Recent content by Chip

My pack tied to a thwart was still there when we retrieved the boat the next day, but the river had unzipped and emptied it. It was my buddy’s aluminum canoe, and I remembered a metal fitting attached to a laundry-line painter. My friend said he had removed the fitting, but the painter got...

Canoeing with a skilled tandem partner can be very gratifying. When it works, it reminds me of ballroom dancing. And I agree with EE and disagree with most stern paddlers because most think they are the captain and decide the course. I have paddled whitewater with new canoeists, and I put them...

I love paddling at twilight and often time my paddles to conclude in the dark. Paddling after dark is less interesting since the scenery is all the same, but dusk is magic. The surface takes on the pink/ purple/ silver hue interrupted by the dark stripes of the waves. Stars and moonlight enhance...

One year a Johns Hopkins U. Engineering professor contacted me on behalf of JHU’s concrete canoe team. Her request was to introduce the team to padding! I loaded up 3 canoes with 8 seats and met the team at a local pond. One or two of them had been in a canoe at summer camp, but the rest didn’t...

Base camping, I sure like a tent that is tall enough for standing. That requirement nudges one toward the bigger tents. My requirements were: standing height, external guy lines for wind, and a no-drip entry. No-drip means you can get in and out during rain without getting rain in the tent. My...

“Kayak” stroking a 20’ pole might be faster than push poling. That’s a lot of pole.

I put a headlamp on and pull it down around my neck. I just want it handy so I can turn it on if a boat approaches, otherwise the headlamp remains unlit. I hate ruining the little night vision I have left by paddling around with light in my field of vision. If I’m with a group I throw my Luci...

I agree with Alan’s FG repair suggestion. If you can get the boat to go back to its shape, I think it will work. On boats I’ve fixed, the hardest part is getting the hull back to shape. Maybe it will go back when you remove the gunwales. If not, seems like you need some kind of form. If you go...

The only V-hull I paddled was a MR Explorer. I paddled it solo and I didn't like it. I guess my dislike stems from what I was taught and what I got used to. I learned to carve in arched-bottom boats by leaning and letting the rockered bottom carve a turn toward the side to which I was leaning...

A few years back I went to the Western Pennsylvania Solo Canoe Rendezvous. As I was going into lunch I looked at the fleet of canoes at the water’s edge and thought I saw canoes with upright rudders. But, that’s not what I saw. Somebody had taken some large bird feathers and wedged them into the...

Cool article. Thanks. My seriously vegan friend tells me, though he is vegan, if we end up starving on a desert island and I die before he does—don’t worry, he won’t let my body go to waste. I need to alert him to this danger. Maybe he can eat sand—is that bad for you?

My little Ford Connect van takes a fuel economy hit when there’s a boat racked. Many factors at play, particularly air temps, so it’s hard to say how much, but around 5 mpg (25 v 30). But getting back to the OPs question about keeping a boat on the car, if you unload all the time, how do you...

Welcome signs are a great idea. Too bad there is no standard. Those searching for a sight would have to see the signal (flag is a good idea) and understand what it means. Seeing might be the first question—the most visible sign a sight is occupied is a canoe or a tent, which you can usually pick...

Virginia Whitewater author Roger Corbett permanently stored his Mohawk Intrepid on the roof of his van. I once asked him if he worried about UV degradation. His reply, “nah, I try to wear the bottom off before the UV can get it.” Probably not a theoretically correct answer, but an answer with...

Two kinds of bike riders, right? Seems you've got the "those who have crashed" covered. The trouble is, as you have proven, one can also be among "those who will crash." Watch out for soft spots on those gravel roads. I was bike shuttling gravel roads along the Manistique and hit a sandy soft...