A bit of history...
KayaksKayaks are paddled in a seated position using a double bladed paddle. Canoes are paddled in a kneeling position with a paddle with one blade.
Canoeing and kayaking has existed in the UK as a sport for just over 100 years, but as a form of transport the canoe and kayak have a very long history.
The kayak was developed as a hunting vessel by the Inuit people. One of the earliest sightings of this type of craft was in 1732 when a Russian sailor wrote "A leather boat which had room for but one man. He was dressed in a shirt of whale intestines which was fastened about the opening of the boat in such a manner that no water could enter even if a big wave should strike it." There is no doubt that the hunters who headed out into freezing arctic waters in sealskin boats to harpoon Whales must have of been very brave.
Kayaking in the UK was made popular by John MacGregor. In 1965 he set off down the Thames on a thousand mile trip around Europe. The books he wrote about his trips made kayaking touring very popular. MacGregor also set up the Royal Canoe Club, one of the founding BCU clubs.
Kayaking became even more popular when canvas covered boats became available. Kayaking was made an Olympic sport in 1936 and the BCU was formed in the same year.
Canoes
Canoes were used by the native people of Canada and America. In the North boats were made from birchbark but further South boats were made from dug out trees. The master birchbark builders were the Algonquins.
Modern canoeing really started when settlers in the Ontario area of Canada began to produce their own boats. They lacked the skills of the native Algonquins and started producing dugout boats.
In 1857 John Stephenson entered a local canoe race using a boat that had been made by bending boards over the body of his racing dugout from the previous year.
Canoes have been made out of a number of different materials but in the 1970s a company called Coleman introduced plastic canoes and today most canoes are plastic.