Search results

Adirondack racer Kevin Olson has a whole series on paddling and especially racing techniques in Youtube. he has one on turning your C1. I watched it this morning and believe that I use substantially the same methods, although at times much more aggressively than he shows in the demo video (I am...

I couldn't stand it any longer. It finally reached the high 30's in bright sun this afternoon and I just had to take my new Blackwater for a spin. Even though overnight teens made surface ice reform, and wind from the north on this long narrow lake blew ice around the corner into my previously...

Now take your race on a truly long marathon. During the Yukon1000 miler, our overall average speed with current, was nearly 9mph for around 110 hours of actual paddling on water race time for our 6 day period to the finish (were required by the rules to take a minimum 6 hour rest each "night")...

My new Blackwater arrived the last week of November 2024, too late for a test paddle on unfrozen water in survivable weather. I am still waiting for my small Adirondack lake to fully open up and the air temperature to get above today's low 30's to give my new not previously wetted Blackwater a...

I also have a 20-ish year old John Deere model 2305 compact 4x4 diesel tractor. i mows my extensive lawn, clears by blowing away my over 200 inches of lake effect snow each winter, and performs dozens of other yard tasks reliably for me.

I wish I had seen the application for this expedition. i may well have applied to join.

Spike was/is quite an institution with BSA, and especially with Camp Russell. His home is only about a half mile away on Rte 28. As the camp's High Adventure Program Director, he rarely missed a meal in the dining hall at camp Russell. Spike is a retired school teacher, and a long time past...

My wife was office manager at Camp Russell for 6 years in the early 2000's. She stayed in the small cabin on the lake shore and swam every morning. My daughter was Russell's first ever female waterfront director and then a voyageur high adventure trek guide. I guided 5 day wilderness treks...

Every once in a while a swarm of dragonflies will descend and magically all of the black flies disappear from the area. Later in the season, the same with deer flies. I've had several of them land on my shirt as I welcome their presence. There is almost no greater joy than to experience seeing...

I have inherited a 1951 IH Farmall Cub tractor that I grew up on as a kid, the tractor and I are exactly the same age. it has a sidebar sicle hay cutterr that I waned to use on my own property. It sat unused for over 30 years amd it needed a lot of work, including new tires and severe rusty gas...

I have paddled my PB Rapidfire for the majority of the 30 years I have been a wilderness high adventure wilderness guide trek leader instructor for BSA National Camping School in the Adirondacks. I carry all of my own personal gear and food, plus a good share of the group gear, not to mention...

Why did the salamander cross the road? NYSDEC has a program for protecting amphibians during migration season. A migration may only be a trip across a highway. I can remeber some seasons that we called "national frog and toad night" when it seemed that hundreds of the critters were hopping...

About 20 years ago, shortly after Hennessey and other backpacker tripping style hamocks were (nearly) perfected, a freind introduced me to one, only in rare instances (along the treeless banks of the Yukon, for example) have I gone back to ground ever since. Although you do need an insulating...

A cabbage salad actually denydrates and rehydrates quite well, remaining criispy. Add a small bottle of dressing of your choice after rehydrating.

I got the Textreme Lite with light Textreme interior, Pro Package, and everything optional in all carbon, sliding seat and integrated footbrace. Race seat is elevated an extra inch as is my preference. I have a first generation Rapidfire, which has been my workhorse tripping canoe and solo...

A fellow experienced racing friend contacted me about a year ago, saying he can't figure out why his new SR Blackwater kept wanting to veer to the left, no matter how he thought he was paddling as straight as he could. But without more correction strokes than he thought should be necessary, it...

I had exactly the same thing happen during an upstream race when my GRB carbon paddle got wedged betwen slabs of broken shale. Luckily I had a spare on board and was able to keep going. GRB repaired it with a layer of glass. it was repaired nicely, but is now just a spare paddle.

Oh G'pa, don't give up so easily. I began canoe racing with the 90 miler in 1997 at age 46, and have not missed any year of that race since then, including training for this year now age 74. I raced my first Yukon River Quest 11 years later and my first and second Yukon 1000 mile races at age...

Any of the out of water methods of determining paddle length ( such as overhead 90 degree arms, or the chair while seated method) are a wild rough guess at best, but the only real way to get an accurate measurement is from within the canoe that you will be paddling with crew and expected gear on...

I'll be paddling the Adirondack NFCT “Around the Mountain” race in May, and any other Adirondack region races that crop up. Blue Mountain if it is held again this year, and, of course my 29th consecutive Adirondack Canoe Classic, the "90 Miler" followed by the Long Lake Long Boat Regatta two...