Knickerbocker Canoe Club - where art thou?
- Thread starter Ken Cupery
- Start date
Wanda CC
Wanda Canoe Club
My racing partner Gil Ross and his sisters and brothers grew up in Yonkers and paddled for the Yonkers Canoe Club. They also paddled for Inwood occassionally, and as teenagers trained at Wanda as members of the United States Junior Olympic Sprint Canoe team. They travelled from New York, by bicycle, to Wanda because the electrical power plant on the Hackensack pumped out warm water in the winter and the river did not freeze, allowing them to train year-round...we still have graffiti in the boathouse from the 1988 Seoul Olympics. The Ross clan also trained with the Washington Canoe Club where several of them are members today. Gil's nephews Ian and Gavin Ross of the Washington Canoe Club are USA sprint canoe Olympic hopefuls. Ian just completed the 31-mile Chattajack race in the Tennessee River Gorge paddling in cold, windy conditions on one knee!
Gil was the driving force who helped revive Wanda in the last few years. We needed a place to train when the Hudson became too dangerous in Winter, so a bunch of us followed him to the calm Hackensack. We still have a wood C4 sprint canoe from the 1970s (that we are looking for a home for) and a wood K4. We have Wanda members from Brooklyn and Queens who also paddle at Sebago. We have a few members and associate members who paddle the Schuykill and live in or near Philadelphia. Aside from the canoe and kayak clubs most of us are also affiliated with outrigger and dragon boat clubs so there's a lot of cross referencing. We have outrigger clubs in Hoboken and New York City. We have a beach in Hoboken and a very active community boathouse and club. Apparently we're all a little nuts - but no more crazy as all those paddlers were over a hundred years ago on the Hudson and surrounding rivers.
The history of these canoe clubs is fascinating. It is important to know our history especially while it seems that we are growing again.
Gil was the driving force who helped revive Wanda in the last few years. We needed a place to train when the Hudson became too dangerous in Winter, so a bunch of us followed him to the calm Hackensack. We still have a wood C4 sprint canoe from the 1970s (that we are looking for a home for) and a wood K4. We have Wanda members from Brooklyn and Queens who also paddle at Sebago. We have a few members and associate members who paddle the Schuykill and live in or near Philadelphia. Aside from the canoe and kayak clubs most of us are also affiliated with outrigger and dragon boat clubs so there's a lot of cross referencing. We have outrigger clubs in Hoboken and New York City. We have a beach in Hoboken and a very active community boathouse and club. Apparently we're all a little nuts - but no more crazy as all those paddlers were over a hundred years ago on the Hudson and surrounding rivers.
The history of these canoe clubs is fascinating. It is important to know our history especially while it seems that we are growing again.
MGC
Scrapmaker
Interestingly suggestive.... I wonder how you might defend it with a straight face?
JClearwater
Wooden Canoes are in the Blood
I did a quick search on Ancestry. The 1930 census has Robert Pino living with his parents. The family is listed as follows; Dominick & Rose Pino, ages 50 &46, Robert, age 24, Eugene, age 20 and Elsie, age 14. Only Elsie was born in the USA, everyone else was born in Italy. The family emigrated to the US in 1914. Robert was working in an electrical shop at the time. Attached also is a picture someone, presumable family, posted of Robert.
whalen
Will canoe, and have been canoed,
"The Dayton Canoe Club was incorporated on December 17, 1912." Their building was completed in 1013, and is in GREAT shape!
Bill Cocran
New Member
Referencing the post by Wanda CC:
"Pendleton Canoe Club, Yonkers NY 1949 National Champions (flatwater canoe & kayak) and their mascot, The Pendleton Duck."
My dad (Frank Oldal) is the paddler standing back row right side. I have that same picture in a stack of photos. Also have the Duck patch.
I used to have all of my dad's racing medals but they were stolen from my storage unit back in 1981.
He told me many stories about the Pendleton CC and how they used to whip the Canadians a$$es up on the St Lawrence River (Thousand Islands). His black Gordon Setter named Shadow was the unofficial club four-legged mascot that could out-swim any fish or duck around.
I will try and get some pictures posted along with newspaper clippings of what I have in my stack of stuff.
"Pendleton Canoe Club, Yonkers NY 1949 National Champions (flatwater canoe & kayak) and their mascot, The Pendleton Duck."
My dad (Frank Oldal) is the paddler standing back row right side. I have that same picture in a stack of photos. Also have the Duck patch.
I used to have all of my dad's racing medals but they were stolen from my storage unit back in 1981.
He told me many stories about the Pendleton CC and how they used to whip the Canadians a$$es up on the St Lawrence River (Thousand Islands). His black Gordon Setter named Shadow was the unofficial club four-legged mascot that could out-swim any fish or duck around.
I will try and get some pictures posted along with newspaper clippings of what I have in my stack of stuff.
I just discovered family photo albums that included pictures from the Knickerbocker Canoe Club in the mid 1920s. My grandfather, Roy Jordan, was a member, and the family went there. One of the KCC members listed and pictured in the album is Jack Hill. A reconstruction (of a platform) was pictured from 1927 as well as a picture that showed the former platform in 1926.
Anthony Malara
New Member
Hi All - this is to the post by Bill Cocran regarding the Pendleton CC. Glad to see your post! I've been searching for Pendleton CC information for a while, without too much success. My father (Bernard Malara) was a member in the 50's - lots of St Lawrence war-boat stories. Would love to know if you've heard of any club, etc that has some archives.
John Sand
LOVES Wooden Canoes
Maybe a little off topic. I think I remember a few articles in Messing About In Boats magazine written by a woman active in canoeing in NYC. If I recall correctly, she was sailing and racing from City Island, possibly before World War 2. MAIB is now online nearly complete.
Big E
Curious about Wooden Canoes
I am a member of the Seminole Canoe and Kayak Club, Jacksonville Florida. The Club was organized around 1916 and incorporated in 1921 as the Seminole Canoe and Yacht Club. The club has a long history of competition in canoe sailing and paddling. Our clubhouse holds a wonderful trophy for “The Didapper Award” made and presented by the Knickerbockers Club in the 1930s. The trophy is homemade from general items of the day. It is an oil funnel mounted upright on a wooden base with spoons bent for the handles. It is decorated with shells and real dried seahorses. The awards is covered by tags with the year name of recipient. The trophy lives in a velvet lined oil can, one side cut for the door.
A Didapper is a duck known for diving underwater and turning up elsewhere. The term was common slang of the day for someone who disappears frequently. In this case, by tipping their boat.
I have access to the club archives and will be researching our racing and regatta history. I’m hoping to learn more about the trophy and the relationship between the two clubs.
Here’s a picture of the trophy. If there is interest I’ll take some more detailed pics to share.
A Didapper is a duck known for diving underwater and turning up elsewhere. The term was common slang of the day for someone who disappears frequently. In this case, by tipping their boat.
I have access to the club archives and will be researching our racing and regatta history. I’m hoping to learn more about the trophy and the relationship between the two clubs.
Here’s a picture of the trophy. If there is interest I’ll take some more detailed pics to share.
