current pushes the canoe through the foampile. Compare that to a short boat that has to climb up the face of the hole. If the stern is still in the green water,the boat will be at such an angle that the current is actu- ally pushing the stern down. Backender! Big canoes make rapids and waves seem
smaller. I’m guessing the Ark was really big. Their large size,buoyancy and speed allows them to plow through many obstacles that a shorter, more manouvreable boat would have to dance around. Some of the highest boofs I’ve heard of an open canoe attempt- ing were done in big 14 foot solo boats. Kind of the same rational that makes a big car safer in a crash.
S
o now there are two distinct kinds of whitewater canoes vying for a pad-
dlers attention, roofspace and bankbook— planing hull and displacement hull canoes. Typically what happens is a canoeist wears out or outgrows their old displacement
boat.They start thinking about a new boat. Which one is best? They try a few and using experience as criteria determine that the new plastic planing hulls are ugly, slow and wet. No argument from me on those points. It is true that short, flat planing hulls are slow on flatwater. But if I want- ed to enjoy the flatwater, I’d paddle a flatwater boat! Now I must admit that if there is flat- water involved and you’re the only one in a freestyle play- boat, then a faster displace- ment boat might be okay. Most freestyle canoes are
wet to paddle, meaning water splashes in more easily than in those massive 13 foot super- tankers.When freeboating, taking on water is fairly irrelevant since each ride in a hole or on a big wave leads to emp- tying the boat anyway.Who cares whether
you’re emptying a little water or a
lot.The only difference is that the small boats are light and easy to empty quickly. If your goal is to stay dry as you descend the rapid, go and buy a short displacement canoe with a bulbous nose that will ride over every
wave.It will be great for all those front surfs and eddy turns. So why are canoeists satisfied with dis- placement hulls? Kayakers moved on to new and exciting possibilities years ago. First time kayakers who just got their new boat and haven’t even taken the price tag off yet, are working towards doing moves with killer names like blunt, donkey flip, tricky whu and pan am.Your average expe- rienced canoeist is still trying to nail a back surf. Ma ybe canoeists don’t
want to do flat spins on a wave because their displacement hull boats aren’t designed to do that. Or are the canoes not designed to do spins because canoeists don’t know they can? The answer just might be to admit that
we need more than one whitewater play- boat. A displacement boat for those occa- sions when you don’t want to play the river, you just want to run
it.And a planing hull canoe to open up new learning opportuni- ties and add fresh excitement to your favourite local rapids.
Paul is a Team-Dagger paddler, freelance cartoonist and wishes to sincerely apologize to his father, the late Bill Mason, for not mentioning the prospector canoe in the preceding article.
Joe Langman rippin it up in his Dagger Aftershock
fall2002 45
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