A MELDING OF CONVERSATIONS WITH CANOE DESIGNER MIKE GALT
From Canoe Magazine, March 1981.
We’re republishing this article for its historical value, and because it’s still worth reading, more than 40 years later…
Solo. Alone. But never lonely. Paddling in solitude as one with a very personal canoe. Experiencing intimately the mysteries and wonders of the natural world and the self. And when the spirit moves, paddling in concert with peers, each independent yet in harmony. A self-propelled travelling concept so timely, so correct.
The solo canoe: a light, slender form in utter symphony with wind and wave. Long and “sweet” enough to move effortlessly; large enough to carry the paddler, a spartan kit, and a few dreams. A hull fashioned with such subtlety that its very motion often transmits spiritual sensations. A canoe concept reborn in the dawn of an age when the most sensitive and intelligent are drawn to the simpler, more self-nurturing forms of physical expression. An activity where men and women are equal. On the solo path, skill and knowledge supersede simple strength or mere gender.
The solo paddler is exploring the realms of an expanding recreational world. He is sensitive enough to reach beyond mediocrity, bold enough to resist traditional pressures, with the inner strength to prefer the solo path. The solo paddler neither submits to nor dominates the natural rhythms of another paddler. The solo paddler is at peace in situations that require individual effort and self-dependence. The avant-garde solo paddler is separated from the more tradition-bound through a growing awareness and sensitivity to design.
The solo canoe is infinitely more difficult to design than a tandem canoe. In the shorter solo canoe’s design, problems are contracted and any shortcomings compounded. It’s amazing how a long tandem canoe will smooth out any rough design edges. The solo paddler, in his intimate solitude with his craft, is more analytical about his canoe’s performance. He wants to explore the outer limits of man-craft-water unity.
Solo paddling is a free-form performing art. The performance intricacies of a solo canoe should be far beyond the paddler’s skill level so there is always inspirational space to grow. The solo canoe is an extension of the paddler’s personality and should respond to the mood, rhythm, and whim of his will. Some solo paddlers are so attuned that they often sense their canoes responding to their innermost thoughts. There is an enchanting mystique surrounding the solo canoe.
Many are amazed to find that the most modern, highly performing canoes are classic in design, not traditional mind you, but utterly classic. The vagaries of wind and wave cannot be addressed by passing fad or latest fashion, but only by a profound effort to orchestrate a man-created shape with a natural condition. Today’s solo canoe is the ultimate manifestation of our attempt toward this man-earth orchestration.
A canoe, after all, is simply a form. It is the shape of this form that dictates the qualities of a canoe. It is design!
Many prominent yacht designers and naval architects design by computer. When the vessel’s shape is determined, a four- to five-foot model is constructed. The model is plunged into a “test tank”, plugged into a computer, and the read-out determines the design’s viability.
The canoe designer has an awesome advantage over his more scientific cousin. He has the advantage of an infinitely more sensitive computer. Consider, if you will, a full-sized solo canoe prototype as a 16 foot test tank model. The solo canoe designer has a multitude of sensory devices: the slender, resilient shaft of a fine wood paddle to transmit the canoe’s resistance; eyes to record the shape and size of waves formed by the hull’s passage; ears to hear the gurgle and swirl of the passing water; equilibrium to test stability; and other more subtle inputs fed into the planet’s ultimate computer – the human mind. And this computer has one other incomparable quality – it has a soul!
There are those who think the solo canoe, at its best, represents the ultimate hull form. I tend to agree. Many of history’s greatest yacht designers honed their skills through designing, paddling, and sailing canoes. The canoe form affords the designer no tricks. There are no tack-on appendages with which to adjust a hull’s performance or handling qualities. There are no keels, no skegs, no rudders, nothing but pure shape.
At first glance, a solo canoe’s most dramatic feature is its slenderness. This gives the paddler a comfortable reach over the side for an efficient stroke. Slenderness might suggest instability, but this is not necessarily true. Stability is a factor of design, not of width. It’s a different type of stability than most paddlers are accustomed to. The solo canoe usually doesn’t have much initial stability, rather its sensitive performance depends on both dynamic and final stability.
You guessed it, the dynamic part has to do with the paddler. The final part is the hull’s ability to roll down to the rail and firm up. This quality usually is the result of a little flare in the topsides, which gives the canoe something to lean on. “Laying it down” is one of the solo paddler’s joys. Banking turns, after all, is quite natural and fun.
Another quality to look for in a solo canoe is lateral balance. Lateral balance is a refinement of tracking. A canoe that tracks well usually does so with deep, sharp ends that inhibit turning or with the even more primitive keel. A solo canoe with highly evolved lateral balance depends on hydrodynamics. It runs true in a gentle hydraulic cradle, yet responds instantly to the slightest change in paddle pitch. It will maneuver gracefully yet have a definite glide between strokes.
Flare is a very subjective quality with me, so much so that I see no rational excuse for tumblehome in a real paddler’s canoe. Tumblehome suggest to me that the canoe is so wide at the waterline – to give the casual paddler a feeling of security – That the sides must roll back in or “tumble home” to permit anyone to get a paddle over the side. As the tumble-homed canoe is loaded, its invariably ugly shape is pressed down in the water and it acquires the paddling characteristics of a barge. Flare, on the other hand, gives a canoe life – read buoyancy – seaworthiness, and of course, final stability.
Speed is a subject oft discussed but never adequately dealt with. A fast solo sport, cruising, or touring canoe compared to what? A solo racing machine? A tandem? Speed is a relative thing. A long solo touring canoe is very fast indeed and will run with the best racing canoes. Loaded equally, especially in foul weather conditions, the touring canoe will probably have the best of it. Today’s best solo touring canoes are up to four inches narrower at the waterline than USCA solo marathon racing canoes.
Can a more compact solo weekender maintain company with average tandems? Yes, indeed, providing the solo canoe is well designed and the paddler is adept at the solo water dance. The solo canoe does require a more highly developed skill level than a tandem. Maybe this is the challenge the new breed of solo paddler is rising to? The tandem can certainly use skillful paddling, but it does not demand it.
A skilled woman paddler in a correct solo canoe can keep company with more voluminous boats quite handily. A properly designed solo day tripper or sport canoe can accelerate to the paddler’s normal cruising tempo almost effortlessly. Again, speed compared to what? The personal sensation of swift water travel is an individual reality. Speed in relation to all other canoes is the domain of the racing hull.
Solo paddling style? A paddler can approach this from either extreme of the technical spectrum: sitting and switching sides every few strokes as the marathon racers are wont to do, or high-kneeling in the classic Olympic style.
While sitting and switching may be efficient, I find it undignified, ugly to watch, and boring to do. Conversely, Olympic style is heroic, incredibly graceful and, over a limited distance, more powerful and faster than any other paddling style. And it is classy. Pat Moore is the absolute master of this style. Everyone in the growing solo fraternity will encounter countless legends of Pat Moore. The stories are great, but actually seeing Pat perform in his canoe is awesomely inspiring. Purified solo technique is more akin to ballet than a “grunt ‘n sweat” session.
In a sport paddling mode, the solo paddler will usually kneel on both knees to become more at one with his canoe, pushing back into his seat only to stretch his legs or eat lunch. While cruising in a loaded – ballasted – solo canoe, the paddler will often sit and use a bent-shaft paddle. He does not sit and switch unless he’s tired! The loaded touring canoe will track with enough intensity so only the slightest correction will be required.
The solo canoe does not threaten the tandem canoe, rather it complements it. I know of very few solo paddlers who don’t own at least one tandem. Of course, there are hard core solo paddlers like Paul Marsh, Pat Moore, and Dana Hardy who own a different solo canoe for every conceivable situation and simply don’t paddle tandem. Me? I get in more than my share of solo time but there are days when the old bones are grateful to have the bow seat carry me a bit.
It may be realistic to say there will never be as many solo canoes as there are tandems, although I may want to hedge on that statement in about five years. However, the solo canoe is already the glamour canoe of the sport. And one thing is certain. Forevermore the solo paddler and the canoe that transports him on the solo path will set the performance and technique standards for the world of paddling.
And that is how it should be…