Hacker News Reader

Comment by yoyar | Hacker News Reader

<pedantic> It's an amazing project but that's a kayak, not a canoe. </pedantic>

It's neither. In the Mid-Atlantic (New Jersey and the Chesapeake Bay) that would be a ducking skiff - a narrow, flat bottomed boat with lots of rocker. It is paddled, rather than rowed, because of its narrowness, but it's still a skiff. They've been around a long time, my father taught me to build one back in the 1970s - like this one out of plywood, but he said they used to be made out of 1/2 inch white pine.

<more pedantic> In some parts of the world, such as the United Kingdom, kayaks are considered a subtype of canoes. Continental European and British canoeing clubs and associations of the 19th Century used craft similar to kayaks, but referred to them as canoes. This explains the naming of the International and National Governing bodies of the sport of Canoeing.</more pedantic>

<highly_pedantic>

  "<more pedantic>" is poorly formed.

</highly_pedantic>

<less pedantic>A kayak is a decked boat that one sits in with one's legs extended. A canoe has no deck and one kneels or sits on a seat.</less pedantic>

<exception>Surf Kayaks are closed hulls that you sit on with your legs extended: http://www.google.com.au/images?q=surf+kayak </exception>

There are also "closed canoes" that are decked like kayaks but deeper hulled, and you kneel like regular canoes. I had a room-mate that used one in competition.

I'm just curious, what characteristics of this boat make it a kayak and not a canoe? He seems to call it both and some of the indigenous "canoes" look very similar.

<canadian-pedantic>A kayak is longer and thinner and lower to the water and is often covered. A kayak is typically paddled using a double ended paddle. In Canada, the boat in the article is a kayak; I don't think anyone here would call that a canoe. A canoe is deeper, wider and fatter (like some Canadians perhaps ;). A canoe can transport a lot of cargo but is also light enough to carry across portages. Many years ago native people and fur traders could travel entirely across Canada in a canoe. Some people still attempt this feat.

In other parts of the world the boat in the article might be considered a canoe, but I would say not in Canada. </canadian-pedantic>

"A canoe is deeper, wider and fatter (like some Canadians perhaps ;)"

Not sure about Finland (where the article's author lives), but a wide, fat open canoe is actually called "a Canadian" in many parts of northern Europe.

The concept of an "open kayak" sounds pretty confused, though, given how they were originally built (skins wrapped around a thin wooden frame) and used (coastal sea regions, including the open sea).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com