Recent content by Punkinhead

In that case, I doubt there'd be any test paddles even if there were a lake at the venue. It's too cold in Madison, WI to do it safely in mid-March. I don't know that I've been to Madison in March but I wouldn't be surprised if the lakes are still frozen over. I bought one of my canoes in...

Rutabaga has a small pond right on site and is happy to allow test paddles.

I wonder how many of those encounters translated into them actually doing it. I've been an avid motorcycle traveler for decades and I can't count the number of times someone claimed they were going to get one and start taking trips like mine. At least with canoes you're less likely to hear...

My wife has lost her phone on the last two trips. I've vowed to put all phones in bright orange cases and carry a scuba mask in the canoe from now on.

How were the levels on the Current? We ran a couple sections of Jacks Fork this week and it's the lowest it's been in all the years we've been coming.

A swiftwater rescue course is also a very good way to understand just how powerful water can be and might influence people to evaluate their skills more critically before running something. I've taken a couple SWR courses and the best was at a whitewater park where they were able to raise the...

Id love to see time lapse videos of the areas recovering.

I opened this thread thinking it was about powering a canoe with a parasail. Boy was I wrong.

Got her properly broken in.

I agree with the previous two. It's hard to tell from the video but I don't think the victim was irresponsibly close.

Is it really that big of an issue? In my early whitewater days I kneeled on a regular webbed seat and don't recall ever feeling like I'd get stuck and I had plenty of swims. I switched to foam pedestals later so I could add thigh straps but I never felt like the regular seat was a snag hazard...

Years ago we were in Kruger National Park in South Africa and a ranger told us that pretty much every single animal in the park can outrun you so don't even try. I don't know about bison, but rhinos have bad eyesight and rely on movement so standing still is your best move. It's still...

Last week a group of friends planned a paddling trip for today. All dropped out except myself and wife in a canoe and one friend in a kayak. Two dropped out because they said their knees and hips were hurting so getting in and out of their kayaks is getting too difficult. We lost two friends...

I drove to Wisconsin last weekend without a canoe on top and averaged 37 mpg for the 6 hour drive. On the way home with a newly purchased canoe and a headwind I got 15 mpg. If most of your driving is low speed and local it probably doesn't matter. We spend months at a time traveling in our...

They're building a data center near us and they have hundreds of diesel run lights on 24 hours even though they don't work at night. They've had a ton of complaints. At a recent commissioner meeting the county's lawyer said we have regulations against excessive lighting but it only applies to...