My Swift Kipawa review

The Swift Kipawa is an all-around tandem touring canoe comparable in use to the Prospector 16'.

Designed by John Winters, more information about the Kipawa can be found on the website of Green Valley Boat Works.

First an explanation about my motivations to buy a Swift Kipawa in 2001:

• As an admiring student of John Winter’s writings about canoe design, I was very curious about how  well John Winters’ more scientific approach to canoe design would work out in practice.

• When test paddling canoes during a visit at Swift Canoe in the year 1991, I was especially impressed with the performance of the Quetico 15' — a touring canoe with a design concept comparable to the Kipawa, but smaller and more oriented to lake travel. And although I was actually most interested in the 18 feet long Cirrus right then, the Quetico 15' made the greatest impression on us as it seemed to go as we only lifted our paddles!  Also keeping it on course was so easy, that I almost felt bored 😉 paddling in the stern.  But because the Quetico 15' did not sell well enough, Swift replaced it with the more stable and manoeuverable Mattawa that – to my surprise – paddles almost as easy as the Quetico:

But because the Quetico 15 was not for sale anymore in 2001 and I could not test paddle a Mattawa then, I decided to order a Kipawa also because it seemed to suit my needs the best in terms of capacity. In hindsight the Mattawa would have been big enough for us though.
The Quetico 15' can be bought nowadays in the UK from Solway Dory and possibly also from Silverbirch Canoes if you are so interested!

Review

Because of its flared hull shape the Kipawa is relatively wide, but for me and my bowwoman not too wide at the paddle stations. Seating or kneeling in the Kipawa is both quite comfortable, due to the construction of the specifically designed seats, and because the seat height was not too low or too high for both me and my paddling partner, even though she was much smaller than me.

The Kipawa has an easy turn of speed, and doesn’t lose too much of that speed when paddling into wind and waves. It accelerates well and lightly loaded can be paddled surprisingly fast. The Kipawa tracks well enough for me and, more importantly, the weatherhelm when paddling with strong crosswinds is not as troublesome as in some other modern designs that I know.

The performance of the Kipawa seems best when properly loaded with our total load of about 200 kg (440 lb) aboard when tripping. But with about 140 kg (310 lb) aboard for day trips, the performance in strong winds has never disappointed me the way comparable canoes have.

Maneuverability of the Kipawa is decent, provided the paddlers work as a team. For precise control the bow paddler has to do his/her work and the stern paddler must adjust to this. On the other hand, this means paddling bow can be more rewarding than in other kind of canoes — at least according to my bowwoman, who felt very confident paddling this canoe.

Dryness of the Swift Kipawa in waves is more than sufficient for general touring and tripping conditions, provided that the trim and load distribution is right and you are not going full speed into waves… Coupled with its incredible stable behavior in waves, one may easily get the impression that conditions are better than they really are, because the Kipawa often allows decent progress in quite difficult situations. In fact I found the Kipawa so deceptively easy to paddle in some difficult wave and wind situations, that I almost started thinking I was becoming a better paddler  😉.

Construction

My Kipawa was neatly built in the so called Expedition Kevlar laminate, with nice looking (dark brown) aluminum gunwales, a sliding bow seat, yoke and kneeling thwart in cherry wood. All in all my ‘Kip’ weighed an honest 25 kg (55 lb).

The seats and kneeling thwart are hung from the gunwales with aluminum strips in stead of wooden spacers. This a very lightweight, strong and maintenance free method, although a little bit flexible in the sideways movement. The specially curved web seats are really the most comfortable I have ever sat and kneeled on. The sliding seat can be hold in position with special screw knobs, but if you need to use those, my advice is to put some epoxy underneath the wood of those sliding beams to protect the wood, especially if it is cherry wood. All in all I had no complaints or problems after 10 years of using this canoe intensively.

Solo performance

Judging the solo performance of tandem canoes is tricky, because it depends too much on the seating/kneeling position and personal paddling skills. But for touring purposes I found the Kipawa not bad to paddle solo from the installed kneeling thwart.

Conclusion

From all the tripping canoes we used, the ‘Kip’ became our favorite for the kind of trips that we made. Perhaps the main reason we liked it so much, is that we always felt secure and comfortable in a canoe that also has the ability to travel so well? And for the many day trips we made without a heavy load, it performed quite well for such a big all-around touring canoe.

For me the Kipawa has indeed proven to be a notable improvement in canoe design, being deliberately designed with safety and seaworthiness as the premium performance priorities, but still being a rewarding canoe for dedicated paddlers.

Dirk Barends