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

On 03 Jun 2004 11:24:37 GMT, ospam (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

Sounds like a racing canoe. Did they look like the one at the bottom
of this web page?

http://www.grasseriverboatworks.com/


g.c.

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.

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

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.

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

Marathon Canoe!!!