Kayaking and Canoeing

Jessica Dunkin

Both canoes and kayaks have long histories as modes of transportation, but also as pleasure and sport craft. The canoe, a simple, open, keelless boat able to accommodate one or more people and propelled by a single-blade paddle, is a design of the indigenous cultures of the Americas. The kayak, on the other hand, is an innovation of circumpolar indigenous groups, such as the Inuit, and has a covered deck and generally one or two “cockpits” for paddlers who employ a double-bladed paddle to propel their craft. Primarily used by Aboriginal people for trade, subsistence, and travel, canoes and kayaks also served recreational purposes in indigenous cultures. British author Anna Jameson, for example, described an 1837 race involving 30 canoes of Aboriginal women. While ...

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