s p o r t
Paddling up Transition creek
Canoeing - even off-season - can truly be a fun, safe and dry way to learn genuine co-operation. Photo by Hal Gilmore
by Hal Gilmore Mention canoeing to most people of my generation (not ancient yet but maybe beginning to contemplate the idea), and they’ll recall the dreaded “capsize drill” in freezing waters, the desperate paddling in frustrated circles trying to get the flipping thing to go in a straight line. Such psychological skeletons from school can easily taint particular sports and stop us even considering them as an adult, but if this was your experience of canoeing, think again. Imagine a canoe that doesn’t
get buffeted about by the wind, goes in straight lines, and makes even the most cautious novice non-swimmer feel at ease 100m from shore. No capsize drill needed. Canoe designs have evolved significantly in the last 30 years making it easier and safer to take to all kinds of waters. Here on the River Dart in South Devon, mankind’s oldest vessel, the open, or Canadian, canoe, has evolved too. Small may be beautiful but these large eight and nine metre ‘voyagers’ have
their own particular style. There is safety too – in numbers. Eight to twelve passengers gives the vessels the weight and power to go out on open water in weather that would make kayaks and solo canoeists think twice. And with so many on board, there is naturally a co-operative team spirit: everyone connects to the same rhythm and pulls together. A large crew also means you can take the odd rest here and there, and trust that your colleagues will keep paddling and keep you on course.
These large canoes, built by local boatwright Ian Bowles in Totnes, are the living legacy of over a thousand years of boat building on the river Dart, where modern innovation and experimentation have seen some high profile successes and failures, from record-breaking ocean-going rowing boats to Pete Goss’s ill-fated Team Philips, the innovative giant catamaran that broke up during sea trials for a round-the-world race. Paddling along like our ancient ancestors, we also connect with our more recent past and how our towns and villages came to be. We learn our geography, heritage and history up close. The wrecks of old workhorse barges bare their ribs at low tide and tidal dams sit idle, leaking water through abandoned sluice gates that wait to be restored so they can once again power-up the riverside villages. How much more energyefficient it is to travel and transport goods by boat than it is by road or rail? Things just take a little longer, that’s all. And that’s kind of how we like it in South Devon. We forget our little ports and harbours at our peril – canoeing on the river, we keep their stories alive. These are not holiday houses or retirement homes to us. They are key resilience infrastructure, slumbering. Maybe one day they will come back to life and resume their place at the heart of our re-
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localised economy. Although built with modern materials, all the canoes follow the same pattern as the ancient dug-out and birch-clad vessels people have always used to explore, hunt and trade via the rivers, waterways, lakes and seas.
“There is naturally a co-operative team spirit: everyone connects to the same rhythm and pulls together” With no motor we are closer to the wildlife, too. We even attract the curiosity of seals, who regularly pop up for a close inspection. Fish leap either side, sometimes landing aboard. Modern life doesn’t often afford us the opportunity to share the enjoyment of sane, calm reflection amid beautiful and fascinating scenery. So put those school memories out of your head. Forget the capsize drill – canoeing is great fun, for everyone. As Henry David Thoreau once said: “Everyone must believe in something. I believe I’ll go canoeing.” Hal Gilmore is a member of Transition Town Totnes. He leads study tours for groups wishing to learn more about Transition and he runs a canoe hire company called Big Green Canoe.
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