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That's a Werner Bandit. The shaft is more black than blue. Must be an artifact of the photo.

As I am most frequently paddling ww these days, my solo since October is a new Esquif Raven (no relationship to the Swift Raven) in blue T-Formex. This was one of my first times out in it on the Cl. II GW canal (Potomac River) just outside of downtown DC (Virginia side).

Even when it is raining?

I used to use the "schnozzle" that came with my ExPed air mattress, and it certainly works as advertized, although swinging that bag around inside a tent to try to capture a bag full of air is sub-optimal. Of late, however, I'm using a little rechargeable air pump -- the Flextail Max Pump 2...

lol! It is a process, isn't it? Probably could be a whole other thread. When I bought my dry suit it was such a struggle for me to get my second arm into the suit. I asked the company rep (this was a direct purchase from Ocean Rodeo) and he said, "I find it helpful to hop up and down on...

kahel your work looks first rate. Makes me I wish I knew how to work leather! One thing that interested me that I had never seen before is your tent stake puller. Looks very simple and very practical. I may "borrow" that idea!

Wool banks? Not familiar with that term. What are they?

Had a mishap on the Potomac today. Canoe flipped up by Harper's Ferry. Water temp 39 degrees. Air temp mid-50s. Wearing dry suit over Minus33 Expedition Weight merino wool base layers. I swam my boat to shore, emptied it and went on my way. It was a non-issue. Wasn't even cold...

Best demo I've seen yet of that stroke. I haven't mastered it, but having paddled probably 500 hundred miles on the Allagash and St. John with some Maine guides, I know it when I see it.

Eh, over dramatic. Also called the cowboy-bowline and left-handed bowline. Some say it is just as good; but the knot bible, The Ashley Book of Knots (ABOK), says it is "distinctly inferior."

I always use the slip knot method when tying a bowline.

I first saw the pony tail elastic trick mentioned in one of Cliff Jacobson's canoeing books. But that bowline, with the tag end outside the loop, rather than inside, is non-standard. Fine for this use but not recommended for critical uses (climbers call it a suicide bowline).

I wear merino wool (Smart Wool or Minus33) tops and bottoms under my drysuit. Works well. Perspiration can be an issue so insulation that works when damp and that doesn't get a funky smell is a good idea and merino wool satisfies both of these conditions.

I don't do bear hangs but getting the tarp ridge line high enough up in a tree can be an issue anywhere. I can see this being a help as long as you have the pole.

Different strokes for different folks! I own and have paddled the Vertige extensively the last year. I'm 5'10" and 214 lbs and have been paddling it nearly every weekend in Class II/II+ with an occasional III. Very dry boat in my experience. But I haven't paddled it with a load of gear...

Just to add to what yellowcanoe wrote, Portland doesn't filter the water drawn from Sebago before sending it to the public because it is so clean it has an exemption from EPA -- one of only 50 such exemptions for the roughly 13000 public water supplies in the U.S. But they do still disinfect it...

I have asked a physicist (professor at Georgetown whom I've know 50+ years) and he's a bit stumped. There was also a former NASA engineer on the trip. He's stumped too.

It happened to the kayakers, too.

Thanks, Glenn, et al. But the factors discussed by Paddling Pitt, Tsuga8 and John Sands just weren't part of the equation for my group. The wind was from a constant direction, at a slight angle but basically heading straight down stream. It's a wide open section of the Potomac. No islands...

Glenn, maybe this will help. On the map below, the orange line is the downstream direction of the current. The yellow line represents the desired direction of travel. The red line represents the wind direction. We were pushed in the opposite direction of the orange line.