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  1. yknpdlr

    Finds, Relics, and Evidence from The Past

    Native American Indians did not permanently live in the Adirondacks, but different tribes did travel through the area as hunting grounds. The word "Adirondack" is a mispronounced derivation of the Iroquois word for "bark-eater." The "Ha-De-Ron-Dah" Wilderness area in the western Adirondacks is...
  2. yknpdlr

    Spring (canoe) Cleaning

    Maybe so, and one might think so, but have you ever seen the physics of the surface of a golf ball?
  3. yknpdlr

    Spring (canoe) Cleaning

    I'm about to purchase a buffer and am looking for the best methods for cleaning up last season's water stains on my canoe hulls. Harbor Freight has one or two (Bauer and Hercules models) that I am considering getting one of this week.
  4. yknpdlr

    Skegs on canoes?

    I'm a fan of using a tool in the way it was designed to best operate. Even though I have several ultralight canoes, call me old school for sure in many of the things that I do. I'm with Al's thinking, I have never been of the mind to turn my canoe into something that it is not. I just became...
  5. yknpdlr

    POLL: How do you pronounce portage?

    Just because many of us "east coasters" live south of the border, for the most part we (at least I) do not speak with anything like a NYC dialect. I have had linguists place my home town accent at more then 350 mile from that place. For over 30 years I have been an instructdor of a BSA high...
  6. yknpdlr

    POLL: How do you pronounce portage?

    How about pronouncing the American Voy'-ager (emphasis on "Voy") vs the French Canadian Voya- geur' (emphasis on "geur"). Long boat canoes at one time were once designated in races as War Canoes, but that switched over to the supposed less offensive PC term of Voygeur canoes.
  7. yknpdlr

    Hungarian single blades a "canoe" across the Atlantic in 75 days

    When I paddle long distances on rivers or lakes, most often some kinds of shore landmarks are all along my route, I pick an observable point (an odd tree, or a bend along my path) at some distance ahead, a few hundred yards, quarter mile, whatever is distinctive within easy sight. IN wide open...
  8. yknpdlr

    "Momentum Matters": A Technique Essay by Marc Ornstein

    Most paddlers may not actually get into the finer intricacies of Freestyle paddling, but it doesn't take learning or much doing of the strokes skills to realize that aspects of the techniques, once learned what they do for you, have a tremendous usefulness and easily carry over to everyday...
  9. yknpdlr

    "Momentum Matters": A Technique Essay by Marc Ornstein

    It is always fun to learn a new stroke that you have never known before, then to discover that you have been doing a version of a commonly well known stroke self-learned, but it only needs a little tweaking refinement to make it more efficient in the time and way you employ it. Especially as you...
  10. yknpdlr

    New Canoe Enthusiast Ready to Learn and Share!

    In my experience, yes, I have tipped and "fallen out" of a canoe, mainly by breaking my own rules and by being stupid. I believe what happens is you lean badly, such as when trying to pick up something in the water, which may be aggravated by trying to turn in seat to look behind you, then you...
  11. yknpdlr

    New Canoe Enthusiast Ready to Learn and Share!

    Hi Daisy, welcome to the trip. My recommendation is to learn slowly and safely. Work on one control stroke at a time of the many available to you, then combine or link strokes to control your canoe making it do your wishes on the water with precision. Stay on flat non moving water until you are...
  12. yknpdlr

    POLL: How do you pronounce portage?

    Don't forget about $USD vs $CAD or is it CND? As an engineer, I am comfortable using either. When I am working on a Search and Rescue incident, distances are measured in meters, coordinate locations are in UTM (meters), but elevations on topo maps are still in feet above sea level (MSL). A...
  13. yknpdlr

    POLL: How do you pronounce portage?

    Glenn beat me to it. In the Adirondacks any and all such overland movements between paddleable waterways are always called "carries" by residents in the know.
  14. yknpdlr

    Long, Fast Solo Canoes

    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...
  15. yknpdlr

    Long, Fast Solo Canoes

    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...
  16. yknpdlr

    Long, Fast Solo Canoes

    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")...
  17. yknpdlr

    Long, Fast Solo Canoes

    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...
  18. yknpdlr

    Good Morning . Idle chat about your morning, your weather, your plans for the day.

    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.
  19. yknpdlr

    A La Mer du Nord 2025

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

    Long, Fast Solo Canoes

    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...
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