Canoe vs Kayak

Yes I’m watching the Olympics as I write this 🙂

I don’t canoe or kayak personally, so I had to look up the difference between the two – watching the canoe slalom event tonight, we noticed they don’t seem to be moving as smoothly as the kayaks were the other day.

One of the fun things about writing this newsletter is looking for a thread between something that pops up in my day, and making it relevant. Gotta make it fun right!

So this one might be a stretch, but it’s right in line with the topic of a streamlined business I’ve been exploring.

Here goes.

Canoes are slightly wider, usually better for storage (guessing not at the Olympics), use a single-bladed paddle, and the rider kneels, while kayaks are more streamlined, use a double-blade, and the rider is seated.

They’re both fast units, but kayaks are faster. The world records reflect this.

So it’d be an easy leap to think that everyone should want to race a kayak over a canoe.

Is it all about speed though? I don’t think so – if it were, there’d be no canoe event in the Olympics.

They each bring a different challenge: kneeling vs sitting, single blade vs double blade, probably several others less obvious to a non-paddler like me…

Speed is obviously a factor – but it seems as much about efficiency, knowledge of the tools, and working with what you’ve got to produce the best result possible within the limitations of those tools.

Sound anything like running a business, particularly a solo one? (That was the stretch by the way, so if I lost you there it doesn’t improve much from here 😁).

Maybe you’re relentlessly built for efficiency like a kayak.

Or maybe your having to “make-do” with some slightly more cumbersome tools, limited budgets, or the equivalent of an awkward seating position (canoe is an automatic no for me just for the kneeling thing).

The question only you can answer though: Do you even want to build a kayak, or are you perfectly happy with your marginally slower, slightly more challenging canoe?