Douglas Ingram
Red River Canoe & Paddle
Thought that you'd all like to see a new model canoe fresh off of the mold. I call it the NRC until a better name comes along. NRC for Northern Racing Canoe.
The northern native communities of Manitoba, Norway House and Cross Lake in particular, have canoe races that they call the Cedar Canoe Classic, in which the use 18', wood & canvas, "Y" stern, freighter canoes. The race goes 30km per day for three days. Winners win on total time. The races are competitive and include recreational classes. There is enough prize money involved to get a lot of people interested in participating.
Most of the existing stock of freighter canoes has been scooped up, so the communities have started looking for more freighters. The canoes are then often modified, sometimes heavily, for the races. The gunnels will be pulled in to make the canoe narrower, which hogs the bottom, which necessitates pushing the ribs out, which makes the bottom rounder, and the width near the stern is often pinched in quite a bit, too, to make it easier for the stern paddler.
In use, the bow rows. I don't know why they set it up this way, but it seems that basing the race in traditional use is important. At the 15km mark they have to switch positions, bow to stern.
So, I've been getting quite a few inquiries about new canoes. The NRC is based upon my Legacy mold, for which I had to make some adaptations, all still allowing the original canoe to be built on it. I had to be able to set the stems further out 6" at each end, and set the gunnel depth at 20" center. OK, so on this one I did 12" at the bow, but now I'm thinking 6" at each end to stretch the stern exit line a little.
This is the first of two canoes that I have orders for. We'll see how it fares this summer. To my eye, it already looks fast.
You can see the mold in the back, and that's a 14' Red Fox in the foreground.
The northern native communities of Manitoba, Norway House and Cross Lake in particular, have canoe races that they call the Cedar Canoe Classic, in which the use 18', wood & canvas, "Y" stern, freighter canoes. The race goes 30km per day for three days. Winners win on total time. The races are competitive and include recreational classes. There is enough prize money involved to get a lot of people interested in participating.
Most of the existing stock of freighter canoes has been scooped up, so the communities have started looking for more freighters. The canoes are then often modified, sometimes heavily, for the races. The gunnels will be pulled in to make the canoe narrower, which hogs the bottom, which necessitates pushing the ribs out, which makes the bottom rounder, and the width near the stern is often pinched in quite a bit, too, to make it easier for the stern paddler.
In use, the bow rows. I don't know why they set it up this way, but it seems that basing the race in traditional use is important. At the 15km mark they have to switch positions, bow to stern.
So, I've been getting quite a few inquiries about new canoes. The NRC is based upon my Legacy mold, for which I had to make some adaptations, all still allowing the original canoe to be built on it. I had to be able to set the stems further out 6" at each end, and set the gunnel depth at 20" center. OK, so on this one I did 12" at the bow, but now I'm thinking 6" at each end to stretch the stern exit line a little.
This is the first of two canoes that I have orders for. We'll see how it fares this summer. To my eye, it already looks fast.
You can see the mold in the back, and that's a 14' Red Fox in the foreground.
