Is anyone familiar with this flatwater racer? A friend rescued two of these from the attic of the Washington DC Canoe Club attic about 30 years ago when they were cleaning house and gave me this one. It was in pieces, but the deck beams and coaming were lying intact inside the hull. It wasn’t too hard to piece back together and add a deck of light aircraft fabric. I later learned from an older flatwater racer friend who’d paddled one back in the day that these boats were built in Germany in the 1950’s as trainers for the Olympics. The hull is thin layers of mahogany, hot molded in an autoclave like the original Thistle class sailboats. There was some deterioration, but that was easily fixed with epoxy. The word MAX is branded inside the hull inside a small semi-circle. It’s a little over 17 feet long by 19.5 inches wide, and with repairs weighs about 30 lbs. Pretty fast boat.
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I don’t recognize it, but it is very cool! Thanks for sharing.
It is probably a Stuer. They started in England and gained fame in the 1948 London Olympics. Kirton took them over in the 60’s. They are now based in Denmark.
You’re welcome!
Thanks for that info. I’ll see if I can follow up on it.
It looks fast!
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From your description of the logo, sounds like an early, rare boat by Max Andersson. Andersson was a Swedish builder of racing canoes and kayaks beginning in the early 40’s using a method called cold, molded veneer construction. In the 50’s he began a process using a hot-molded, laid up from glued, laminated sections, producing a strong, light hull.
He also produced paddles, one which I acquired in the mid-60’s while paddling K-1’s with the Washington Canoe Club. The paddle is autographed by, I assume, the craftsman, and was used for training by Gloria Perrier in the 1960 and 1964 Olympics.
While Andersson paddles were popular with Olympic paddlers in the 60’s, to my knowledge his boats were not a racing favorite, most paddlers went with Struer.
I don’t believe yours is a Danish Struer kayak, now produced by Nelo in Portugal. The hull shape appears to vary from early Struer boats.
Congratulations for refurbishing your boat...if really a Max Andersson, believe you have a unique and valuable piece of kayak racing history.
Fred Allen
Raleigh, NCAlmost certainly a vintage Struer. The Wanda Canoe Club and the story of some kayaks – Dave The Kayaker