Tumpline
Maximum output: 48 horsepower. PHOTO: JAMES VAN NOSTRAND
zation in Ottawa, where he saw a 57-foot Haida canoe that was built in 1908. Te ex- perience was a revelation. Here was a long, sleek craft that was of manageable depth for paddling, he recalls. “It wasn’t until I met that canoe face-to-face that I knew I could build a 65-footer that would work.” He set about drafting quarter-scale cross-
sections of the hull, basing his design on his experience shaping Clipper’s line of 22- to 36-foot Big Canoes. Over a hectic six-week period concluding
[ CANOES ] Monsters, Inc. BUILDING NORTH AMERICA’S LONGEST CANOE
James van Nostrand had no grand ambi- tions when an outfitter from Prince Rupert, B.C., commissioned him to design and build North America’s longest canoe. In fact, the Chilliwack, B.C.-based designer of over 20 boats had his doubts that Seashore Char- ters’ proposed 65-foot, Pacific Northwest- style canoe would even work. After studying photographs of a 63-foot Haida dugout built in 1878 and now hang-
ing in the American Museum of Natural His- tory in New York City, van Nostrand became convinced that such a monster would be too awkward to paddle. “It was the depth and flare of the hull,” says van Nostrand, who is best known for shaping most of Abbotsford, B.C.’s Clipper Canoes. “How would you sit there and paddle it comfortably?” But van Nostrand didn’t give up. His re- search took him to the Museum of Civili-
in January 2010, van Nostrand and a team of builders transferred his hand-drawn lines to a plywood building form, covered it with thin strips of foam and fiberglassed it inside and out. Off the mold, the 80-inch-wide canoe was finished with thwarts, seats and an on-board inflatable life raft. It was then painted by Metlakatla First Nations art- ist Mike Epp with the insignias of the four coastal clans: the raven, wolf, orca and eagle. Christened Ha’nda’wit’waada—the
ca-
noe that brings people together—van Nos- trand’s canoe does just that. In its inaugural year, groups of up to 48 people from around the world propelled it on day tours along the northern coast of British Columbia. “It’s been 140 years since canoes this big
paddled the coast,” says Seashore Charters guide Peter Loy. “People can really feel the spirit in it.” —Conor Mihell
THE FINEST KEVLAR CANOES ANYWHERE.
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www.canoerootsmag.com 19
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