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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.

Normally a downstream wind pushes you downstream. Ever had a downstream wind push you upstream? Seems to defy physics, but that was my experience today. This was my typical Sunday paddle on the Potomac with the Washington, DC Canoe Cruisers Association. I've made this run dozens of times...

A very nice obit. I wish I could have made the time to take Fitz up on his offer to meet him for a paddle in Concord and try out one of his E.M. White canoes.

Tom's video demonstrates that doing an onside sculling draw. It was exactly opposite of what I had been doing. I tried doing Tom's way (he leans back and away from his paddle) and it does indeed work better than leaning toward the paddle.

Thanks for posting these. I discovered these about a month ago and have watched the full series 3 times. I find it very counterintuitive. When performing a forward stroke (whether normal or crossforward), I am accustomed to the canoe always turning away from whichever side my paddle happens...

I've been intrigued about making a hollow shaft paddle since stumbling across a blog tutorial years ago. Unlike the above video where the strips are simply edge jointed, the tutorial I saw showed him using the bird's mouth joint, which is a traditional woodworking technique used to make...

Here's a video teed up to the point where he properly puts his hand through the bow. Sorry for the gruesome click-bait cover photo.

If you primarily want something for clearing sweepers I think something like the Silky that ErktheRed shows above is a good choice since it gives you greater reach. But since you need two hands to operate it, I'm not sure how good it would be at processing firewood in camp unless you have a...

Was speaking to my favorite guide yesterday and although not specific to Allagash Lake/Allagash Stream he said water was up very high everywhere.