Dramey, as I have gotten older, heavier, less agile, and my knees have gotten crappier, getting out of the canoe has again become an adventure, sometimes in wetness. Getting in is usually not a problem; getting out, especially with dead legs at an awkward landing, is a different story.
I rarely kneel and do not care for higher mounted seats, but by golly they are easier for me to get out of than something low slung.
As suggested above I try to find an easy landing spot and put the canoe in the shallows sideways. On a kindly bottom I will come in at a perpendicular angle at some speed and drive the canoe sideways into the shallows. Yeah, yeah, not “approved” and scorned as bottom abuse, and I won’t do that with fragile composite hulls, but with RX or thick poly (Disco 119) or even old-school stiff glass, I will. I’d rather scratch the bottom and exit dry.
Especially if I’ve been in the boat for a few hours and have lost my “land legs”. At least I’ll only fall out in 3 inches of water.
More assistedly I also have a couple of “crutches”. I mostly use a carbon double blade, and I’m
not abusing that as a landing crutch. But I also bring a substantial straight wood paddle, and do abuse it jammed in the river bottom to help stabilize the canoe, and me, as I get out. Or, sometimes, depending on the awkwardness involved, when getting in.
I’m a big fan of the three point stance, two feet, one “crutch” firmly planted. Or, more specifically, a fan of a
minimal two-point-stance, one foot solid, one foot moving, one crutch planted aiding my balance.
The other, most oft used crutch is a short push pole. Not a 12 foot long setting pole, but a 5 ½ foot tall closet rod pole with a ducksbill at the top.
P2160527 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
Same exit technique as egads abusing a paddle blade stuck in the bottom, but long enough that I can stand fully upright with it, ‘til my knees start to function again. Or I can bridge it pressed across the gunwales, with the far end resting on a bank. This kind of kayaker exit, something I would
never do with a decent paddle. No one should.
https://aquabound.com/blogs/resources/how-to-get-and-out-of-a-kayak-video
That pole comes in multi-functional handy. Hiking staff. Spare tarp pole. Short push pole on shallow gravel bars or sandbars where there is not enough water for a paddle blade. The L-shaped “ducksbill” at the top is handy for snagging things just out of reach, or hooking on a friend’s gunwale when muckling up afloat.
We have a variety of short “push poles”, in different lengths, diameters, ducksbill/tee grips and foot ends, including marsh mud bottoms.
PC261475 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
PC261478 by
Mike McCrea, on Flickr
One of those simple things comes on every trip, and gets used every time, in the boat and in camp.