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These packs are quick to load in and out of a canoe, but would be impossible to stuff into a typical kayak. The best strategy for portaging involves putting your camping gear into a few large dry packs that are easy to manage on the trail. Many popular canoe routes involve portaging, which means to carry your canoe from one lake to another. Their open design makes it easy to load them with large packs, barrels or coolers for camping. Touring kayaks intended for open water paddling frequently have a rudder or skeg to help paddlers control them in the wind.Ĭanoes rarely feature rudders and are generally simpler and lighter than kayaks of the same size and style. Kayaks often have hatches and bulkheads that provide floatation and storage for camping equipment. Most canoes have seats mounted higher off the bottom of the hull, so the paddler can sit or kneel, depending on the situation. Paddlers usually sit lower in kayaks, closer to the water, in a seat with a backrest. Canoes have an open design stiffened with gunwales and thwarts. Kayaks have decks covering the top of the boat and a cockpit where the paddler sits. The most significant difference between kayaks and canoes is that canoes are open on top. A variety of techniques are used to keep a canoe moving straight through the water, from skilled paddle strokes to switching sides with the paddle periodically.
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Canoes are typically paddled with a single-bladed paddle. Kayaks are usually propelled using a two-bladed paddle, alternating strokes on each side of the boat. Both kayaks and canoes are produced in a broad range of designs appropriate for any paddling situation, from quiet backwaters to raging whitewater.
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At their most basic, canoes and kayaks are both human-powered small craft usually propelled with a paddle.
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