Is it true? Are red canoes really faster than green ones?

Whilst Im old, I think the question is older. 

Where did all this start? Canoe racing must have started at some point shortly after the second ever canoe was built, and since then the quest for a fast but stable canoe has not ended but from somewhere the question arose; Is the red boat faster than the green boat?

Well in this day and age of canoes being mainly produced in plastic we may just about be able to give you an answer. Based on two identical polyethylene boats from the same mould being produced in the two colours we will indeed have a faster and a slower boat. And here is the tec part. Since Red plastic has more pigment than green, the red boat will shrink more in cooling. This in turn means it will be slightly shorter, we are of course talking a very small percentage but none the less it will be shorter. Since the shorter a canoe the slower it is through the water, it makes sense that the red boat will be slower as its shorter than the green boat since it shrank more due to having more pigment.

But,,,,, it may not be that simple!!

Another 'not so big' aspect of shrinkage in plastic boats post moulding is shrinkage due to ambient temperature on that day. The warmer the weather, the less a boat shrinks in cooling, so it ends up a fraction longer. The colder the ambient temperature, the more the boat shrinks, so it will end up a touch shorter.

If you combine the above knowledge, the answer is simple........

If you want a fast boat, check to see if it was moulded on a warm day, and of course it has to be green :-)

To make it faster, do what we did in the picture, tow it with a VW Sport Line!

Happy paddling,

Justin and the Hou Crew.