What’s the difference between a Kayak and a Canoe?

What’s the difference between a Kayak and a Canoe?

Some people think boats are a means to an end. If it carries you from point A to point B, then what’s the difference?

But dear reader for your sake, and for me to avoid social-faux-pas-ing, I say it IS important to know the difference between a kayak and a canoe.

Canoes tend mostly to be open top vessels (an open deck boat). Picture the two sides of a canoe sewn down the middle. Canoe paddles have only one blade.

Kayaks, on the other hand, are closed top vessel with a hole in the middle for the rower (closed deck boat). A kayaker tends to sit with legs stretched out – there are exceptions, namely myself, who likes to sit crisscross applesauce. Kayak paddles are double-bladed. Kayaks tend to be smaller than canoes. They are lighter, nimbler, and are faster vessels than canoes. Canoes, however, are harder to capsize – and for some individuals that will be much more important than speed. The oldest known boat in the world is the Pesse canoe, found in the Netherlands by a farmer in 1955. Many indigenous American peoples built and used canoes. These sturdy little vessels impressed European explorers who used them in North American travel by river.

Today, canoes and kayaks serve a variety of purposes, from leisure and recreation to Olympic sports.

Query? Ask Clever Cali by sending your query to editorjaanu@thehappyherald.org!