Canoe Jousting: In Days of Old, When Paddlers Were Bold

Q&A with Keith Edmondson

Editor's note: Longtime CCAer Keith Edmondson observes that the club's picnics, now "entirely sedate," back in the day featured canoe jousting. This was a competition in which the record clearly shows Keith and his good friend Bill Delanoy excelled. Edited from several emails, here are memories from Keith documenting what is almost certainly a lost art, just in case there are some enterprising paddlers who want to revive it (but do note below why the competition went by the wayside).

What was this sport, anyway?

For two years in the early 1980s, we did canoe jousting. Bill Delanoy was my "Horse" (the paddler) and I was the "Knight" (the standing jouster). Other participants included Susan Sherrod and Ed Evangelidi. The contests were held just off from shore at the Carderock picnic area.

What were the rules?

1. Knights had to stand on the decks. Horses were to remain in their paddling positions.

2. Knights could only hit their opponent's life jacket between the top of the PFD and at waist level. Each hit had to be a thrust, no sweeping motions. No thrusts to the head, neck, arms, groin, or legs.

3. Horses could maneuver the canoe wherever they wished, including contact with their boat against the opponent's craft. Horses could not engage with their paddles or arms/hands against either the opponent's knight or horse.

What was your strategy?

Horses' best maneuver was to T their craft broadside into their opponent's craft while their knight would try to knock their opponent knight into the drink over the side.

How did you fare?

Bill and I never lost a bout. A lot of it was because I had good balance, but more importantly, Bill was a very good horse who usually managed to keep our boat hitting the other boat from the side. I'd be banging my lance rhythmically on the deck. I'd start out slow, then increase in cadence as we got close, much like they did with swords on shields in the Roman days, hoping to psych my opponents out and make a mistake.

Was Susan Sherrod a worthy opponent?

With Susan, usually when I got close to her, she'd go down on her knees so I would not knock her over so easily. I always said she was cheating by doing that. But there were no rules against her stance, so it was a valid position. In my opinion, she was a very worthy opponent as she never gave up, though she did end up in the water eventually.

Whatever happened to canoe jousting?

We quit jousting because it was apparent it was too dangerous when one of the knights fell backwards on my head the one time I was the horse. While he was a lightweight teen, he still compressed my entire spinal column, and I went the next day to get a full set of X-rays. Fortunately there was no lasting damage, but if it had been a full-sized adult, it could have been bad. So we declared the jousting games over and done.