First of all let me make sure I have my nomenclature correct: I think of lining as using one rope and either pulling the canoe upstream behind you or following behind the canoe as you work downstream. Tracking is using two ropes, bow and stern, to control the angle of the canoe and how far it is away from shore. This lets you stay on shore while the canoe is out in the current and also lets you steer it around obstacles. Is this correct?
Anyone have any tips they'd care to share for these processes, tracking in particular? Last year on the Bloodvein I really struggled with tracking when solo. Once in a while on a straight stretch of shoreline I could get it to work about perfect and it was great. I could just walk along the shore and keep the canoe 5-10' out from shore next to me.
Bust most of the time the terrain and current was much trickier as I was hopping from boulder to boulder and having to go around corners. I found it very difficult to control both ropes. For example I'd need to let out a lot of rope to get in position and then pull the canoe upstream towards me. Hard to take up line when both hands are holding a different rope. Or when I needed to suddenly change the angle of the bow or stern. It was hard to take up line quickly I usually ended up just tossing one of the lines and figuring out a way to do it with just the bow line.
The other big problem I had was going around outside corners. The stern seemed to be quite content in the eddy and I had to run the bow way out into the current before the stern would follow suit. Usually the bow was out too far at this point and the current would take it. What I really wanted was for the stern line to turn into a long stick so I could kick the rear end out into the current.
How do you handle these situations?
Alan
Anyone have any tips they'd care to share for these processes, tracking in particular? Last year on the Bloodvein I really struggled with tracking when solo. Once in a while on a straight stretch of shoreline I could get it to work about perfect and it was great. I could just walk along the shore and keep the canoe 5-10' out from shore next to me.
Bust most of the time the terrain and current was much trickier as I was hopping from boulder to boulder and having to go around corners. I found it very difficult to control both ropes. For example I'd need to let out a lot of rope to get in position and then pull the canoe upstream towards me. Hard to take up line when both hands are holding a different rope. Or when I needed to suddenly change the angle of the bow or stern. It was hard to take up line quickly I usually ended up just tossing one of the lines and figuring out a way to do it with just the bow line.
The other big problem I had was going around outside corners. The stern seemed to be quite content in the eddy and I had to run the bow way out into the current before the stern would follow suit. Usually the bow was out too far at this point and the current would take it. What I really wanted was for the stern line to turn into a long stick so I could kick the rear end out into the current.
How do you handle these situations?
Alan