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*cover photo by Dan Kinsman

It’s the only real kind of sport,” said a paddler describing the adventure of canoeing the Quinnipiac River from its origins near Meriden all the way to the Long Island Sound. The quote appeared in a March 1901 article about the then new Quinnipiac Canoe Club, published by the New Haven Morning Journal and Courier.

One-hundred and twenty years later, a new group of boating enthusiasts are launching out to show this claim still holds true — that paddling the Q makes for a sport like none other!

Inspired by the club of bygone days, the new group adopted the name Quinnipiac Canoe Club, but unlike the century old association — which organized elaborate regattas, dances and corn roasts, and was formally registered as a corporation in 1909 — today’s club is an unofficial and fluid group of paddlers looking for shared adventures on the Quinnipiac and beyond.

“The Quinnipiac Canoe Club is not a formal thing,” explained one of the club organizers J.R. Logan. “It’s people paddling independently, but together.”

Like many during Covid, J.R. was looking outdoor activities with good social distancing — and canoeing surfaced as a naturally great option. For J.R., who had moved to the Quinnipiac River community in late 2018, the club brought together two of his passions: outdoor adventures and history.

“The Quinnipiac is a beautiful river with a rich history,” said J.R. While he has always loved outdoor adventures, J.R.’s enthusiasm for canoeing was cemented in college after he lead a paddling project to help clean a Michigan River.

“I canoe with friends all the time,” said J.R. “There are plenty of reasons to be excited about it.”

Members of the first Quinnipiac Canoe Club expressed similar sentiments a century ago. “From the fascinating tales told by survivors of trips down the Quinnipiac, the sport is of the finest.” These survival tales included the misadventures of a club member during one of his first attempts to paddle the River.

You get up at five in the morning, put on your bathing suit, trot down to Hanover and go aboard ship….Then you’re off for a day of rare sport. For several hundred yards you begin to feel like a two year old. At a sharp turn in the river, your stern wants to go around first, and in trying to keep the bow first, your neck interferes with an overhanging tree. In trying to bend under you are overturned…The flume from the Mishap in Yalesville to Community is great. The water goes like a mile a minute and you must keep pace. Your canoe goes shooting off into the lake…and unless you know the channel, on to the mud flats. Floundering on the mud for half an hour you again get into clear water…

Despite these mishaps, the author attests, “a person who knows how to handle a canoe can make the trip without any accident.”

For J.R. and the new canoe club, the ability to handle your own canoe, kayak or even paddle board is the only prerequisite to participate in any of their informal outings, one of the first of which took place on a moonlit night in August 2020. At dusk, 22 people — mostly strangers to each other — met at the Quinnipiac Marina for a one-way 4.8 mile journey upriver to the Tilcon boat launch. Donning headlamps and life jackets, the group headed north, skillfully navigating the whirling currents under the 1-91 and Middletown Avenue Bridges, the crouch-inducing low clearance under the the railroad bridges, and the maze of marsh pathways.

“The trip was adventure, nature, and fun, especially in the summer Covid context,” said participant Chris Ozyck. “Getting lost in the maze, but never too lost was just perfect to create a memory of a lifetime.”

Enjoying the beauty and mystery of the night river is not a new pastime. In September 1907, the original Quinnipiac Canoe Club organized a similar excursion, with 30 members paddling five miles by moonlight from their clubhouse front street to red bank where they enjoyed a waiting feast of roasted corn and oysters on the shell, warm campfire, and special musical entertainment by a guest paddler.

This idyllic scene may seem feel far removed from the river today — where industrialization and development have impaired water quality and years of dumping, pollution and waste litter the banks. But the changes are not all bad. Recent removals of obsolete dams have re-opened passage for fish and paddlers alike and increasing environmental efforts in the last decades — many supported by the Quinnipiac River Fund — have reversed some of the damage and spurred greater stewardship of the Quinnipiac and other urban waterways.

Today, for those who explore the Quinnipiac by canoe or kayak, the words of the paddler of old resound true through the century, “The river is a very beautiful one and it is worth much to any person to take the trip.”

For more information about the Quinnipiac Canoe Club and upcoming events, please visit:

https://www.quinnipiaccanoeclub.org/paddle
https://www.facebook.com/groups/341755973484007/