Recent content by Idiot Savant

I think it was Gumotex that said they were the biggest. Name recognition here may be very different from that in the rest of the world. We may have a distorted view. Hard to say, but Gumotex does seem to be pretty popular in Europe. Certainly lots of videos of their boats. I always thought...

A guy in my club had one of the Travel Canoes and he said it wasn't very stable. I'm sold on inflatable kayaks. There must be a good inflatable canoe out there.

I don't remember exactly what I was searching for, but I came across a bunch of videos, by some British guy, about paddling Gumotex inflatables. Turns out that Gumotex is the largest manufacturer of inflatables in the world and hugely popular in the EU. They make both inflatable kayaks and...

Some of the backbone members of my club are gradually easing their way out of the sport due to old age and heath/injury issues. In 2021 I had a major medical incident that set me back. I've built myself back up quite a bit from that, but last winter I really worked hard and thought I'd hit...

My biggest complaint about my Echo is the low freeboard. I left it home on my last trip for that very reason. I was worried it might swamp. An Echo with more freeboard would be a great boat.

If you hand someone a bent shaft for the first time they almost always hold it backwards. The effect of using it backwards is it tends to push the boat down rather than lift it up and the phase where you are pushing water back is shorter. All marathon canoe racers use bent shafts and they use...

I have two boats with asymmetrical rocker, a Northwind solo and a Northwind 17. Typically boats like this are meant to be paddled from a seated position, so healing is going to be very limited. They can handle some pretty rough stuff, but they aren't white water boats. Since there is more...

I thought I'd throw in two cents about using the legs with a double blade. I hope I've got this right because it's been a several weeks since I've been on the water and even longer since I was paying attention to what I was actually doing while paddling. The starting position is with both legs...

I'm probably repeating myself, but here goes. For the last few years, during paddling season, I've been going to a local lake, to paddle my IK, two or three times a week. Most of the time I use a Werner Skagit CF. I have other Werner paddles that I use on trips and club paddles. A couple...

I have several inexpensive action cameras now. If you check them on Amazon frequently you see that the price goes up and down and what is available changes. Most have similar specs, but there are differences. My most recent purchase was only $50 and has the highest specs of any of the...

About every time I'm on my computer, I get a message from Microsoft about backing up my files. I probably need to update my computer before I do anything. I'm running short on USB ports and they are all outdated. A lot of the new stuff won't work with them. I can't believe my computer hasn't...

I'm not interested in becoming an internet sensation, even if I were capable. The videos would be for friends, my club and this forum. And, I suppose, for me to relive my adventures on wintry nights. I was going to keep the raw footage on the memory cards. Probably not what most people would...

This year's foray into video was accidental. I meant to have the camera take stills at an interval of my choosing. But I've decided to make a more serious effort at videography, next season I got an offer for 40% off Corel Video Studio Ultimate and took it. But what should I do with a video...

I've never seen an area with more things that will bite you, sting you, poke you, or scratch you. A tough place to survive. One of the best river trips I've ever done. Probably not as safe as it was in 1995.

Many years ago, my club did a trip on the Rio Grande, through Big Bend. I was shooting slides back then, but I recently bought an inexpensive slide scanner. It's easy to use, but the image quality isn't that great. I'm guessing that not a lot of you have done this trip, unless you live in Texas.