What's the difference between canoe and kayak?

Canoe and kayak are the two different styles of boat that are both part of the sport of canoe sprint. You'll notice that most people specialize in one or the other, but many will participate in both. Both boats are more or less the same size, in singles, doubles, or fours (with some exceptions noted below), but with some key differences in how they're made and paddled.

Canoe:

  • paddled in a kneeling position (on one knee)
  • uses a single-bladed paddle
  • steering is done only with the paddle
  • each paddler stays on one side
  • mostly open-topped boats

Kayak:

  • paddled in a seated position
  • uses a double-bladed paddle
  • there is a rudder to steer the boat1
  • paddling is done equally on both sides
  • closed-top boats, with a 'cockpit' opening for the paddler

(1this is true in all sprint boats, but other kayaks may or may not have steering rudders)

In Canada, there are two additional boats that are not raced anywhere else: the Canadian-style C4 ("tub" C4), and the War Canoe. These are bigger, wider designs that have over a century of racing history. The C4 is paddled just like any other sprint canoe, besides it's dimensions. The War Canoe holds 14 paddlers plus a coxwain in the back (who also has a paddle); it's the biggest, and some would say most exciting boat raced in the sport.

What do the boat terms mean—C1, K4, etc?

  • C stands for "canoe"
  • K stands for "kayak"
  • the number after C or K is the number of people in the boat
  • sometimes these will be hyphenated (C-1, for example), although the ICF and CKC rule books do not hyphenate
  • "IC4" (that's a letter i, not a number 1) is used sometimes in Canada to indicate "international" style C4, to differentiate from the Candadian C4
  • War Canoe will sometimes be referred to as "C15" because it holds 15 people

So what boats are there? What gets raced?

The canoe sprint boats raced around the world in canoe sprint are:

  • K1
  • K2
  • K4
  • C1
  • C2
  • C4 (sometimes called IC4 in Canada)

And raced only in Canada:

  • C4
  • War Canoe

A variety of distances are raced, usually 200m, 500m, and 1000m on the straight 9-lane courses. 5000m or 6000m races are usually done in loops of 250-1000m, without lanes.

Not every possible combination of boat and distance will be raced at every regatta. Internationally, women's canoe still has fewer races available, for example; the Olympic program is also more limited because of restrictions on overall team sizes. C4 is also being phased out at an international level, and now only exists at a few regattas.

What is "canoe sprint"?

Canoe sprint, also called "canoe/kayak sprint" or "sprint canoe/kayak", is the sport of racing canoes and kayaks over (relatively) short distances--usually in the range of 200m to 1000m, but sometimes including longer distances. Burloak Canoe Club is primarily a canoe sprint racing club, with additional paddling programs available.

Canoe sprint race courses are usually 9 lanes wide and 1000m long, to accomodate the most common distances. Paddlers are required to stay in their own lanes for most events, although some exceptions exist (mostly the longer distances over 1km). Local events might change up the format, with different distances, lanes, or rules.

Canoe sprint is raced at the Olympic Games. Internationally, the sport is governed by the International Canoe Federation. In Canada, Canoe Kayak Canada is in charge of canoe sprint, and we fall specifically into the Western Ontario Division of CKC for local organization. Our provincial teams and competitions are organized by Canoe Kayak Ontario.

What are the age categories for racing?

First, some nomenclature: age category will be labelled "U#", which means anyone under age # at the start of year that the competition is happening. For example, U16 would mean anyone who was under 16 years old on January 1st (another way to think of it is anyone who turns that age this year).

In Canada, these age categories are most common: U10, U12, U14, U16, U18; followed by junior/senior/open classes, all of which have no age limit (see details about Nationals for more on that). There will occasionally be age groups between, like U13, U15, and U17, most often in singles races.

International competitions may include the same age categories, but U21 and U23 are also common. U18 will often simply be referred to as "junior", and races with no age restriction as "senior" (this is different than Canadian Nationals, see that section for details).

How do I count my age for Burloak programs?

Any programs that are age-related will be based on the racing age format: U# meaning "under # years old". Sometimes the "U" will be dropped for simplicity, so if you see a program you want to sign up for that's for 14 year olds, it means U14 (under 14 at the start of the year).

What is a "regatta"?

Broadly, a regatta is any event hosting boat races. So for us, any competition is a "regatta", whether it's half-day, all-day, or multi-day. It's a general term, so it doesn't tell you much specifically other than there will be races. Any racing competition is a regatta, with different types from there: trials, championships, etc., they're all regattas.

Nationals

What ages race at Nationals?

These are the age "classes" currently raced at Nationals:

  • U16
  • U18
  • non-age restricted classes (Junior, Senior, and Open)
  • Masters (35+, singles only)

In the past, age classes have been different or had different names, which you might see on records or trophies.

What is up with this "Jr/Sr" thing?

"Junior" and "Senior" mean different things in the Canadian system than they do internationally. In an international competition (or any competition following the ICF rules), "Junior" is under 18, "Senior" is over 18 (ages as of January 1). There will sometimes be other age categories too, like under-23.

At the CKC National Championships, Junior and Senior are levels of competition for 18+, like tier I and tier II in some other sports. You turn Sr by achieving a certain performance level, and you have Jr/Sr status in each event individually.

The quick version of turning Sr is this: if you place top 2 in the Jr or Sr version of an event, you turn Sr in that event. Coming 3rd two years in a row will also do it. The actual rule is a little more complicated (see the CKC Rule Book if you're interested), but that summary will cover 95% of cases.

Turning back to Jr again requires not placing top 5 in the Sr race for 3 years in a row. National Team members are also not allowed to turn back to Junior--any years they are on the team don't count for this rule (in their own discipline).

Any age can race Jr/Sr, and occasionally someone under 18 will turn Sr in an event. They are still allowed to race their age-specific categories (U16, U18), but they can't race Jr if they have Sr status.

CKC maintains a list of Jr/Sr status for paddlers in each event, but note that this list is not official, just for convenience—if there's disparity between this list and the rules/results, the rules and results trump the published list.

What is the Open category?

At CKC Nationals, Open works exactly the same way that Senior does. The only difference is that an Open event does not have a matching Junior event. If there's a Junior race, they call it Senior; if not, they call it Open.

How do I qualify to race at Nationals?

For most events, each Division is entitled to 4 entries. As part of Western Ontario Division, we race at the WOD Qualifier, and usually the top 4 results for an event are then qualified to race that event at Nationals. In theory, the WOD Board can allocate entries as they like, but in practice they only intevene occasionally for unusual circumstances.

"Random entries" are a few additional Nationals qualifying spots that are allocated to the divisions by random draw. By default there are 3 random entries for each event (6 Divisions x 4 entries each = 24 entries; 3 full heats at Nationals means 27 lanes available). Any unfilled spots from a Division that sends less than 4 entries are allocated to the other Divisions randomly as well. Random entries are awarded after the final deadline for regular entries; if awarded, they cannot be refused, so there are sometimes race limit considerations in deciding to ask for a random entry or not.

There are a few qualifying exceptions:

  • Athletes (or crews with athletes) that miss the WOD Qualifier because they're racing for Canada are usually given one of the 4 spots. Those spots are NOT in addition to WOD's quota, which means less people will qualify at the WOD Qualifier. (This comes up most often for Junior Worlds.)
  • For some U18 singles events, the 3 default random spots are allocated to Divisions by performances at National Team Trials, rather than random draw. Unfilled Divisional spots are still allocated randomly to other Divisions.
  • Senior, Open, and Masters events are open entries--the Division can send unlimited entries to Nationals. This means anyone eligble for those races can enter directly to Nationals, without racing WOD Qualifier.
  • The 6000m races have 5 entries per Division instead of the usual 4, with no random places. The only randomly available spots are those unfilled by other Divisions.

Who makes it to the finals at Nationals?

The heats and finals process at Nationals runs a little differently from other events, like trials, because there are no semi-finals at Nationals. The reason for no semis is simple: it would make an already 5-day event way longer, and require too much extra racing from athletes (who will typically be racing more events than at a trials regatta).

  • If there are 9 entries or less: everyone makes the final, congrats.
  • If there are 2 heats (10-18 entries): the top 3 from each heat goes to the final; the 3 fastest times from everyone else also go to the final.
  • If there are 3 heats (19-27 entries): the top 2 from each heat goes to the final; the 3 fastest times from everyone else also go to the final.
  • If there are 4 or more heats: this is technically possible for a few events, but it's never happened.

Note that the top 2 or 3 advance regardless of times. Times are only compared among the results that aren't top 2 or 3. It is therefore entirely possible for someone to advance to the final who had 10th or slower overall heat time.

How many races can I have at Nationals?

Each individual can be entered in eight (8) events. Each of those events may or may not have heats; if you are in 8 events, and have heats for them all, and make all the finals, you could need to race 16 times.

Occasionally, there are other races scheduled to "piggyback" on the Nationals regatta. They take advantage of having the infrastructure set up, but they aren't actually part of Nationals. The most common is to have a National Team selection race the day before Nationals begins. These events are not part of Nationals officially, so they don't count as Nationals races for entries or for points.

How long is Nationals?

Right now it's a 5-day regatta. It's been shorter in the past, but to change it again would require a bit of work—a vote of all the clubs at the AGM.

The schedule is a little more flexible, and is released by CKC in the spring. Generally the singles races are the first 2 days (Tuesday & Wednesday), followed by 3 days of crew boats (Thursday, Friday, & Saturday).

CanMas (Canadian Masters Championship) is typically on the Sunday right after Nationals, but it's technically a different regatta, making use of the infrastructure set up that's there anyway for Nationals.

Where is Nationals?

It moves around every year, and can in theory be anywhere in the country. The location is determined at least 2 years ahead of time, and there are patterns that give an idea of what region will host several years ahead of that. Some of the most common sites include: Welland, Ottawa, Montreal, Sherbrooke, Dartmouth, and Regina.

How do the overall points work at Nationals?

First, don't worry about it too much—just focus on your race, and performing to your best ability. But if you're curious anyway...

Points are awarded for the top 8 placings in each event (that's all but one person in a full final). 1st place gets 16 points; 2nd gets 8 points; 3rd gets 6 points, and on down to 8th. War canoes get more points, starting at 24 for 1st, down to 2 points for 8th. Yes, that does mean winning is worth a lot for the point totals--few clubs will win a burgee without a lot of gold medals backing it up.

Each club's points are totalled for each "class" (age, etc.), as well as for an overall total. Burgees are awarded for each class, and "the" burgee (the big one!) is awarded for the most overall points.

Check out the CKC rule book if you want all the details on how the points work.

What is a "burgee"?

A burgee is a kind of flag; at Nationals there are burgee flags awarded to the club with the most points in each age class or category, as well as a very large burgee awarded to the club with the most points overall. If an age group isn't specified, "the burgee" probably refers to the overall points burgee.

The Nationals burgees are red with white, and have a tapered shape with a triangular notch out of the end. They're quite distintive--the age group ones are a couple feet long, but the overall championship burgee needs a tall person just to keep it up off the ground.