Glenn, Here's the list. Thanks to Paul Knoerr for digging out his copy so I didn't have to find mine
1) Sawyer Cruiser 17'9" - "The first performance canoe to be mass
produced. If this Lynn Tuttle design is still rakish after 22 years,
consider it's impact in 1966, when most canoes had the uncanny grace of a
DaLaval bulk milk tank and all the beauty of the south end of a northbound
manure spreader. The cruiser legitimized "quick for the sake of quick."
2) Mad River T.W. Special 18'6" - The most popular of the pioneer
Supercanoes of the '70's. The T.W. Special was designed by Jim Henry from
a highsided USCA cruiser class stripper that was designed by Lynn Tuttle
and modified in the building (high sides) by Maine State racers Ray Titcomb
and George Walsh. To take it full circle, the original USCA strip boat was
basically the hull form of a Sawyer Cruiser stretched to 18'6", This 18'6"
version became the Moore Viper. However, incestuous as it sounds, the
TeeDub was a honey. -
3) american Sport Tandem - This was a category of boats rather than one
particular canoe, and it didn't exist until this article.... We thought of
them as less than serious canoes. Pretty little boats for lily-dippers and
birdwatchers, but not quite "real canoes". But they are. And time and
sociology have conspired to bring them to the forefront as a group. Now
they don't share a lot of design features, and they surely don't share a
design purpose. But tehy do share the elements of handiness, quickness,
handsomeness, and maneuverability. The boats listed included the Lotus
Egret, my beloved Mad River Malecite, the Sawyer 190, the Old Town
Canadienne 16, and the Wenonah Sundowner 16'6" (which we ultimately know
today as the Solo Plus).
4) Wenonah Jensen 16 C-1 - The 16 was a good little boat, It certainly
dominated racing in it's time, and itwas quick, docile, and readily
available. It brought an army of paddlers into solo marathon racing. And
it took alot of those racers into the backcountry as well. Just as the
Sawyer Cruiser legitimized fast tandems for touring, the Wenonah 16 C-1
legitimized fast solos. This boat has paternal ties to nearly every
Wenonah solo ever made, and the Sawyer Summersong and Shockwave.
5) The Uniroyal "Warsaw Rocket" - The first royalex hull to be produced.
Nobody ever had kind words to say for the hulls performance in flatwater,
it's sobriquet was half geography and half irony. It was okay in
whitewater, but ultimately had a pernicious effect on the sport......it
altered open canoe whitewater from a skill sport in glass boats to an
elastic collision joy ride in rubber boats....It engendered a lot of "spin,
crash, burn" boating at the expense of skill boating. The Blue Hole OCA
was originally a version of the Rocket (Warsaw was for Warsaw, Indiana,
where Royalex was developed). This has spawned the MRC ME, Old Town Otter,
Whitesell Piranha, Mohawk a Daggers current entire OC-1 lineup.
6) Lotus Dandy - What the Dandy did engender was a whole new way of looking
at canoes. There were a few solos around before the Dandy was born, but
somehow the Dandy caught the public's attention and the attention of many
designers. It was and is one of the truly pretty boats ever built. The
overall quality of the Dandy is simply exquisite. And it is certainly a
neat little sport boat by any criteria. This boat singlehandedly spawned
the interest by canoeists to paddle solo canoes...
7) The Grumman Standard 17 - Need I say anything else. I am of the firm
opinion that this redoubtable warhorse of the wilds set canoeing back 50
years..... The Grumman 17 taught the North American public that it was fun
to be out there, which is true, and that it wasn't much fun to just
paddle. Which is false. It simply isn't much fun to (just) paddle a
Grumman. The Grumman is likely responsible for why we all paddle today.
My Dad owned one as likely nearly everyone else on this list. My Dad sold
his three years back for nearly twice what he paid for it.... We had a lot
of fun fishing, going to an island beach in Kentucky Lake, my first
forayinto BWCA, and as a method of family fun... Three cheers for the
Grumman.
8. Blackhawk Proem 11'10" - By any standard, Pat Moore's Proem is a
radical canoe. It's small. It's fitted with a contoured pedestal. It has
a shape that resembles nothing anybody had ever seen on the water before
it. But it taught us that we need to radically rethink the shape - and
size - of our boats. The Proem is radically asymetrical and was the first
canoe to worry as much about what water does after it's been parted by the
bow. The Proem can count as it's heirs, all of the successive Moore canoes
and the Ariel, Zephyr and much of the Shadow series were just more user
friendly sized varieties.
9) Sawyer Starlight 13'4" - The David Yost designed Starlight was the first
contemporary canoe to be widely and agressively marketed as a women's
canoe. It was also the first canoe to be marketed nationally as part of a
sized system of canoes - canoes built to fit people rather then packs.
10 Coleman Canoe - The Coleman canoe is not, surprisingly the worst canoe
ever built. It isn't even close to the worst. But it is surely the worst
canoe to recieve the benefits of a massive public acceptance..... It did,
however, start other people thinking about moderately priced, extremely
durable canoes. And it certainly engendered the Old Town Discovery, which
once you get past the prime criterion for choosing a canoe is that you can
run over it with a car, isn't a bad boat. The Coleman and subsequently the
Disco, have made Canoeing a sport, and have ultimately like the Grumman
brough new blood into the sport.