and mostly sunburn. Composites will break down relatively quickly if they spend their lives sitting out in the sun, and most racing boats live a fair portion of the time on top of cars from March to October. Marsh Jones Minnesota |
What is this canoe?
The rule
(http://www.uscanoe.com/2002canoespec.html) reads that width of the boat has to be at least 14.375% of the length at the 4" waterline. That works out to 32" wide for 18'6" (max length). I also wondered why the shape is so weird. Sounds like a very artificial rule. I remember seeing other canoes without such pronounced wings, probably Olympic canoes. Darn things are so tippy, they capsize when empty... Amazing that with shape so weird they are faster than kayaks and even faster than surf skis on long distance. To save the weight no gelcoat is used, so cover is necessary to prevent epoxy/carbon/Kevlar breakdown. I will stick to my surf ski though, these canoes are no good in the ocean and outrigger does not suit my fancy ether. |
What is this canoe?
Serge wrote:
The rule (http://www.uscanoe.com/2002canoespec.html) reads that width of the boat has to be at least 14.375% of the length at the 4" waterline. That works out to 32" wide for 18'6" (max length). I also wondered why the shape is so weird. Sounds like a very artificial rule. I remember seeing other canoes without such pronounced wings, At some point, all rules are artificial. One of the goals of rules for racing canoes is to keep the sport so that more than a handful of people can a)afford to paddle, and b)keep them upright. There have been some fairly ludicrous designs, that could only be handled by a very skilled pair of paddlers. At this point, there are so many C1s meeting the 14.375 rule that there isn't much impetus to mess with the rule. There have been a couple of 'major improvements' to the rules in the last few years, most notably the move to allow pro-boats, which are 27" at the 3" waterline, instead of 4" at 32 (usually read 3x27 and 4x32) The proboat is a lot easier to loft, and a darned sight faster when paddled right. The USCA also has moved away from the 'standard class', which was supposed to foster a 'stockboat' design, and instead created an ugly sorta slow boat. probably Olympic canoes. Darn things are so tippy, they capsize when empty... 'high kneelers' - Olympic sprint canoes - are amazingly fast, approaching the speed of fla****er kayaks, but you wouldn't want to paddle one for hours. Pro canoes (C2) and C1s like above are still fairly tippy, and do demand good balance. They also reward good paddling, and can deal with fairly severe water (lake waves and Class 1/2). The straight keel-line means that they track very well, so to turn quickly you use a cross-bow rudder and lean the boat down on the outside to create an artificial rocker. When done right, they'll spin around amazingly fast. Done badly, you swim. Amazing that with shape so weird they are faster than kayaks and even faster than surf skis on long distance. To save the weight no gelcoat is used, so cover is necessary to prevent epoxy/carbon/Kevlar breakdown. I will stick to my surf ski though, these canoes are no good in the ocean and outrigger does not suit my fancy ether. Over short to medium distances, very slick kayaks and surf skis are faster, but marathon style paddling (and 7oz paddles) allow you to rest better over long distances. Marsh |
What is this canoe?
Marathon Canoe!!!
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