CANOES
AND
CAN0EING.
BY
C. BOWYER VAUX.
PADDLING, SAILING, CRUISING AND RACING
CANOES, AND THEIR USES, WITH HINTS
ON RIG AND MANAGEMENT, ETC.
THE SPORT IS PURELY AMATEUR.
FULLY ILLUSTRATED.
PUBLISHED BY THE
AMERICAN SPORTS PUBLISHING COMPANY
241 BROADWAY, NEW YORK CITY
COPYRIGHT 1894, BY THE AMERICAN SPORTS PUBLSIHING COMPANY.
CANOES AND CANOEING.
GENERAL SUGGESTIONS.
A canoe is a boat, sharp at both ends, propelled by a paddle. It may be of bark, a log hollowed out, the skins of animals, thin boards secured to a frame, metal, paper or any other suitable material, built open or decked over.
The size of a canoe depends on the needs of the owner. The smallest canoes are those built to hold one owner. A canoe ten feet long and weighing less than ten pounds, has been built and used for cruising. The canoe in the Natural History Museum, New York, from Queen Charlotte's Island, is sixty-three feet long, eight feet three inches wide and five feet deep. It was cut out of a single log. Canoes are now built in length between ten and thirty-five feet.
Many people think only of the birch bark when they hear the word canoe. Birch canoes are in use to-day in the Maine woods, but the light, open, Canadian canoe, built of cedar or basswood, has almost entirely taken its place. The cedar boat is even lighter than the bark canoe, stronger and of better lines, though quite similar to the birch in its form and general appearance, and is more easily paddled. Then there is an almost endless variety of decked canoes.
Canoes in Canada carry the sportsman, his provisions and camping outfit to the hunting ground, and the fisherman to the pools and rapids where salmon and trout are taken with the fly. The single blade paddle is used on still water and in running rapids. A pole is often depended on when the canoe has to be forced up stream. The huniting canoes usually hold two men and all their baggage.
Sometimes these boats are built large enough to hold four men or even more. Decked cruising canoes rarely hold more than one and never more than two persons.
A country of lakes, rivers and forests, where there are few if any roads, is inaccessible except by means of the canoe - a boat light enough to be carried on the shoulders of a man over a portage from one watershed to another or around a fall or rapid.
Canoeing and Camping.
There are more people every year who go to the woods to camp out, and many of them gp simply for the benefits to be derived from an out-of-door life, without any idea of hunting or fishing. The canoe is one of their chief sources of enjoyment, because in it they can explore rivers and lakes, and take short journeys from camp to attractive points in the neighborhood. The canoe may be the means by which they reach their campground from civilization, and in it they return home together with their camping outfit, when the vacation is over. Whole families make such canoeing-camping excursions in Canada yearly, and the ladies enjoy paddling and the camp quite as keenly as do the men.
Choice of a Canoe.
What kind of a canoe do I want ? That depends on the water near your house (if you expect to use the canoe there), the kind of canoeing you propose to do and the price you are willing to pay.
Cost.
There are now many canoe builders in the country and a
great variety of canoes can be bought in stock ready made.
The small, open boats, suitable for smooth water paddling near
Home, cost from $35 up to $60. The full size Canadian
canoes in the States, 16 feet by 30 inches, cost from $60
to $100. The regular cruising canoes cost from $100 to $150, and
the racing, sailing canoes, built to order, cost, fully rigged,
from $175 to $250, and then a large part of the rigging must be
done by the sailor himself. The big war canoes, as they are
called, usually purchased by clubs, cost between $200 and $300.
The standard canoe is 16 feet long and 30 inches wide, and is intended to carry one man comfortably. The American Canoe Association rules do not allow any canoes over 16 feet by 30 inches in the races; and experience has shown that for general canoeing purposes this is the most economical size for one man, take it all in all. Such a canoe is easily paddled and a very fast sailer when properly built and rigged. It is not too large or heavy to be easily handled on shore by two.
Varnish.
Canoes are usually varnished and not painted, and therefore should be kept under shelter when not in use. It is not possible to keep a canoe under cover when not in use on a cruise and therefore care should be taken to cover the deck with a sail or blanket when the canoe is pulled up on shore and left exposed to the sun for any considerable length of time. A coat of good spar varnish should be put on before the cruise is begun, and after it is over the canoe should be rubbed down with sand paper and carefully varnished. A good canoe, properly cared for, will easily last twenty years. There are canoes in use to-day older than that.
Cruising Canoe.
If you intend to cruise on streams and rivers where rapids are met with, the canoe should be built very light, so it can be easily carried by one man through the woods and around dams and falls; and the paddle alone should be depended on - sails are used when the cruise is on open water and portaging is never necessary. A sailing canoe must be built very strong, and is therefore somewhat heavy, with its centreboard, rudder, masts and sails. A sailing canoe is really a small yacht.
Perhaps the best general cruising boat is what is known as Canadian open canoe. It is certainly the best for cruising where portages are frequent, as it is very much lighter (for the load it will carry) than any decked canoe, and may be made quite as safe if &watertights& are built in the ends. It will carry two easily.
Capacity.
A cruising canoe should always be so built that it will hold Easily, besides the paddler, provisions for a week, extra clothing, a camping outfit, including a tent; cooking utensils, blankets and other small necessaries. The cruiser should be ready to cook a meal at any time and also prepared to provide a night's lodging for himself. If he is dependent on hotels for his bed and board he must be prepared to give up the most enjoyable cruising waters.
The cruising canoeman must he a jack-of-all trades if he expects to thoroughly enjoy his trips, he should he an experienced camper, cook and boatman, as well as a good shot and handy with the rod. If you cannot do all of these things yourself, then arrange to take your first cruise with some one who can.
Other Uses.
Though cruising is by far the most enjoyable form of canoeing, pleasure may be derived from "afternoon" paddling and sailing, short excursions, racing, and even from the purely mechanical work of paddling for exercise - and capital exercise it is.
Safety.
People say, &I don't like boating, it is not safe, many people are drowned every year.& Quite true! But did you ever stop to think how many people are killed on railroads and by runaway horses?
A man should never go canoeing, rowing or yachting until he can swim. There is really only one accident to guard against while canoeing - drowning - and with ordinary care the chances of this are very small. Every canoe is a lifeboat, or it should be. Canoeing is not agreeable in cold weather; therefore if one is upset no great harm can result, as the canoe will not only float, but it will keep its crew afloat also, and a ducking in summer is not a serious mishap. A few fatal accidents have happened to canoemen, but almost without exception the unfortunates could not swim or took foolhardy chances.
Testing a Canoe.
It is well to prove a new canoe safe by trying experiments with it near the shore, in order to find out if the air chambers are watertight, and to make sure that you can get in a capsized canoe from the water and bail it out. If the compartments are not watertight, have them made so at once. If you find you cannot get in the canoe after upsetting it, practice till you can. This trick is quite simple when you have acquired the knack. Learn to get in over the side, either side, and over the end; sometimes this is a more convenient way. If this sort of experimenting has been tried, the canoeman who is pitched overboard at sometime or other (as all are sure to be sooner or later) will know just what to do and will have confidence in himself, and that is always half the battle. This confidence may be the means of saving another's life. The Canadians have a trick of shaking the water out of a swamped open canoe while swimming alongside, and then the paddler climbs in over the side without upsetting even a very cranky craft. It is a pretty trick and few would believe it possible without seeing it done.