Paddle Tips Blog

Paddling, Exploring, Building, Living

The Death of Royalex; The Evolution of Paddling

 

The open boating community has been holding its collective breath this winter, waiting to see what will replace Royalex as the next wonder material for canoe hulls.  The exhale became a huge sigh of despair when Esquif announced the other day that they are, sadly, shutting down production of some of the world’s best open canoe designs.  Devastating news, for sure.

What does this mean for us?  What’s next for the world of paddling? Do we need to go back to...

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Sit Back And Enjoy

Less is More Part 4

So you have recognized patterns, identified the weaknesses in current to use to your advantage, done your homework and placed your boat into the right water.  And you are still getting blown away by the current.  What gives!?

Here’s a secret weapon: raise the bow on entry to current.  Affectionately known as boofing the eddy line, it does several things as you cross the eddy line.  First, it will prevent the bow of the canoe from engaging oncoming...

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Place Your Boat

Less is More Part 3

So how’s that homework going?  I know, I said we were going to work less.  The good news is that now that our homework is done we are getting to the easy bit.

In Recognizing Patterns we discussed how various river features create weak spots in current- ie, slack water behind a hydraulic, that we can use to advantage.  Another one is a wave trough that provides forward momentum to the canoe even when we are facing upstream- oh, that wonderful...

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Do Your Homework!

 

Less is More Part 2

It’s probably been a while since you heard this phrase but, yes, you have some homework to do.  Making it look easy- and therefore working less, is all about doing your homework.

I used to teach for the Canadian Outward Bound Wilderness School, working primarily with 15-18 year olds, mostly boys.  I don’t have to tell you about the work ethic of this population.  Much of their motivation is to do nothing, have chill time, but there are...

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