Best of both worlds
in a SOT kayak.
jim
"…a thing of beauty"
Hi kanaka,
You wrote: “Paddling canoe is a thing of beauty.”
I don’t disagree, but I must say that paddling a kayak is every bit a “thing of beauty” as paddling a canoe.
My father was a canoeist, and I paddled with him–and with friends–while I was growing up. Loved every moment of it. Still though, while I love being on any type of water that will float a small boat, and I still love canoes, I’ve always been drawn to the sea, and this is what led me to sea kayaks. In terms of versatility, the sea kayak wins hands down, as I can take it from the open ocean to lakes and rivers, and even poke around in quiet wetlands. All with boundless grace and beauty.
I’m a musician (Baroque 'cellist), and I’ve always found striking parallels between playing my 'cello and paddling…both physically and spiritually. Shaping notes and phrases with bow on strings, and shaping phrases of movement with paddles in water. Each has beautifully efficient techniques to learn, with infinite subtleties to explore and refine over a lifetime. With both, when I’m “in the zone”, it is aesthetic ecstasy. Beyond the beauty of the “act” of paddling, and where it can take us–both physically and spiritually–even our boats and paddles themselves are a thing of beauty (yes, even those butt ugly QCC boats can fool their paddlers into thinking they’re beautiful! ;)).
Beauty really is in the eyes, and heart, of the beholder, and both kayaks and canoes are well equipped to inspire endless awe in all of us.
Melissa
I paddle both…
Started with a canoe and later bought a kayak. I use both about equally. The canoe is great for hauling gear and dogs, it’s also a much better platform for my other passion, photography. My canoe is also my boat of choice when I have a guest, which is quite often. My mother, father or wife will frequently go out with me…obviously that wouldn’t be possible with a kayak.
The kayak is usually used for fitness and soon racing. I guess I’ve become a bit of a “speed freak” when it comes to kayaks. I’m always trying to go faster and further. I rarely take the kayak on a laid back pleasure paddle.
tight ham strings
Make sitting in yak uncomfortable. Sitting in a Canoe I am up 7-9 inches and taht is all the difference in the world.
classic butt sitter
– Last Updated: Aug-11-09 9:02 AM EST –
a kayak can take you surfing, rock gardening, etc.
but sometimes it's nice to have the wife and kids along--you can't fit your family in a kayak
Last weekend-kayak, today-canoe
I like to paddle both. One big advantage my 16ft canoe has over any kayak is the ability to be a trash barge. When I see a old tire or large trash item, I can pick it up and take it home so you don’t have to look at it.
Started in a canoe
Don’t see any reason to change. Did take a WW kayak class a couple of years ago. It was a lot of fun, and I can see how people could get hooked on them. Still, its a canoe for me.
Canoe Superior | Kayak Inferior
For me Canoe vs Kayak really comes down to the blade type and technique. A kayak blade is very easy to use, paddle one side, then the other, then the other, then the other…
A canoe paddle has all sorts of technique needed and is ultimately much more maneuverable although not as fast. There is a certain art to using the single blade efficiently.
As for the boat, you can paddle a sea kayak with a single blade, and you can use a double blade paddle in a canoe. Just don’t let the canoe/kayak police catch you.
both
started in a Grumman, switched to kayaks, then to a Sea Wind. I far prefer the lightness of the canoe paddle over the kayak paddle. It is also nice to be able to carry more gear. I guess my reason is I like to be comfortable, and couldn’t get that in the kayaks
You can carry a cooler in a canoe.
And a chair,a tent a human can stand up in,etc.
Ha ha, haw, haw, gawf, sputter, ha, ha…
– Last Updated: Aug-11-09 7:53 AM EST –
Yer got'ta be kiddin'.... wat a questoon! Hahahahahaha! Haw! haw! Haw!
Main reeson ah' don't like 'yaks be.... Andy_S paddles 'em....
FE
I simply prefer to paddle.
Sometimes I will look around the yard or racks and choose the poor fellow with the most leaves, stains and bird poop on it. It needs washed anyway. Why not paddle it? Other times I will select the one that is all shined up and already has all the gear either stuffed in it or hanging over it so I don’t have to look all over creation before just loading and go. Sometimes I will meticulously seek out scattered gear and whatever turns up, if that gear is more suited to canoe than yak, there is my choice. Camping is usually planned with canoes.
I would love
to paddle your outrigger canoe.
Of course, part of the increased efficiency of kayak, apart from (typically) less windage, is the higher stroke cadence of the double-bladed paddle and the virtual elimination of the need to waste time and energy on correction to go in a straight line.
I know you can put a deck on a canoe, put a rudder on a canoe, paddle it with a double-bladed paddle, etc, but then the distictions get rather blurred.
Thank heavens
I was worried about you Elmo.
You didn’t post on the “master paddler lunches” thread to suggest Tang and Spam.
There is no "versus"
Canoes are easier when it’s lake paddling with portages. Kayaks are easier in terms of skills etc to take into bigger ocean conditions. WW handles both.
It has nothing to do with the craft, just where you paddle and how many boats you can afford to buy and store. Also whether you want to learn a proper J stroke I guess, but even that’s only if the canoe is a sit or kneel one.
I can kneel but I can’t sit
I started in canoes. Love them all, decked, open, standing up or kneeling.
But I wanted a boat for coastal paddling so I tried some sea kayaks. Found one, a CD Caribou, that I loved and a lot more that I didn’t.
But my hams are tight and I just can’t do that sitting thing at all.
So I kneel in my canoes and scheme on how to come up with a good kneeling coastal cruiser.
Tommy, canoe guy.
one over another…
– Last Updated: Aug-11-09 10:51 AM EST –
Both have their places. I am most often inland on freshwater bogs/ponds/lakes/streams...so a canoe(of some shape) is with me more than a kayak. Used to kayak(touring boat) in southern NewEngland(after canoeing in my younger days), had to sell, but I can easily see myself owning another kayak(std or SOT) in near future to spend time in the surfzone, especially with others...being up here in Maine.
*Also...when without OC-1, as now, I miss surfing the streams too. There's a ton of water on this planet.....much to much to limit onesself.
Kayak
Canoes don’t work too well on the ocean in bad weather.
If I lived up north with less ocean and more rivers, I’d probably prefer a canoe. Really easy to dump a lot of stuff in them and open, breezy, comfortable.
What ever
gets you on the water is the right boat for you.
agreed, no "versus"
bottom line: we all paddle small boats.
the when, where, how, etc., is just semantics.
chad19