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Canoeing and Kayaking go back to the dawn of human culture. The earliest canoes date from 6,000 B.C. though it is likely that people used similar forms of transportation even earlier.

The Americas were likely a fertile ground for canoe development, with Native Americans using cloth and animal skins to cover a hollowed-out wooden log canoe frame, while Eskimos are thought to have developed the kayak, where one or two paddlers sit in a partially enclosed seat. Both canoes and kayaks were meant to be light, streamlined and easy to maneuver through the rapids and turgid streams of the North American wilderness.

As in the case of basketball, however, one person’s determination helped turn a human activity into a sport. In the mid 19th century a Scotsman named James MacGregor developed the Rob Roy, a canoe with sail, mast and paddles. He used it to make a number of expeditions in Europe and Palestine that hewrote about extensively, helping to bring the sport to a wide audience. Within two decades, canoeing became a competitive sport in England, and clubs started spreading across the eastern United States.

In the early 20th century, the sport became popular in many parts of Europe, and it was a demonstration sport in the Paris Olympics of 1924. By the Berlin Olympics of 1936, it was recognized as a full competitive sport. Since then a number of shorter and longer men and women’s events have continued to thrill audiences around the globe. Few sports require such balanec and mastery of the elements. The first canoers, thousands of years ago, might hardly recognize the intense sport that we practice today.