BRITISH CANOE UNION A SHORT HISTORY OF CANOEING IN BRITAIN
Compiled and Edited by O. J. Cock
Contents
Forword
I The
Beginning
II Development
and Organisation
III Sprint Racing
IV Sailing
V Slalom and
White Water Racing
VI Long Distance
Racing (Marathon)
VII Recent Developments
VIII Envoy
IX Bibliographical Notes
on the Illustrations
Plate 2: “The First Rob Roy”, from “Joun MacGregor”,
a biography by Edwin Hodder, published 1894. |
Foreword
This short history has been compiled and checked from as many
sources of information as could be found, and the editor has many
friends to thank for their help. He would particularly like to
mention John W. Dudderidge,OBE the President of the British Canoe
Union, and Peter E . Wells the Commodore of the Royal Canoe Club,
for their assistance in checking the manuscript. It has not been
easy to compile a history, which is simple to follow. With a sport
with so many facets of such wide variety, to write it chronologically
confuses the growth of the sections too much. The book has therefore
been divided into parts, each dealing with one of these sections.
Nevertheless incidents in one very often affected another. When
this occurred cross-references have been made wherever possible.
It is hoped that in this way a reasonable picture of the whole
of the sport of canoeing can be grasped.
Plate 3: Shooting the rapids of the River Ruess, Switzerland |
Plate 4: “In the Hayfields” near the Danube in Germany. |
Chapter I The Beginning
| The first sign of any organisation in canoeing appeared
when John MacGregor, a London Scot of very great energy, got
Searle ‘s of Lambeth, boatbuilders, to build him his first
“Rob Roy” in 1865. John MacGregor was a great writer;
but, although he wrote many books describing his craft (He designed
many more “‘Rob Roys “) he only briefly divulged
that he got his original idea after seeing the canoes in “North
America and the Kamschatka”. The Rob Roys themselves were
essentially all-purpose travelling vessels for rivers and estuaries.
They were propelled by double-bladed paddles; but they could
also take advantage of any following wind by setting a small
lugsail, the paddle then being used to steer. Some of these original
Rob Roys can still be found. The one built for MacGregor ‘s
cruise on the River Jordan and the Nile is preserved at the Royal
Canoe Club, and there is another at the National Mountaineering
Centre, Plas y Brenin, in Snowdonia. Many more of the same type
of canoe were built and sold to the general public, and very
occasionally even these can be found, still in use. As a result
of the lectures he gave and of the books he wrote about his voyages,
MacGregor began to collect about him other enthusiasts, and in
1866 the Canoe Club was formed. The Prince of Wales joined the
club and was made Commodore in 1867,which office he held until
his accession to the throne as King Edward VII in 1901. In 1873,by
command of Queen Victoria, the Canoe Club became the Royal Canoe
Club. The Prince was Member Number 57,owning a canoe called “Risk”.
The energy and speed with which the Canoe Club got going was
remarkable and could easily serve as a model for many today.
In 1867 they held their first paddling regatta, with fifteen
canoes taking part. It was a well organised event, and the present
Commodore still has a copy of the original, printed programme. |
Plate 5: “Second Rapids” on the River Rheinfelden series. |
Chapter II Development and Organisation
It took time for the sport of canoeing to spread away from the
Canoe Club, but the granting
of the Royal Warrant made others look towards it, and to seek
for themselves its enchantments. One of the first clubs thus to
be formed was the Clyde Canoe Club, in 1876. This club existed
in strength until shortly after the Second World War, and it was
responsible for the “C” class sailing canoe, a class
which has now all but died out. The club itself still exists,
but it has gone over to sailing dinghies - and, we are told, fishing!
Progress was, however, slow. In fact canoeing got organised more
quickly on the continent of Europe than it did in Great Britain,
and in 1924 Austria. Germany, Denmark and Sweden founded the Internationalen
Representation for Kanusport (IRK). Czechoslovakia joined it in
1925, followed by Finland, Luxembourg and Jugoslavia in 1932,
Holland and Hungary in 1933, and Great Britain, America, Belgium
and Switzerland in 1934. By 1935 there were seventeen federations.
The IRK had its headquarters in Munich. After the Second World
War a new federation had to be built on the ruins of the old one.
The work was started in 1946, when, among others, John Dudderidge
represented Great Britain - he had been on the board of the old
IRK since 1938 - and Charles de Coquereaumont represented France.
The new body was called the International Canoe Federation (usually
referred to as ICF). M.de Coquereaumont is now the President of
the ICF and John Dudderidge is on the Board. The other long serving
member of the board who deserves mention is Olov Verner of Sweden
who was secretary from 1946 until his retirement from the post
in 1972, by which time, the number of affiliated bodies had risen
to 36. In this country the first attempt to bring scattered groups
together occurred in 1887, when the British Canoe Association
was formed primarily for touring canoeists, and not as a legislating
or governing body for the sport. Although this organisation remained
active for a number of years, it never developed and quietly died
in the 1920’s, though in fact it never was officially disbanded,
and its honorary secretary, Arthur Nisbet was still a member of
the Royal Canoe Club in 1939. On the continent, however, the sport
was waxing. The German firm of Klepper had a design of folding
canoe before the First World War. In the ‘20 ‘s the
Germans made good use of this invention, and canoeing became very
popular. In fact, the Sport began to be linked with skiing, the
one being followed in the winter, with the other in the summer.
In 1927 H .W.Pawlata, an Austrian, performed the first Eskimo
roll done by a European. His roll is still the basic roll, the
one taught first by most people today. Pawlata learnt to roll
by studying papers written about Eskimos, in particular those
written by Rasmussen. The first Englishman to learn, did so directly
from the Eskimos. This was Gino Watkins in 1930. Watkins dreamed
of the Arctic Air Route, over Greenland, and went there to explore
its possibilities. Whereas Pawlata learnt to roll for the fun
of it - and what fun he has given us! - Watkins learnt to roll
to survive and to obtain food for his expedition party.
In the early ‘30 ‘s travellers to Germany began to bring
back news of these elegant folding canoes. They were to be seen
in thousands on the various German rivers. Some travellers bought
them, and soon dealers began to import them. They became such
an instant success that manufacturers began to appear. One of
the first was Kissner, who started to make the “Folbot”
in a small factory not far from Old Street, London, about 1933.
Another early manufacturer was F .0 .D. Hirschfeld, a refugee
from Hitler ‘s Germany, who started on Tyneside in 1935,
creating the firm of Tyne Canoes Ltd. The owners of these new
canoes began to look around for clubs. Finding very few, they
began to form them themselves. In 1933 the Camping Club of Great
Britain and Ireland gave birth to a canoeing section, and the
Canoe-Camping Club came into being although it gained that name
much later on. That same year the Manchester Canoe Club was founded,
and there is an amusing story of one of this club’s earlier
tours abroad. In 1936 one Ferdinand Winkle invited a party of
students from London University and their friends for a holiday
on some Bavarian rivers. In this party were Ralph Tyas, and Maurice
Rothwell, until very recently chairman of the Slalom and White
Water Committee. For this tour the British contingent received
the following commendation from the D.K .V. (the governing body
in Germany): “Rightly are the representatives of the Manchester
Canoe Club styled England’s Kayak pioneers; they stand but
little behind the finest performers of Europe.” And there,
we may be allowed to add, they remain to this day. However, we
must return to the organisation of the sport. With the creation
of more clubs it became important to establish a national governing
body. After correspondence in the national press the British Canoe
Association (Mk.II) was formed, the founders being completely
unaware that there had ever been a Mark I, or that its corpse
was still lying around unburied. The new B.C A. and the Canoe
section of the Camping Club decided to amalgamate but to remain
as a section of the Camping Club of Great Britain, and they affiliated
this new body to the I.C.F. Its secretary, R.V. Ripley attended
a Congress in Prague where the 1933 World Championships were being
held. However, a national governing body needs to be entirely
independent before it can affiliate other clubs to itself. After
much argument a new national body, under the leadership of Hians
Renold and with Mrs Jane Unwin as secretary, was formed and called
the British Canoe Union. Its inaugural meeting was on the 28th
March 1936, so that the British Team to the Olympic Games of that
year went under the aegis of the B.C.U. Now another personality
appeared on the British scene, who had a great influence upon
our sport. This was Franz Schulhof who came to England as manager
of the London branch of an Austrian company. He brought with him
a genuine Eskimo Kayak and a copy of it made by the firm of Grazer,
together with the reputation of being among the first Europeans
to do the Eskimo Roll (he invented the “Schulhof” or
Put Across method), and with seven first descents of Alpine Rapid
Rivers to his credit, among them the Upper Inn. He joined the
Royal Canoe Club in 1937, and took parties from that club to rivers
in the French Alps and to the Hampshire and Sussex coasts, where
he made films, which were the foundation of the British Canoe
Union film library. This library was set up by the writer in 1948
together with one or two films of his own making. It became too
big a job to be run by an amateur, and in 1958 it was handed over
to the British Film Institute to handle for the B.C.U.
Franz Schulhof also bears the distinction of being the first person
to teach rolling in this country. He taught members of the Royal
Canoe Club, and in 1938 the first B.C .U. Rolling Circus was launched,
with exhibitions in London and Stockport. He has the honourable
reputation of being the first “enemy alien” to have
gained a commission in H.M.Forces; the Army changed his name to
Frank Sutton and awarded him the Military Cross. He is now a British
subject, has recently retired from business and lives in Buckinghamshire.
He is an honorary member of the Royal Canoe Club. In 1939 Franz
Schulhof organised the first British slalom, at Trevor Rocks on
the Welsh Dee. He was assisted by Maurice Rothwell among others.
A second one was held on the Teme at Ludlow in 1940 but the war
put paid to further activity until 1948, when the next was held
at Tymain Island, on the Dee again. Geoff Sanders, now the chairman
of the Council was there, as well as the old die-hards and some
other, new blood.
If we have mentioned Pawlata and Schulhof as pioneers from the
continent, we must most certainly also bring in Milo Dufek. Upon
him we can hang much of the subsequent history of kayak canoeing.
Until very recently Canadian Canoeing has remained technically
static for a very long time, though the standard of skill has
steadily gone up. Now, as we shall see, the wheel has very nearly
turned completely. The increased skill has been much assisted
by new methods of manufacture, and the new skills of the Kayak
are beginning to help the Canadian paddler again. But in 1952
Milo Dufek made his way out of Czechoslovakia and into Switzerland.
He also transferred his affections from the Canadian to the Kayak,
and brought the skills of the former to the latter. Milo Dufek
was not only a canoeist of international ability; he was a fine
showman. His magnificent demonstration of the “new”
skills, and their obvious advantage over the old methods soon
convinced the slalomists at least that they had got to learn them,
too. So far as we were concerned, the British Slalom team, on
its way to Merano in Italy in 1953, went via Munich to take lessons
from the German champion Erik Seidel. Here began our Basic Strokes.
In a book written by me in 1955, in the chapter on kayak paddling
technique, I wrote.... it is a sad thing that only now is the
art of paddling being studied ... “ and I went on to suggest
that we use the names of the Canadian strokes from which these
strokes had sprung. The strokes then were not exactly what we
have now, but they were very near. In 1953, too, began another
revolution. We had not yet got down to holding our canoes properly.
Erik Seidel was sitting on a bag full of sawdust, which he had
beaten into the right shape by bouncing on it! Should we in fact
have a proper seat? Should we have knee grips? We now have both;
the ordinary tourist is beginning to appreciate the value of these
comforts. Nevertheless in 1959, six years later, Paul Farrant,
the F.1 .World Champion Slalomist that year, had to make his own
knee grips and foot rest. These things were not generally accepted.
Another factor which speeded the development was a change in the
method of construction of canoes. Plastic materials began to appear,
and the application of glass reinforced plastic (GRP) with its
simplicity and its immense strength to weight ratio seemed obvious
to the far-sighted. One of the first firms to experiment with
this method of construction was J.L. Gmach, who began to offer
for sale canoes made this way in 1956 or ‘57. Other firms
were not long in following suit, although the rules governing
international slalom prevented the inclusion of GRP canoes before
1963. Nevertheless progress has been rapid ever since. The combination
of the new technique shown us by Milo Dufek and the almost limitless
shapes obtainable by the use of GRP have sped us on. It became
obvious that the rapid growth of the sport - not only in technique
but in numbers also - might become uncontrollable by the Council
of the B.C .U. Two or three of the competitive sides of canoeing
were strong enough to have developed their own committees.
| Slalom and Sprint Racing (then called Paddle Racing) had
been on the scene for a long enough time, though sailing was
still dominated by the Royal Canoe Club. Now Long Distance Racing
was beginning to appear, and the Ministry of Education was shortly
to invite us to have a professional National Coach, which meant
the creation of a Coaching Scheme, with its controlling Central
Council for Physical Recreation some years before, in 1949. Technical
Committees became an integral part of the government of canoeing,
and the Constitution and Rules of the B.C.U. were written accordingly.
Recently even more technical committees have been set up, and
the Corps of Canoe Life Guards (of whom more in a moment) has
been incorporated into the Union. There is a committee looking
after Sea and Surf Canoeing, and the Council has arranged that
those who wish to make Canoe Polo a serious competitive sport
shall create a committee to control it properly. This is not
the place to give a close and detailed account of the development
of the individual sections of the sport. The histories of some
of those sections which have existed longest are given in subsequent
chapters. But we must not forget our younger sections, one or
two of which may turn out in time to be strong in numbers. |
Plate 6: “Canal Miseries” by the Marne France. |
Touring has always attracted the, greatest number; in fact pretty
well everybody who takes to canoeing goes on some sort of trip
at some time, even if it be only for the afternoon. Consequently
a great deal of the energy of the B.C.U. is devoted to this, gathering
information on all our waterways, and fighting to maintain access
to those where greater forces are endeavouring to keep them for
their own sole use.
Plate 7: “ The Rob Roy on Wheels” at Lauffenburg, Germany. |
Then the Coaching Committee has been mentioned. With the
great interest shown in the sport by the educational world, it
became obvious that some sort of national scheme should be set
up to guide the teachers into a proper, safe way of teaching
their young pupils. A coaching scheme was created by the indefatigable
John Dudderidge, who toured the land in 1959 and ‘60, selecting
people upon whom to build the scheme. In September 1961 the National
Coaching Committee was set up, and on the 1st January 1962 the
first National Coach was appointed. This committee has developed
the scheme into a strong organisation, dividing the country into
Areas, each controlled by an Area Coaching Organiser, with an
Area Coaching Panel to help him, and Local Coaching Organisers
to help in particular localities. Now there are part-time National
Coaches, working in three of these Areas, and a fourth appointed
to build up a scheme of coaching within the several forms of
competition. There is a Standing Liaison Committee, with members
appointed by the competition committees and the National Coaching
Committee, to ensure that the National Coach with special responsibilities
for competition gets all the help he can in setting up his scheme. |
Perhaps the initial signs of any form of standard qualification
appeared in 1947,when the writer formed a committee to devise
a number of Tests of Proficiency. After two years’ work it
produced its first test. Some years later, after John Dudderidge
had written a set of standards for the Duke of Edinburgh’s
Award, the committee produced the Advanced Test. Thus the National
Coaching Committee was given some groundwork upon which to develop
its standards for teaching. After some years with John Dudderidge
in the chair to guide it, he retired from it and in 1966 Geoff
Sanders, who had previously been its honorary
secretary, took his place. The committee has always kept a close
watch on all the standards, revising and altering as necessary,
as time has shown; but it is worth noting that original test,
first published about 1949, is still the basis of the present
Proficiency Test. The committee of that time did its work well.
If all this scheme of teaching and coaching came into being in
1961, the Corps of Canoe Life Guards can claim to be that little
bit older. It was first conceived by Rear Admiral (then Captain)
Hoare who was doing voluntary work in the London Federation of
Boys? Clubs. The serious East Coast floods of 1953 gave him the
idea that a properly trained canoeist could do immensely useful
work. However, floods are not available every day, and the Corps
found itself drawn to lifeguard work on the beaches, especially
those where great mass~ of inland population go for their summer
recreation. It was difficult to convince the ignorant that this
light cockleshell of a vessel could be anything but a nuisance
on the beaches, and it was a long, hard battle, only won by demonstration,
before the Corps became an accepted part of the life saving services
along our coasts. Again, John Dudderidge was initially in the
chair until the scheme had some strength and he could leave it
to stand on its own feet. With all this huge development the organisation
of the sport by amateurs became impossible, and in 1962 the Council
of the B.C.U. decided to employ a professional secretary. Captain
Alec Kennedy R.N., (retired) became the first secretary and offices
were found in the Head Offices of the Central Council of Physical
Recreation in London. The reader will have noticed that throughout
this chapter one name persistently appears. Without John Dudderidge
the British Canoe Union and all else to do with canoeing would
not today be in the strong position that it is. It will not be
surprising, therefore if we close this chapter with the news that,
for all this magnificent service, in 1963 he was awarded the O.B.E.,
and in 1964 he was given the Award of Honour of the International
Canoe Federation.
Plate 8: “Chinese
Rig”
Chapter III Sprint Racing
That original, well organised regatta in 1867 mentioned in Chapter
I was to set off quite intensive competition over the next few
years. At that first regatta the competitors had only their Rob
Roys to race in; but very soon improved designs began to appear
and the Rob Roy became longer and narrower, and so faster. The
type which was evolved became known as the “Single Streak”
by reason of its construction from two streaks or planks, one
on each side, of cedar less than 1/8” thick. The actual dimensions
as to length and beam varied according to the weight of the man
for whom it was built, but an average size would have been 20
feet by 22 inches, decked fore and aft with a bulk headed cockpit
or well, protected by narrow side decks and coaming. The paddler
sat on the floorboards bracing himself against a backboard and
adjustable footrest or stretcher. His paddle was about 7’6”
long, spoon-bladed and unfeathered. Sadly, the last examples of
these craft disappeared nearly half a century ago; but they were
the direct ancestors of the modern racing kayak. In 1874 the Royal
Canoe Club instituted the Paddling Challenge Cup, the oldest paddling
trophy in the world. Races for this were paddled in Rob Roys until
the early years of this century when the, by then dominant, interest
in single blade paddling led the club to change the race to Canadian
Singles. Soon after the Second World War the club again reflected
the changing fashion by reverting to Kayaks. Again in the latter
part of the nineteenth century four-man Kayaks appeared. Like
the original Rob Roys, they were clinker built and were known
as Rob Roy Fours. These original craft were still in existence
in 1950 when they were burnt as useless, the owners not appreciating
their historical value. There is a story, for which proof has
not been found, that in the ‘90’s, the Swedes wishing
to run some canoe races, the only racing craft available were
found to belong to the Royal Canoe Club, and these craft by some
curious process had arrived in Malta, from where the Germans carried
them to Sweden! How and when they ever got back to the Royal Canoe
Club is not related. From the last decade of the nineteenth century
into the first quarter of the twentieth, whilst in Britain the
sport underwent a recession, in Europe it grew from strength to
strength. Paddle racing was carried on in Britain very nearly
only in the spring and autumn meetings of the Royal Canoe Club
and at a few local regattas on the Thames. Great Britain was not
represented in Copenhagen in 1924, when the first international
organisation was set up, to regulate the competitive branches
of the sport. In Chapter II we have seen how the British Canoe
Association and the British Canoe Union came into being. In the
previous paragraph we have seen the creation of International
Representation for Kanusport, the I.R.K. In 1933 the honorary
secretary of the B.C.A. attended a meeting of the Congress of
the I.R.K. in Prague, where the World Championships were being
held. A Racing Secretary was appointed by the B.C .A., and he
organised its first regatta at Chertsey in 1934. At this time
the I.R.K.had its headquarters in Munich, and the President and
Secretary were both German. They were influential in persuading
the Olympic Organising Committee for the Berlin Games to put forward
canoeing as a new sport for that programme. Their success led
to a great leap forward in international canoe racing. The B.C.A.
immediately made a provisional entry for the 1936 Games but with
little or no idea how it would implement it.
| Shortly after the first National Championships again at Chertsey,
in 1935, the Racing Secretary handed in his resignation since
he was going abroad. John Dudderidge took the job on, and at
once set about finding and preparing a team for the 1936 Olympic
Games in Berlin. In the autumn of 1935 the canoeing world was
invited to submit the names of canoeists prepared to take up
intensive training. Notices were also placed in the national
press inviting unattached canoeists to offer themselves. When
a squad of about a score had been gathered, detailed training
schedules were issued to the trainees and in London winter training
began on the Tideway at Strand on the Green. In the spring of
1936 the training base was moved to the Royal Canoe Club where
a 10,000 M. course had been measured out. By this time the numbers
in the squad had fallen to about a dozen. |
Plate 9: “ Crossing the Sound” from the book “Come
Travelling”
by Warrington Baden-Powell |
Trials during the next two months reduced them further so that
at Whitsuntide, when the squad moved up to Windermere to gain
experience on water more like that which they were going to find
in Berlin, the party numbered some half dozen from whom the team
would need three men and one or two reserves. On their return
to London the Possibles were sent to a Harley Street heart specialist
for thorough examination. A selection committee under the chairmanship
of the then Commodore of the R.C .C. were given the trials results
and the medical reports. The team were to concentrate on the 10,000
M event. G.W.Lawton came 8th out of 13 in the Folding Singles,
and MR. Brearley and J.W.Dudderidge came 9th in the Folding Pairs.
These Olympic Games were an important landmark in that it was
the first time a British team had taken part in an international
event, at home or abroad, and the first time we had seen any top
class international paddling. Paddling techniques were studied,
craft examined, contacts made, and the team came back determined
to see Great Britain at all future championships.
In the Spring of 1937 Dudderidge organised a two-week residential
course at the R.C .C., and obtained the services of the leading
German coach Geerhard Quandt who was also the German C .1 champion.
The course was thus able to cover both Kayak and Canadian techniques.
Quandt brought over with him the first K.1. The R.C.C. still had
K.4’s., new, carvel built ones. The enthusiasm thus engendered
was so great that the R.C .C. bought a fleet of racing Kayaks
from a maker in Linz, Austria, of three K.1 and three K.2 ‘s.,
which were supplied and delivered in London for £80 the
lot! In the 1938 World Championships in Stockholm we entered a
team for the K.1.,K.2.,F.1.,F .2. and C.1. classes, and the name
of A. W. J. Simmons first appeared as a K.1. paddler. However,
in general, our results that year demonstrated that we still had
a long way to go. The next Olympic Games were to have been held
at Helsinki in 1940; but the second world war caused a recession,
and in the 1947 National Championships we had to start again.
However, the real rally came in 1948, when the first Olympic Games
to be held after the war were in England, and the canoeing events
were to be at Henley-on-Thames, on the same course as the Henley
Royal Regatta. The B.C.U. was put to a very big effort indeed,
since not only were there no competitors, but there were no canoes
either. However, Messrs. Jicwood of Weybridge were approached
by their materials superintendent Mr. Polovtsef, who had previously
built kayaks in Finland, and they agreed to build a dozen Kayaks
in time for the Games. They built them regardless of cost and,
knowing that there was far too little money available, they made
the B.C.U. a gift of them. It was upon these kayaks, and two racing
Canadian canoes made by Austin Farrar of Wolverstone Shipyard
on the Orwell that the foundations were laid upon which sprint
canoeing might be rebuilt. As a result, we were represented in
all the Olympic events, including the K.1. for women, this being
the first time that we had ever entered a woman for an international
event. Our representatives in the Canadian events were, perhaps,
getting beyond the age of continuing in the competition field;
but in 1949 Gerald Marchand appeared on the scene. He is the only
one to have done so until Willy Reichenstein represented us in
the World Championships of 1973. Since then some others have shown
an interest in this class. This side of serious competition canoeing
is, therefore, almost non-existent in the British Isles today.
Plate 10: Upset Race of the Northern Branch of the
Canoe Club, 1872, at Holylake on the Mersey Training in the Kayak
world, however, began to gain momentum.
In 1950 Eric Farnham took over the coaching of the team, and
the Swedish coach Hans Berglund took the first post-war racing
course at Bisham Abbey New boats, including modern K.4 ‘s.,
appeared. Altogether the scene looked promising for the future,
and there was great hope of achievement in the Olympic Games in
Helsinki in 1952. But with a new and somewhat immature team, we
found that standards elsewhere had also gone ahead and, although
we did not do too badly, our placings were not as good as we had
hoped. In 1953 we did achieve a standard comparable with those
on the continent of Europe, and we gained a second place in the
first West European Championships in Duisburg, followed by a first
in K.4 ‘s., at an international regatta at Namur, as well
as a second and a third in other events. In this year, too, we
had the first of the annual sprint championships on the Serpentine
in London, sponsored by the “News of the World”. Altogether
things began to look bright for the future. However, things were
not to work out like that. A few remained keen and worked hard;
but it was too few. The cost of sending people to Melbourne in
1956 meant that only a very few could represent us in the canoeing
events there. In their efforts to encourage others to join in
sprint racing, the Paddling Racing Committee introduced the National
Chine Kayak, but this exceptionally fine canoe, which could be
made easily and cheaply at home, seems to have been before its
time, as it did not get taken up in the way it was hoped, although
events for it were arranged at many regattas. By 1957 the number
of competitors had dropped to a dangerously low figure. In an
effort to halt the decline the Paddling Racing Committee introduced
junior and senior events. This latter decision produced a record
number of junior entrants, and it appeared that things would pick
up again. By 1959 we were again able to enter good teams, and
in that year the European Championships at Duisburg saw the largest
British team yet. Things began to look brighter for the 1960 Olympic
Games in Rome. Indeed, our team did do better than previously.
Of the four events for which we entered only in one did our entrants
not reach the semifinals.
In the K.1. men’s event Ron Rhodes not only reached the final
- the first time in the Union’s history, but by producing
his best time ever, secured fifth place and thereby qualified
for an Olympic diploma. 1961 saw the birth of the British Open
Youth Championships. It was again hoped that, by building up a
large group of enthusiastic young people in sprint racing, we
would develop a sound pyramid of competitors, built on a broad
base from which future world champions could be produced. However,
as in many other sports, although this scheme was greeted with
excitement by many, there were far too few who were willing to
carry out the necessary organisation. The Central Council of Physical
Recreation did all it could to back us with the paper work; but
still the scheme never functioned as it should. By 1967 this brilliant
idea had virtually been allowed to die again, partly because of
the lack of willing helpers in its organisation, but also through
lack of a standardised craft. However, there were rays of hope.
Although costs had started to rise and so make it more difficult
for the true amateur to pay his own way. The Wolfenden Committee
recommended that the Government should help. In due course monetary
grant-aid started to help the international competitor. But still
that pyramid did not have a broad enough base on which to build
securely for the future.
But new trends cannot be denied, however much they are resisted
in the first place. Young people like racing. The next job was
to get their teachers to accept that they could. The idea of a
“One-design” racing canoe was put up in 1969. At first
it was turned down “because kids could not sit in a K.1”!
However, after a struggle, the BCU adopted an early design of
the dart-shaped K.1., and its designer, Jorgen Samson of Denmark,
gave the sole rights of its manufacture in the United Kingdom
to the British Canoe Union. In 1970, too, the British Schools
Canoeing Association was born. Who better to organise events for
this new “Espada Youth K.1.”? They have accepted the
challenge, and the interest reported by schools and youth clubs,
and the comments made by the manufacturers of both the canoes
and the moulds (for the canoes can be made by the young people
themselves) gives great indication that at last we shall involve
a large number of people in sprint canoeing. But there is still
much work to be done before Britain can lead the world in sprint
racing. Having started behind us, other nations have worked harder
and more earnestly, and are now a long way ahead of us. However
we may dislike it, the days of international competition “just
for fun” are away behind us. We have never been held in high
regard in international racing. If we are to succeed we, too,
must work with earnestness. The creation of Holme Pierrepont National
Water Sports Centre (1972) and of a scheme to qualify specialist
coaches in Racing (1973) will, we hope, go a long way towards
this objective.
Plate 11: T. H. Holding and “Osprey” |
Plate 12: Water Polo at Hunter’s Quay Scotland |
Chapter IV Sailing
We have mentioned in Chapter I that MacGregor could set a small
lugsail on “Rob Roy”. The energy and drive of the members
of the Canoe Club gave them their first regatta in 1867. Other
members, Warrington Baden-Powell, a brother of the more famous
“B-P”, among them, took up the sailing side with enthusiasm
and, under Warrington’s guidance the canoe soon developed
into a fully equipped sailing craft. In fact a second field of
competition sprang up, and the club was dealing with “Paddle
Racing” and “Sail Racing”. By the early 1870’s
the new sailing canoe possessed centre board (newly invented in
the U.S A.) yawl rig and outboard rudder, and it could make a
course against the wind. The canoeist stayed inside the cockpit
and from this position could operate all the controls, raise,
lower and trim the sails by using a complex arrangement of ropes.
He gained extra power by moving bags of lead shot to the windward
side; so, although kept busy, he was also dry and comfortable
inside his craft. In 1874 the Royal Canoe Club put up the Sailing
Challenge Cup, to match the Paddling Challenge Cup mentioned in
Chapter III. These two trophies, plus the New York Canoe Club
International Cup mentioned later on, are among the oldest trophies
of their kind in the world. An early Baden-Powell design was exported
to the U.S.A. and international competition began when Warrington
Baden Powell and Guy Ellington challenged for the New York Canoe
Club International Cup in 1886. They found that the Americans
gained extra power by sitting up on the deck of their canoes,
using bodyweight to counteract the pressure of wind in the sails
and the British were outclassed by this new technique. Guy Ellington
on his return designed “Charm” a lightly built craft
in the American style, which crushed the opposition at home but
still could not beat the Americans. Soon after this the American
Paul Butler, a light but agile sailor, introduced the idea of
sitting outside his canoe entirely, using a sliding seat. While
the Americans adopted this technique with enthusiasm, long and
bitter controversy about it raged in Britain. It was permitted
finally in 1894 but banned again in 1904. By this time the British
had moved away from the original canoe concept of a craft 16 ft
long by 30 ins.beam which could still, on occasion be paddled.
In 1896 the ever-inventive Baden-Powell, mindful it is said of
his ever-increasing girth, sponsored a more powerful craft of
42 ins beam designated a “Cruising Canoe”. 16 ft x 42
ins must have looked a bit stubby and the length was soon increased
to 17 ft. and the Cruising Canoe was raced and became the “B”
Class Canoe. Under the guidance of Linton Hope, a colourful genius
who did much to influence the design of small sailing and power
boats and even seaplanes, the B Class quickly became a fast and
effective sloop rigged sailing craft. In the years before the
First World War they were exquisitely built, strong, but light
and could certainly plane. Their helmsman were confined to sitting
on deck and in general they sought to be small scale sailing yachts
and thought themselves superior to those who propelled their canoes
by paddle. The sailing canoes were beautifully fitted and the
modern style of Bermudan rig appeared as early as 1911. They performed
ably on river or estuary.
After the First World War there was a period of stagnation until
in 1932 Uff a Fox came on the scene. He was at that time designing,
building, sailing and promoting the 14 ft. Dinghy from which stems
the modern sport of dinghy sailing. He soon became adept at canoe
sailing and designed and built two canoes, which would, with only
a little bending of the rules, fit both the British “B”
Class and the American specification. In company with Roger de
Quincey, Uffa went to the U.S.A. in 1933 and won the New York
Cup. Even more important than this, was the agreement between
the Royal Canoe Club and the American Canoe Association for new
International Building rules, which, with modification, form the
basis of our present International Class. Under these rules Roger
de Quincey successfully defended the International Cup in 1936
and all seemed set for a period of expansion when again a World
War stopped all sport. At this time a very different type of sailing
canoe, carrying 714 square metres of sail, was in use on the continent.
It was recognised by the I.R.K., and a World Championship for
it was held in Stockholm in 1938. In 1939 a challenge was issued
to the Swedes to compete in their own canoes against the Royal
Canoe Club in the August meeting at Hayling Island. The challenge
was accepted, and the overwhelming superiority of the “Anglo-American”
10 sq.m. design was demonstrated.
However, it was not until 1946, when the I.C .F. was constituted,
that the 10 sq.m. sailing canoe was adopted as the International
10 sq.m under I.C.F. Rules and the sailors of the Royal Canoe
Club began the conversion of their fellow sailors in Europe. When
peace came again materials were scarce and skilled craftsmanship
hard to find. In 1948 Lou Whitman came from the U.S. with Adolf
Morse to challenge for the Cup and demonstrated the first cold-moulded
sailing canoe seen this side of the Atlantic. They failed, but
Whitman returned in 1952 to win convincingly. By now Britain was
overcoming wartime problems and new designs were coming along.
The trouble was that by now the Americans were sitting at the
end of a 5-foot slide (the maximum permitted by the Rules) supported
by a cross head tiller pole with their sheets (the ropes used
to trim the sails) made fast in special cleats. The British, on
the other hand, sat on the sliding seat with feet braced against
the hull, they used a lighter type of steering gear which would
give no support to the helmsman and needed a firm foot support
to brace against the pull of the mainsheet which was held in the
hand. The British Canoe Sailors were unwilling to give up the
better and quicker control which their sailing technique gave
them, but could not match the power of the Americans in fresh
winds.
This problem was solved by 1955 with production of the so-called
“ladder slide” which enables the helmsman to reach five
feet out with his feet firmly braced and the ratchet block which
enables him to lock or free the mainsheet at will. Again the New
York Cup gave the stimulus for action. A strong British team failed
to win in 1955, but in 1959, with the new technique firmly established.
Alan Emus and Bill Kemper brought the trophy to England where
it has remained. By now the Class was becoming truly international.
The turning point had been the adoption of the Anglo American
Sailing Canoe by the I.C.F. in 1946. It was taken up by Sweden
and later West Germany. After a number of international regattas
the first World Championship in the IC class was held at Hayling
Island in 1961, with Great Britain, U.S.A., Sweden and West Germany
competing. The British swept the board taking the first 6 places.
But others were learning fast and although Britain still took
the gold and bronze medal at the 1965 World Championship at Lake
Constance, the silver went to Sweden. Sweden took the first four
places in the 1967 European Championship held on their home water
and just failed to take the gold from Alan Emus in the 1969 World
Championship, again in England at Grafham Water. During this time
many technical changes have come about through the introduction
of new materials - cold moulded, hot moulded veneers, GRP for
hulls. Aluminium alloy for masts and spars, synthetic fibres for
sails and rope - the development of fully battened sails is a
story in itself. Increasing international competition in Europe
has raised sailing standards and improved techniques, and this
process is only just beginning with Denmark and now Spain joining
the Canoe Sailing nations - for the great attraction of these
craft is that the better they are sailed the faster they will
go. From 1971 the I.C.F. have adopted the Nethercot design as
a “one-design hull”. It is hoped that this will encourage
modern series production methods and reduce costs but still give
plenty of scope for original ideas. There is every hope that this
will enable many more people, in more countries, to participate
in this exciting sport.
Plate 13: “The Annual Sailing Race of the Royal Canoe
Club for the Challeng Cup |
Plate 14: “The Rob Roy Manoeuvre” |
Plate 15: “Shallow” |
Plate 16: “Shallower Still” |
Chapter V Slalom and White Water
Racing
We have seen in Chapter II how the first development of slalom
appeared on the continent in the late ‘20’s, where it
was linked with skiing, the one being practiced in the winter
and the other in the summer. It can be deduced from this that
this “marriage” began in the mountainous countries,
and it is a further confirmation of this that both Pawlata and
Schulhof were Austrian and Dufek a generation younger, was Czechoslovakian.
It is worth noting, also, that the two sports are still operated
in this partnership in those countries, the one being used as
out of season training for the other. Exactly when the first slalom
was organised for canoes is lost in time, but one can imagine
the skiers suggesting the hanging of poles over rapid water for
a simple, timed run down between them. So far as this country
is concerned, however, we have to thank Franz Schulhof for his
work in 1939 and ‘40, for our first attempts at the sport.
Again in 1948, he assisted our reawakening to it. This re-awaking
was late by comparison with the continental countries. They had
reached the state of organising a World Championships at Geneva
in 1949. Although we sent a team to Geneva, they regarded it as
something of fun, rather than a serious business, and consequently
ended up very much at the wrong end of the results lists. The
best British entrant was “Dobby” Dobson, who had also
competed, as a sprint paddler, in the 1948 Olympic Games at Henley-on-Thames.
The next World Championships were held in 1951 at Steyr, Austria,
where we first saw the “Steyr” roll performed. Although
we did somewhat better that year, the same attitude of mind still
pervaded the team and it was not until 1953 at Merano in Italy
that we were sufficiently depressed to do something about it.
This was, it will be remembered after having been with Seidel
the German champion, in Munich. There was a meeting of interested
people at the Chalfont Park Canoe Club at Hambledon that autumn
and the writer took on the job of coaching the British team into
better shape. From there on upward progress became steady. The
team attending the World Championships every other year appeared
further and further up the results lists until in 1959, once more
at Geneva, Paul F arrant won the coveted F.1.World Championship
for us. It was distressingly sad that he died in a road accident
the following Easter. At the end of 1961, having seen the British
team win the Bronze Medal at Spittal-auf-em-Drau in Austria, the
writer retired as the team coach and became the first National
Coach for canoeing. There was a slight recession in team results
until coaches and managers were appointed again, when things began
to pick up again. In 1970 (not a World Championship year) Great
Britain gained 10 bronze medals, 3 silver and 3 gold medals among
its international awards. There are bound to be peaks and valleys
in our successes; but there is confidence that we are now among
the top ten nations in this sport.
However, you will have noticed that the old, folding class of
canoe has faded from the list. The emergence of glass-reinforced
plastic, already mentioned has been responsible for this. It first
made its appearance in the international slalom field at Spittal
in 1961, when it was used as part of the framework of the Klepper
folding slalom canoe of that year. We were then using a design
of Jack Spuhler ‘s, the Spuhler Mk VI,quite the best folding
slalom canoe made in this country. Jack Spuhler is Swiss, but
he has spent the best part of his life in England, and the contribution
he has made to British Slalom cannot be overestimated. He has
sat for many years on the Slalom Committee of the I.C.F. To return
to glass fibre, as one might expect with anything new, argument
waxed strong, for and against this new material. It was noted
by those for it that it was stronger, and created sleeker lines.
It was noted by those against that competitors could get away
with bad “navigation” by rock-bashing and such bad habits,
and that, put into either type, the champion still won! Nevertheless
the advantages so outweighed the disadvantages that it won the
day and by 1965 the folding canoe had disappeared from championship
events. Glass reinforced plastic, plus the new skills, which Milo
Dufek had given us in 1952-3, opened up a new and wonderful field
in white water canoeing. Plare 17: “A ladies’ canoe
trip on the Warwickshire Avon”
But if G.R.P. had produced more elegant kayaks and allowed paddlers
to adapt newfound skills to produce even greater performances,
the same could not exactly be said of Canadian canoes. The ideal
mechanical shape for such a material, from the point of view of
strength, is that of an egg. A Kayak, with its deck already in
existence, could be rounded off in cross-section anyway. Indeed
it was found that this was an advantage in its performance in
rough water, since there was no sharp angle at the gunwale for
the water to catch and so capsize the craft. In the case of the
Canadian there was no big traditional deck. What was to be done?
The only answer found was to deck the craft in, making what looked
crudely like a misshapen banana with round holes left in it for
the benefit of the crew. Indeed, certain persons, crazy for performance,
have fought for lower bow and stern lines, similar to the kayak,
so that passage under slalom gate poles could be facilitated.
Such an alteration in design would so radically alter the concept
of the Canadian canoe that it would no longer ride high on the
water, with the ends rising to the waves. Rather, it would behave
like the kayak, burying its nose in the waves. The sole remaining
likeness to the North American Indian canoe would be the single-bladed
paddle wielded from a kneeling position. At the time of writing
one is happy to be able to report that the I.C.F. Slalom Committee
has ruled that no part of the canoe shall be higher than the line
joining the bow and stern posts. Nevertheless, the immensely improved
skills in the handling of the kayak, together with G.R.P., have
not gone un-noticed in the Canadian canoe world. The skills of
the Canadian canoe are not so easily learnt as those of the kayak,
with the result that those keen always to progress have moved
from kayak to Canadian canoe. The newly developed skills of the
kayak, first started by Dufek, are now being tried out again in
the Canadian canoe. The more versatile “glass” boat
reacts well to these strokes, and the wheel has turned full circle.
Meanwhile the idea of just racing straight down rapid rivers had
not escaped the minds of many. Here, skill in reading water was
just as necessary as in slalom; and stamina became even more important.
Several miles down rapids needs nerves of iron as well, and it
is not surprising to find rapid river racing on the increase.
“Racing” is perhaps a wrong word, since, like slalom,
it is not a race in the true sense of the word, with the competitors
lining up on a start line, but a timed competition, with the competitors
starting at regular intervals and racing against the clock, the
fastest man winning. Both slalom and white water racing are, therefore,
competitions, not true races. The first World Championship White
Water Race was held on the R.Vézère in France in
1959, a British team consisting of most of the World Slalom team
from Geneva that year was entered. In 1971 the International Olympic
Association accepted Canoe Slalom as a sport. The Olympic Games
were to be at Munich in West Germany in 1972. An artificial aqueduct
taking water into Augsburg had long been used for slaloms, and
this “‘Eiscanal” was rebuilt to be the first fully
artificial slalom course for championships in the world. As a
result of the outstanding success of slalom in the 1972 Olympic
Games, the Sports Council and the Nottinghamshire County Council
have been prevailed upon to build 22 other artificial slalom course,
at the National Water Sports Centre at Holme Pierrepont. At the
time of writing (1973) plans are well ahead with this project
and a model is being built. Thus at Holme Pierrepont we shall
have facilities for most of the major competitions in the canoeing
world. It is to be noted that various River Authorities are now
coming forwardwith offers to build other artificial slalom courses,
of varying degrees of difficulty, in other parts of the country.
Plate 18: Among the rocks at 10 pm
Plate 19: On George’s Bay Bar |
Plate 20: “Somersault in the surf at Falmouth” - surely
the first loop |
Chapter VI Long Distance Racing
It may seem somewhat absurd to find the foundations of Long Distance
Racing laid in a bet and a double sculling skiff; yet such was
the case! Owing to a threatened public transport strike in 1920
a group of friends in the Greyhound Public House at Pewsey fell
to discussing other means of conveyance, and ended up with a bet
of £5 that they could travel with their skiff via the River
Avon from Pewsey to the sea at Mudeford, near Christchurch in
less than three days. They won their bet with twelve hours to
spare. Nothing much happened for 27 years, when three R.A.F. men
and a local farmer met a member of the original crew in the same
pub. They decided to try their luck, got to Christchurch in 51
hours and so won a further £5. The Devizes to Westminster
Race was the next development. A Pewsey resident offered a prize
to any crew who could beat the 51 hours from Pewsey to Christchurch.
The Scoutmaster of the 1st Devizes Scouts took up the challenge
but was turned down because the Scouts’ canoes did not meet
the requirements of the competition. Back again to the parlour
of the Greyhound where Roy Cooke, a member of the 1947 crew, was
planning a boat trip from Devizes to Westminster in 100 hours.
Although this particular project fell through, the idea was taken
up by the frustrated Devizes Rover Scouts, some worthy citizens
of Devizes encouraged the Scouts by raising a sum of money to
be donated to them if they could reach the sea by way of the Kennet
and Avon Canal to Reading and thence down the Thames to Westminster,
in under 100 hours. Thus it was that at Easter, 1948, the first
two crews from the Devizes Rovers, paddling cumbersome homebuilt
double Kayaks, completed the course with ten hours to spare. These
pioneers of this, one of the toughest long distance races in the
world, were all aged seventeen. Their original journey was followed
with great interest by the people of Devizes, so much so that
cinema programmes were interrupted to give the latest news.
Plate 21: “Closehauled on a Fresh Breeze” from “Practical
Canoeing” by “Tiphys” published 1883
At Whitsun, 1948, two crews of the Chippenham Sea Cadet Unit
covered the same course in just under 77 hours, and the competition
was on. Without any formal rules except the broad stipulation
by the Scouts that crews should carry all their food and equipment
from the start and receive no assistance on route, twenty crews
set off from Devizes at Easter 1949. The best time that year was
49 hours 32 minutes. Prompted by the growing interest, Frank Luzmore
of the Richmond Canoe Club and some fellow members set up an organising
committee, and Easter, 1950 saw the first organised race. From
these modest beginnings the race has continued to grow so that
now more than 200 crews regularly take part and the winning time
has been cut down to under 19 hours for the gruelling 125 miles
and 76 portages. Other people became inspired by the concept of
Long Distance Racing. At first the Sprint Racing Committee took
charge of this new form of competition and set up a sub-commit-tee
in 1955 to administer it. Later in 1958, when L.D. had developed
further, this subcommittee
became an independent technical committee of the B.C.U. in its
own right. For years it remained a very English competition, the
cross-country version of our sport; but it began to spread abroad,
first with races in Scotland and Ireland, and now in Europe and
many other parts of the World; the child has grown up, and we
suggest it will not be long before we have a World Championship
in the event. But perhaps “L.D.” is older than this.
In a letter to me, Frank Sutton talks of the early struggles to
roll canoes, and mentions Leo Fruehwirth as the Austrian L.D.
champion in 1928. Certainly there have been various other long
distance races in the world; but the first that seems to have
appeared as a seriously organised event in Great Britain was Luzmore
‘s race in 1950. In the early days any type of canoe could
be raced by anyone, in an open class; but the impracticabilities
of this were soon recognised, and various handicap systems were
tried, with varying degrees of success.
In 1956 a junior class was set up for those between the ages of
15 and 19, and the canoes were also divided into four classes,
viz: singles under 15 feet, and over, and doubles under 17 feet,
and over. The one-design National Chine Kayak was added in 1959.
Ladies were allowed their own classes. 1960 saw further developments
in the classes. There were now seven classes. These were K1, K2
and N.C.K.1., which were senior classes only, whilst other classes
were provided for seniors, juniors and ladies, making fifteen
classes in all. Hard skin and soft skin canoes were put into different
classes. The soft skin class still providing for folding canoes.
Hence there was an apparent anomaly between the maximum length
for a soft skin double at 17 ‘6” (many folding doubles
were of this length) and that of its hard skin counterpart at
17’. In 1964 junior K1 and K2 events were added to the list,
and other ladies’ N.C.K.1 in 1966. With the increasingly
improved standards in paddling it became apparent that newcomers
were discouraged by having to compete in the same class as the
country’s leading paddlers, and so in 1971 a system of divisionalisation
was approved for the K. classes.
The top paddlers would now race in a separate class of their own,
and the other senior paddlers were included in an open class,
with a third class for juniors under 18 years of age. In 1971,
too, the Espada Youth K1 was introduced, with the competitors
racing in three age groups: 12 to 14,14 to 16 and 16 to 18, which
groups were also accepted for Sprint Racing (see Chapter III).
Going back a few years, in 1957 Lloyds of London presented the
Royal Marines with a most beautiful trophy in memory of their
raid on Bordeaux by canoe during the Second World War. This, the
Hasler Trophy, named after Major “Blondie” Hasler, the
leader of the raid, was handed over by the Royal Marines to the
British Canoe Union for administration. It is competed for annually
by clubs on a points system based on about 25 recognisedevents.
These are spread over the country with each club counting its
best 8 results from the races, which it has entered. The first
National Championships in Long Distance Racing was held at Bradford-on-Avon
in 1965. This is an “open” championship at which people
from other countries may compete. It moved from place to place
at first, but in 1971 it was agreed that the venue should become
more stable so that sponsors might be attracted to it. It is at
present held at Worcester over the August Bank Holiday weekend
(1972). Britain is now frequently represented in Long Distances
Races abroad. Perhaps some of these events have not got the same
across-country” atmosphere of the British races, but that
is not to say that the idea has not been drawn to the attention
of the I.C .F. Perhaps it will not be long before it is recognised
by that body. Certainly it is very much alive in this country.
Plate 22: Canoe Cruise on the (Warwickshire) Avon
Chapter VII Recent Developments
In Chapter II we gave some indication of the development of a
number of new facets in canoeing. Mention has been made in the
same chapter of the Corps of Canoe Life Guards. Let us now turn
to some other items that are worthy of note. The Film Library
Before the Second World War Franz Schulhof made three films with
the aid of fellow canoeists from the Royal Canoe Club. These films
were “Kayaking on the South Coast”, taken on the Isle
of Wight and at Cuckmere Haven, and showing some surfing; “Wild
Water Canoeing in the French Alps”, taken on the Rivers Durance
and Verdon; and “Sailing Canoe Racing”, taken in Chichester
Harbour. These three films were much used by John Dudderidge and
others to interest people in the sport immediately after the war.
From 1946 the writer made a succession of films, some educational,
some pure interest, and in 1948 he started a Library consisting
of his own films and those of Franz Schulhof. Time passed; more
films were made and offered. By 1958 the demands of the library
had over-burdened an amateur organisation, and the editor negotiated
with the British Film Institute to run it for the British Canoe
Union. The B.F.J. itself produced a very good film on Canadian
canoeing, made in 1934, which it added to the Library, and another
old film, made by members of Gino Watkins ‘s expeditions
to Greenland right at the beginning of the ‘30s., went into
the library under the title of “The Eskimo and His Kayak”.
On taking up the post of National Coach in 1962 the writer had
to relinquish all connection with the library, which was taken
on thereafter by Maurice Rothwell, who has remained the B.C .U.
Film Officer until the present time (1973).
Sea and Surf Canoeing
One of the films just mentioned referred to surfing at Cuckmere
Haven. Nothing much happened in this field from 1939, largely
because the war closed the use of the sea to most civilians. However,
having seen the film a number of times, and being a patriotic
Cornishman, Oliver Cock made up a small party to visit Polzeath,
near Wadebridge, in 1952. It was such a successful holiday that
it became an annual pilgrimage, with the numbers increasing every
year. By 1964, however, the numbers had increased to such an extent
on the already overcrowded beach that the local R.D.C. regarded
them somewhat askance. So they moved to Bude, where the local
U.D.C. made it abundantly clear they were very welcome. In 1966
Fred Dymond, the Harbourmaster at Bude, suggested that they ought
to hold the National Surf Championships there. The thought had
never occurred to anybody before, that there could be canoe competitions
in surf; but by good fortune Mr Alan Kennedy, a very prominent
member of the Royal Australian Surf Life Saving Association, had
come on a final visit to the Bude S.L.S.C., a club which he had
helped to found a good many years before. As a parting gift before
his retirement he gave a lecture and showed films on the competition
of Malibu board riding. It was immediately fairly clear to Oliver
Cock that the rules of this form of competition could be adopted
to that of canoeing, and in September 1967 was held the first
National Championship in canoe surfing on Crooklets Beach at Bude.
In 1970 a new form of canoe appeared on the scene from California,
specially designed for surfing. It had a flat bow and considerable
rocker, which enabled many more manoeuvres to be carried out.
However, at the same time as doing that it also cut out some of
the others, which were popular. Therefore a second class had to
be allowed in the competitions, as the two craft could not fairly
compete against each other. 1970 also saw the idea of competition
in surf spread to the North East, when they held their first local
annual championship; but on the whole the idea of competing in
surf has not yet caught on. It is known that very many groups
go surfing just for the fun of it, and this is as it should be;
but it is a fact that this form of competition is on the increase,
and it can be expected that many more will be taking part in the
future. However, since the 1960s and possibly led by the Scots
who had been canoeing in the Western Isles for many years, there
has been an upsurge of interest in advanced sea expeditions. In
the middle of the ‘60s a double canoe arrived off St. Kilda
from the Outer Hebrides. In 1966 Joe Reid and Andy Cornduff canoed
across the Pentland Firth, a journey never to be undertaken light-heartedly.
In 1968 a party of four canoed the length of the cliffs of Moher
in Galway Bay. The Irish Sea was crossed from Dun Laoghaire to
Holyhead in 1969, and from Whitesand Bay in Pembrokeshire to Rosslare
in 1972. Advanced sea journeys of this nature are occurring ever
more frequently, and it would seem that virtually no expedition
is impossible so long as it is properly planned and is within
the capability of the canoeist himself.
Canoe Polo
This game was first mentioned in two books which came out almost
simultaneously; first in Noel McNought’s “Canoeing Manual”
and very soon after in Oliver Cock’s “You and Your Canoe”,
both published in the middle ‘50s. Although the rules differed,
the basic objects of the game were the same in both cases: to
have fun, and to release people from their inhibitions and fears
in their canoes and so assist them on to greater things. Perhaps
the idea of having fun was dominant and so the rules were kept
to the barest minimum for safety. The National Exhibition Committee
decided to put a demonstration of the game on at the Crystal Palace
Exhibition in 1970. The organisers intended to demonstrate what
hilarious fun it was. Sadly, one or two of the teams got very
earnest and serious about it, and there was born almost a brand
new game, with a committee to look after it and to create rules
for its conduct. In 1971 the National Canoe Exhibition at the
Crystal Palace saw the first National Championships. It is perhaps
worth making mention here of the special design of canoe that
is used in canoe polo in swimming baths. About 1966 Newham, a
borough of Greater London, asked Bert Keeble, now the Director
of the National Sailing Centre at Cowes, but at that time working
in Essex, if he would design a canoe especially for use in teaching
and training people in swimming baths. The stipulations were that
the canoe should not be fast, nor should it have a sharp bow or
stern with which to damage the bath. Mr Keeble came up with a
simple, wooden craft, which the National Coach tried out in the
baths at the Crystal Palace. It seemed eminently suitable. So
eminently suitable was it in fact that Alan Byde designed a similar
craft made in glass reinforced plastic,
and dubbed it the Baths Advanced Trainer canoe, or BAT canoe for
short. The name has stuck, and the game of canoe polo is very
frequently referred to as BAT polo. But “there is nothing
new under the sun”. The earliest reference to anything that
might be described as ‘Canoe Polo’ occurs in a copy
of a national weekly “The Graphic” dated Sept.l8th.1880
with an engraving of a game in progress at Hunter ‘s Quay,
Scotland. The players rode barrels fitted with saddle cloths and
under the water line a heavily loaded keel. Each barrel had fixed
to it a wooden horse ‘s head and a tail was attached behind.
The event caused ‘great merriment’ to the many spectators
and ‘the efforts of the riders to control their steeds and
at the same time use their ‘Rob Roy’ paddles to propel
the hollow India rubber ball, were most ludicrous’. Certainly
‘fun’ was the main objective.
Orienteering
This is a form of competition in canoeing, which is getting off
to a very slow start. So far as we have been able to discover,
it first appeared in print in the “Know The Game” series,
“Orienteering”, published in 1965. It has gone on perfunctorily
all over the United Kingdom since then. Perhaps one of its strongest
centres is at Martham Ferry in Norfolk, where an annual event
has been held since 1970. The sport is well suited to almost any
piece of water but especially old wet gravel pit workings which
have been allowed to run to nature. It seems odd; therefore, that
more have not been attracted to what can be a very exacting sport.
Chapter VIII Envoy
Plate 23: “Paddling with the double-bladed paddle”
from “Canoeing” by J.D. Hayward 1883, gives a good
example of the ladies’ fasion for canoeing at the time. |
Plate 24: (Left) Sailing Canoes |
Plate 25: (Right)
“A Senior Rob Roy Fours of 1926” |
Plate 26: (Left)
An American 20 foot Cedar
Racing Canoe (or) Club Four |
Plate 27: (Left) Franz Schulhof on the Bregenzer Ach, Western
Austria in 1932. |
Plate 28: (Right) Paul Farrant, Britains only World Canoe Slalom
Champion |
Plate 29: (Left) A collapsible canoe, packed and ready for portage
in two haver sacks |
Plate 30: (Right) Canoe transport of
1937 from “Canoe and Canoeing” by
John Marshall |
Plate 31: (Above) A Klepper Aerius folding single-seater, still
at the Royal Canoe Club |
Plate 32: (Above) The writer at Inverness,
after a tour through the Caledonian Canal |
Plate 33: (Above) Approaching
Hell Hole on the River Wye, where only only the experienced
canoeist should venture. |
Plate 34: (Above) A senior racing canadian tandem of 1926. R.
A. Phillips and E. Freeman (Bow). |
Plate 35: (Above) The River Usk near Gliffaes above Crickhowell |
Plate 36: (Below) The Fall above Llamwllni on the river Teffi.
in low water |
Chapter IX Bibliographical Notes
on the Illustrations
The Frontispiece of this book was taken from “Pictorial Chronicles
of the Mighty Deep” edited by Francis Watt and published
about 1890. If the reader refers back to the illustration he will
notice a little spirit stove on the ground to MacGregor s left.
This was invented by MacGregor and a full description can be found
in his book “Voyage Alone in the Yawl Rob Roy “, published
in 1867. Plates 3 to 7 are all from “A Thousand miles in
the Rob Roy”, a book written by MacGregor describing his
journeys in his Rob Roy canoe, which was first published in 1866.
Plate 11 is from an original photograph and shows T.H Molding,
one of the founder members of the Camping Club of Great Britain
and Ireland. Holding was canoeing correspondent for “The
Field” in the 1870s and ‘80s. and Plates 10,13 and 24
are all taken from that magazine of 1883.
Plate 17 is also from “The Field”, probably dated
1885. In the same issue the Wear Canoe Club is mentioned as cruising
from Sandpoint “up the Wear” (!) to Chester-le -Street,
and another trip, ~ the Tyne to Hexham was suggested. They must
have had a lot of energy in those days! Plate 22 is also from
“The Field”, dated 1878.
Plate 12, is taken from “The Graphic” of 18th September
1880,which indicates canoe polo is certainly no modern day innovation.
From a later edition of the same magazine, publishes 6th November
of that year are taken plates 14,15 and 16. These are from a series
of eight pictures of a trip from Bala Lake to Chester, on the
front page. There is also an account of the journey within. Does
such chivalry still exist? “White Rose” was 1214 feet
long, three feet wide and weighed 60 lbs. She could be rowed as
well as paddled. Plates 18,19 and 20 are from the Boy’s Own
Paper of 1882. They illustrated the journey of a missionary, the
Rev.Fred C.B.Fairey, round the coast of Tasmania in 1879. Plate
24 further emphasises the kind of coverage “The Field”
gave to canoeing and Holding’s adjoining article refers to
the Sportsman’s Exhibition, canoeing at Birkenhead, on the
Irish Blackwater, the Medway, the Warwickshire Avon from Warwick
down, and the shootability of the Tewkesbury Wiers, of which the
bottom-most is described as the “shootest”. The “Pearl”
shown in the bottom left hand corner of the picture, was priced
at £40 (exclusive of ballast). Other articles, apparently
in the same issue, describe the steam canoe “Silvia”,
and canoeing off Flamborough Head. Plates 25,27 and 34 are from
original photographs in the possession of the Royal Canoe Club.
Plate 28 shows Paul Farrant competing in a slalom of 1953. This,
old Colwick Wier became dry when the new cut was made to the automatic
sluices which now give height (head) to the water for the proposed
artificial slalom course at Holme Pierrepont. 26,29 and 33 are
from “Canoeing”,by W.G.Luscomb (1936). Plate 33 shows
a folding double canoe above Hell Hole rapids in fairly heavy
water. It is interesting to note flat paddles being used and no
life jacket! Plate 35 is taken from “Rapid Rivers” by
William Bliss, who is in the front position of the canoe in the
picture. This book dated 1935 is a collectors’ piece. 36
is from the same book. Plate 37 (Left) is from a photograph in
possession of PY.Wells, the commodore of the Royal Canoe Club.
This is worth comparing with plate 8 “Chinese Rig” of
1871. 33
