Where Are All The Canoes?

There was maybe a rare single low level useless article about canoes.

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One more reason to like this site and (sorry) to keep it as kayak-free as much as possible.

I think the general public sees canoes as heavy tandems that are hard to paddle. The fact is that my stripper (although not the lightest) is lighter, faster & far more versatile than my buddy's SOT yak.

Almost all yakkers use a double blade and the learning curve with that is more gentle initially but it becomes exponentially steeper as the difficulty of the water increases. Single blades are the opposite IME. By the time you can control the boat with a single blade on flat water, you already know most of what you'll need in rapids and you just need experience to become proficient.

BTW: meanwhile in PA...



Odd that I saw this coming in the rear-view less than an hour after I'd read this thread this morning. (yeah, I know I'm in the slow lane... it was the company car)

Where are all the canoes? I showed my wife this thread and she said, somewhat disapprovingly, “They’re all under the car port.”

clemency said:

Most folks don't even know solo canoes exist, and since they paddle solo a kayak is the obvious choice. Also, canoing is more a family activity for lots of people. Mom, dad and the kids all in one boat. That describes several of my neighbors. Once the kids grow up those canoes will be neglected or sold. Plus, learning to paddle a canoe is so much harder than a kayak. So none of this is really surprising. OTOH, while out on the river last week (in my kayak ) I ran across a local guy who has exactly the same solo canoe as me. Weird.

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I agree. I have 7 Children, 3 Canoes, 0 Kayaks. I always have at least one of my children with me.

Gamma1214 said:

One more reason to like this site

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This site was originally open to all paddlers. When it became orphaned and I was able to secure ownership with my own funds, my first announcement was that it would be a canoe only site. Actually I wanted it to be open to only “open” canoes but that part went by the wayside.
I did catch some flack but I glad it has stayed as is.

I think all the race canoes are in the Grayling/Mio/Oscoda Michigan area right now. As a friend used to say, “you can’t swing a cat without hitting…..” a tandem race canoe. Other canoes too, but every time we go anywhere we see a few on cars. The race is in a month! There may be more canoes than ticks at the moment…wait, no, that’s not possible. I may have seen more canoes this trip (on cars and on the river) than kayaks though, which is highly unusual these days. Definitely most boats on vehicles have been race canoes.

I started attending Canoecopia every year in the early 1980’s and I worked at the show 4 or 5 times. The only years I wasn’t there was the Covid years when the show wasn’t held. I remember seeing the gradual transition from nearly all canoes to now mostly kayaks.

I was also a charter subscriber (first issue 4/1973) of Canoe magazine which later became Canoe/Kayak magazine. I finally let my subscription lapse maybe 10 years ago when the editorial content had steadily declined to just brief articles about canoeing. The magazine had become a publication largely filled with ads mostly promoting all types of paddle sports equipment and gear.

Lastly, I have been involved with the Wabakimi Project since 2007 when I took my first trip. For 3 years I handled membership and Uncle Phil and I watched as the average annual age of the membership steady increased. Now the new leadership of the Friends of Wabakimi, which has succeeded the Wabakimi Project, seems to be attracting more younger members to canoe tripping. But my 2 paddling groups are almost all retirees.

The kayaks and SUPs have taken over. They are cheap, easy to carry and require little skill.
It is very sad. I think as the older guys fade away, lots of activities are going to disappear. Canoeing is only one of the casualties.
Hot rods are next. Young people like little Japanese cars.
Collectable guns like Winchesters are fading. Young people like black guns.

Traditional archery is the same.

Honestly it seems anything that takes effort and/or skill is fading. It’s easy to sit at home and virtue signal about social issues, but to protect things of enduring beauty and relevance takes actual work. How often do the screeching harpies go pull tires and batteries and beer cans out of the woods? They don’t, they just work to make sure I can’t go into the woods because “meat is murder.” Those who pay Pittman-Robertson taxes do way more for the wild places than the self anointed activists. But I see I’ve gone on a bit of a tangent…

Back on course… aside from two neighbors on my street with old beaters, I only see canoes from rental outfits. They are in the minority, it’s mostly kayaks. I almost never see a canoe cartopped. The best 5 canoes I’ve ever seen in person in my area included a 10’ Wee Lassie I thought about buying and then my 4, one of which I gifted to a friend. The Canoe Shop is long out of business. Yaks are accessible and easy to start with. I have seen only 2 “nice” kayaks, one a sea kayak pattern and the other something long and lean that passed us going down river on the Wacissa, which then passed us again going up river. The woman paddling wasn’t out for a Sunday afternoon paddle, she seemed to be training.

I'm pretty sure half the canoes in Rhode Island are owned by a friend of mine, lol! He has about 40 or 50 canoes, some real classics. The rest of them are mostly owned by me and other friends of mine. The Ocean State is definitely kayak and SUP-centric, owing to all the phenomenal bay and ocean waters here. When I want to feel like part of a canoeing community, I head to northern Maine or the Adirondacks...those are my people.

The Great Replacement of Canoes in the U.S. has been accelerating for decades now. Canoes are now somewhat prevalent only in northeastern and northern Midwest states that border Canada.

It is one of my hopes that a lasting effect of this site and its content—if it can be kept alive into future decades by dedicated administrators, generous financial support, and highly active thread starters and posters—will be to preserve the lore and love of canoes for the education and attraction of future generations.

Woodpuppy said:

to protect things of enduring beauty and relevance takes actual work.

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The flip side is that any job involving organizing, managing, communicating, persuading, is a real butt-kicker. More so than physical work which is end-of-day rewarding for anyone, regardless if they finally earned their first blister. In speaking with someone recently on the Thrillcraft issue...to jump into a fight like that is to enter the mosh pit. Character assassinations, death threats, you name it. Just giving a shout out for those folks as well.

@Woodpuppy - Trad is alive and well in the Virginia woods. I hunt recurve only, and a lot of compound guys I know are buying old Bears and getting into it. Hope isn't dead yet.
I'm glaringly young for this site (41) but I think there's hope for canoes. I just drove up to Vermont from Virginia, and saw plenty on top of cars on the interstates (mine included). Agree that yaks are easier to hop in and go, but I don't see many greenlands or other sleek ones out there.

yknpdlr said:

Years ago I thought it might be smart to belong to the American Canoe Association. When I received the publication, it was nothing but kayak oriented, packed with both articles with exciting photos and extensive ads, especially geared toward crazy young 20-something whitewater enthusiasts. There was maybe a rare single low level useless article about canoes. When I wrote to the organization with my concerns, I was told that the guy who recently purchased the organization was a very dedicated western states whitewater kayaker and cared nothing about canoes. Needless to say, I quickly cancelled my subscription and membership.

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This is why I ceased subscribing to Canoe/Kayak after almost 40 years. The magazine held little of interest to me anymore. When I wrote a letter to the editor about their editorial direction their response was if I had purchased more canoe related stuff maybe they would have remained more canoe focused. A bit later my wife happened to get a call at home from them asking why I, a charter subscriber, had dropped the magazine. Within a few years they ceased publication.

Hard to believe the Adirondack 90 mile "canoe" classic was already two weeks ago. Of course, there are a lot of kayaks in the race as well. I mostly see only the sleek Epic solo or race tandem yaks at my level, as the few boats that can catch up to my crew, paddling usually in a C4 or Voyageur canoe.

I was out this morning doing an aquatic vegetation invasives survey on my fairly small camp lake, one of the few times all summer I have not felt the need to be in training mode any time I am out in a canoe. Two or three times a day putting in a few miles. There are quite a lot of recreational kayakers on my lake in summer, very few canoes. Not sure why, as it is a strict non-motors lake and usually well protected from any troublesome level of wind. I assume fear of handling experience and lack of skill level is the reason.

In my lake association spring newsletter, I have offered to conduct private canoe paddling lessons, but had no takers this season. I have 30 years of experience teaching BSA adult trek leader guides in the necessary skills for their wilderness tasks with young new canoe paddlers. Most people do often see me in training mode making my rounds around the lake, single blade paddling on just one side in a very straight line making distance for long stretches, a half mile or more at a time (I get enough of hit and switch paddling during races). When someone asked how I do that, I replied "its magical, want to learn how?"

yknpdlr said:

In my lake association spring newsletter, I have offered to conduct private canoe paddling lessons, but had no takers this season.

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I think most folks think paddling a canoe is like falling off a log. But those folks are fun to watch.

I've also been struck at the number of kayaks and SUPs in the Daks lately. Not that there aren't still plenty of canoes, but even on Lake Lila with a long walk to the put in, I saw one SUP (apparent daytripper) and several folks carting in kayaks and camping gear on a portage trail that was not cart friendly.

As others have said, I think price/weight/big box stores are largely to blame. A kayak or SUP that's pretty lightweight (crap) can be had at the box stores for a few hundred bucks. A lightweight solo canoe is 10x the cost. Plus, I think there's the increased inclination of "me" in our culture. My neice doesn't want to be in a boat with anyone else, she wants her own kayak that she controls, and she has no interest in learning more strokes.

ppine said:

The kayaks and SUPs have taken over. They are cheap, easy to carry and require little skill.

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To be fair, SUP requires about the same amount of skill as canoeing - if you want to do either well. It's just that most people doing it don't even know what doing it well looks like.

We have some highly skilled SUPs around here, and they're running some pretty big whitewater. They know how to go straight while paddling on one side too.

clemency said:

I think most folks think paddling a canoe is like falling off a log. But those folks are fun to watch.

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I've crossed paths with those people, but others think it's too hard to be fun. I think the real issue is ignorance. There just isn't a lot of exposure to canoes paddled skillfully. I recall a group river trip I did a couple years ago with a mix of canoe (me) kayak and raft support. The kayaker who followed me kept marveling over how easily I maneuvered through the rapids. He'd never seen that before, and it was an epiphany to him. I hear this a lot, whenever I'm around butt boaters on day trips.

The question is - what do we do to increase awareness of the superior qualities of a fine solo canoe. A local paddling group here does a yearly get together for people willing to allow others to demo their boats and invites the general public (targeting mostly other outdoor interest groups). I've brought a couple of solo canoes to the event the last couple of years, and have gotten mixed results. But some eyes have been opened. Beyond that, I try to at least a couple times each year, join a mixed group of SUPers and kayakers on a river day trip. The questions are always flowing in the slack times. Probably a very small percentage of those exposed will catch the bug, but I think it's worthwhile.

Along those lines - I'm reminded of a question we sometimes hear while backcountry skiing as we pass the snowshoers on the trail.
"Is that easier"?
Yes. Yes it is.

We aren't winning the marketing war.

Steve in Idaho said:

We have some highly skilled SUPs around here, and they're running some pretty big whitewater. They know how to go straight while paddling on one side too.

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What has surprised me was when the first SUP entered the Adirondack 90 miler a few years ago. He was absolutely last to cross the finish line on the final third day, but he got a rousing applause (in part because finally now the awards ceremony could begin). Since then there have been more entries, with slightly better time results.

Then even more unbelievable, SUPS were allowed to enter the Yukon 1000 mile race. The Y1K is totally unsupported externally and all racers must carry all food and gear they need with them for the entire time of the trip, which is normally up to 2 weeks for slower boats. Although, like any other solo paddler, they must travel in pairs for safety. I know there have been days (even more than one day), when they have been weather bound due to high winds as canoes and sea kayaks easily paddled past them.