Meet Harold Deal
Harold Deal has ranked among the top open-boat paddlers in this country for many years. He has a solid background in several canoe-sport disciplines,
and over three decades of experience with lightweight performance canoes. His paddling expertise has also been a source for new ideas and products over the
years.
When did you start canoeing Harold?
I guess you have to go back to the 1950's when I was growing up with my great aunt and uncle along the Delaware River. He was an avid outdoorsman who had made
numerous trips by canoe into the Canadian bush in the first half of the 20th century. We always had canoes and I was encouraged to enjoy them, which
I did. One of those canoes was an original birchbark. That led to summers at a wilderness base camp for canoeing in Quebec, where I became a staff member as a
teenager in the early 1960's.
How did you get into whitewater paddling as a sport?
Canoeing was a form of traveling on the water for me up until the early 1970's. I was also into backpacking and other outdoor activities. Then I read a notice
about whitewater kayaking on a local river and went to check it out, with a canoe of course. I was impressed with what they were doing in the kayaks and became
interested in whitewater as a destination. You can say that I got into whitewater playboating and custom performance canoes at the same time. It took some research
to locate a source for a small, lightweight solo canoe back then because very few people were building them. There was even a brief period when I paddled a
composite kayak. I joined a newly formed club and talked to the founding members about learning the sport. One of those members had placed fifth in the men's
kayak class at the National Championships.
Does that mean you started racing then?
My first race was the Open Canoe Slalom Nationals in 1981. The skills those paddlers had were more refined than mine at the time. It made me realize how slalom
practice could improve my ability to run rivers with more precision than I had been prior to that. Racing became one of the things that I enjoyed about canoeing
because it provided an incentive to work on my technique and river reading skills. I saw it as an opportunity to get together with some excellent paddlers that
were serious about boat control and enjoyed canoeing as much as I did. A new class was also beginning to take shape around that time called the Solo Combined
class. That caught my interest because it offered the additional challenge of racing downriver in the same canoe.
Was that the only kind of canoeing you were doing at the time?
No. I still enjoyed canoe camping and exploring little streams in addition to whitewater playboating. I began looking for more efficient canoes for touring and
quiet-water use. That's how I met Dave Curtis and many of the people he was associated with. The personal sport canoes were beginning to emerge and Dave was one
of the primary sources. I remember participating in a trip to the Boundary Waters with CANOE Magazine in 1982 to promote solo canoes and solo
tripping. Dave was one of the organizers for that trip, plus some of the new canoe symposiums that would follow. There were maybe three small groups known around
the U.S. that were practicing various forms of graceful smooth-water paddling. I was having a lot of fun experimenting with techniques I learned from crossing over
between whitewater and quiet water and combining it all with the carving and heeling characteristics, which the sport canoes had. The discipline now known as
Freestyle canoeing was beginning to take shape around that time, and I was connected with the developement of that. There was a period later when I was paddling a
wildwater C-1 as well, and I feel that I benefitted from the exposure with some world-class racers.
So how did you get involved with canoe design?
I think that was a gradual process. The dual requirements of the Combined class continued to interest me, along with style or sport paddling, and canoe tripping.
I conceived some ideas in 1983 that would combine certain characteristics, then supplied the specs, and consulted on a solo canoe that would be known as the
Curtis Dragonfly. That boat was put into production by Dave Curtis at Curtis Canoes. By 1990 I had an original name and formed some
specific concepts for a new asymmetrical whitewater solo canoe that I called the Crossfire. I supplied the specs and consulted on that canoe, then assisted in
some of the building phases of the plug at Curtis's shop. At that time I also had ideas for other solo canoes that I wanted to include in a series to be manufactured by Dave
Curtis. It was in 1993 that I decided to utilize my drafting background and woodworking knowledge to loft the design drawings based on my paddling experiences and build a new whitewater
solo performance canoe for the Hemlock line that I called the SHAMAN. Next Came the SRT, a sporty touring and tripping solo canoe
in the Hemlock line with increased capacity for river travel.
You've been involved in the sport for a long
time. What are some of the other things that stand out or come to your mind?
I've placed first in the Whitewater Open Canoe National Championships 24 times up through the year 2001, and was one of the 100 Paddlers of the Century named in a
recent paddle-sports magazine article, although I believe many others also deserve to have been recognized. I continue to enjoy the diversity that open canoeing has
to offer, both in whitewater and smooth water, and feel there is always something that can be learned from it. The level of paddling I do can be technical and
have a focus on precision, or it can be peaceful and laid back. I do enough marathon paddling to understand and appreciate the challenges of that discipline, and
have paddled solo for distances up to 200 miles continuously without sleep or rest. I'm also fortunate to have been able to combine photography with wilderness
canoeing assignments, and I enjoy paddling in different environments and different seasons. Style, efficiency, and control are other elements of my paddling
that have led to contributions to some instructional material. There are an amazing number of talented and enthusiastic paddlers in all phases of the sport, and
I've had many memorable interactions with people who have similar interests as mine. The ideas incorporated in the equipment I've designed come from a lot of
experience on the water and a keen awareness of how it will respond in its elements, and then it is built for paddlers who seek and appreciate high quality
products and great performance.
