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Here's some really interesting and cool old pictures posted with permission of Milo Duffek via Facebook

Enjoy!










Départ pour les championnats du monde en canoë en Autriche avec l'équipe USA 1965
roughly translated...
Departure for the World Championships in Austria with the canoe team USA 1965


History

Thanks Milo

Hey that boat Milo in look like same model as Lengthy's first solo boat

Anyone happen to notice he's not wearing a PFD or Helmet... and in the first picture he looks a lot like Dooley?

Were these the first "decked" canoes?

wow! really GREAT pictures.

Did they roll these barges, does anybody know ?

fez wrote:wow! really GREAT pictures.

Did they roll these barges, does anybody know ?

In at least one of those photos you can see that the paddler isn't even wearing a skirt, just kneeling in an open cockpit with a canvas deck in the bow & stern. If he did roll he would come up with his boat full, as I don't believe they tended to use flotation at that time. The other two photos show a fully enclosed canoe with a skirt, so it's possible that those could be rolled.

I recall reading a paddler's recollection about the the U.S. Slalom team competing in Europe in the 60s (possibly in one of Bill Endicott's books on slalom). The paddler described how this one hole on the course was flipping many of the paddlers in practice. One of the top European paddlers was standing on the bank after swimming at this spot and watched the entire U.S. team paddle down the course in succession. At the time they weren't up to the level of the Europeans in slalom, but apparently this European champion's jaw dropped open when he saw most of the team flip at the same spot he did, but every single one rolled back up and continued down the course. The comment made in the recollection was that, at this point in time, many European paddlers didn't have a good roll; however, exposure to Americans at international events soon made them interested in acquiring this skill. It was noted that, at this time, the American's ability to roll was the only thing about the U.S. team that made the Europeans envious.

John

Realy interesting pics... Realy like the roof rack... can I by that from Thule??

Looks like he did roll or he stood up to high and pull his shirt off. Some of my personal memory of doing that my self.

Nice to see he has great taste in vehicles.

First thing I noticed was in photo #1 he's paddling left and in photo #2 he's paddling right. Does someone care to explain to me again why they think switching is wrong or ineffective? Maybe he didn't know he was doin it wrong.
BTW: Thanks for the photos, really cool. Would love to see some video if any exist.

and by photo 3 he's seen the err of his ways, and is doing a proper cross stroke. you alfin' lengthy?

I never said not to do a cross stroke, I do them, but some people do say don't ever switch. There's a reason for both.
Yea, I'll be at alf sat, sun, mon. (first wknd)

i've got no beef with switchin. i think there's a time for it, and also a time for cross strokes. still haven't tried a bent shaft in ww, though you seem to style the hades out of one. see you in lenoir.

I just noticed, He even cary a spair paddle!!

Lengthy wrote:First thing I noticed was in photo #1 he's paddling left and in photo #2 he's paddling right. Does someone care to explain to me again why they think switching is wrong or ineffective? Maybe he didn't know he was doin it wrong.
BTW: Thanks for the photos, really cool. Would love to see some video if any exist.

That is one of those never-ending debate questions. Honestly, paddle the way that works for you. I've got my opinions about that and I am always right, but someone might disagree with me in spite of how wrong they are.


I like your comment, Lengthy, about if Milo knew if he was doing it wrong.

Cool stuff that gives us a chance to observe a winning form.

How many of us are natural left or right and paddle on the opposite side?

In my beginnings, I paddled on the left side since the SO was a rightie and wouldn't switch and we were in a tandem. When she left me, well, I stayed on that side. That was almost thirty years ago.

Can I still make still make a stroke on the other side? Yeah, but it doesn't seem right.