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I can't keep up with everyone's canoes. Do you consider your Kestrel the sport canoe, Tom, or is it some other canoe? Yeah, I love to do drawing and prying sideslips as I paddle under tree branches close to shore. Playing in rapids you can dominate or play-maneuvering in flatwater makes a...

I hope recped took Tom Foster's carving the inside circle course. There sure is a lot of water entering that reservoir and zillions of small lakes all around. Wonder if there are other boats there.

Good for you, Robin. I was paddling in Massachusetts with the Norumbega Chapter of the WCHA last weekend, and Steve Lapey spoke well of you and says hi. He was paddling bow in a red Chum tandem and there was also a red Chestnut Playmate there made mostly of sassafras, which I can't...

Since my OP in this thread, I have acquired a 29 lb. Swift Keewaydin 15 solo canoe in carbon fusion layup. It has jumped to the top of my list and not only because it my lightest and most liftable canoe for my ancientness. It has lovely and efficient glide, and is well behaved in wind and...

I did this time. It does sound funny. As I said, I almost never use an axe at home and never on canoe trips. I use saws, machetes and knives. They do what I need to be done. Last weekend was two canoe day trips with two nights in a campground in New Hampshire. I bought some split firewood...

I agree. My goal is not that every canoeist becomes an expert in every aspect of canoe sport, but to create and maintain a site that has available information on many aspects of canoe sport. Like a menu in a good restaurant. Erik, I consider you—a flatwater canoeist, whitewater canoeist...

The purpose of this thread is not controversy, but rather to stir up some interest and perhaps motivation to learn additional boat control skills that can be useful in various types of canoe sport, including the kind of canoe sport tripping you and Chat GPT have in mind. As for the adventitious...

Here is another video that explains and illustrates how to paddle carving circles more pithily than does Tom Foster. It is based on Andrew Westwood's "2x4" explanatory meme. The point is that a whitewater paddler seated at the pivot point of the canoe can control and keep adjusting the...

In his videos, Tom Foster always talks about paddling in (carving) circles. That is, he teaches that all paddling in whitewater, including forward paddling, is actually paddling along the diameter of a circle, which can be a very tight diameter or a very large diameter circle. However, in my...

Whitewater freestyle is for whitewater experts. First, the basics of whitewater boat control must be learned: How to read moving water; how to feel and react to currents, current differentials and waves buffeting the hull; how to J-lean (heel) your canoe for turns and water avoidance; how to...

"Freestyle" has a second and completely different meaning when it comes to whitewater boat control competitions. Here are two videos of whitewater freestyle competitions, a discipline which emphasizes three-dimensional canoe control techniques on surfing waves and holes. First, a European...

Olympic high kneel sprint canoeing uses different body mechanics and the races are only 200, 500 and 1000 meters long. The body mechanics have always favored long, straight paddles as far as I know. But no one paddles that way, or in those boats, or for those short a distances except for Olympic...

I don't use axes for anything. If I did, I wouldn't take one on a canoe trip. Too heavy and cumbersome for my preference and needs. A Silky pruning saw can cut any reasonable diameter firewood log easily and fast. Batoning such campfire-size logs with a full tang fixed blade knife (or short...

On the distaff side of U.S. flatwater canoe control, there was the incomparable Karen Knight, who was the national interpretive freestyle champion from 1995-2000. Both Jonathan Hammond and Karen Knight (as her opening move) implement the "Hiding Harold" 360° heeled gimbal, which is named...

In the U.S., take some flatwater instruction in so-called "freestyle" techniques, which incorporate many of the Canadian "style" strokes and maneuvers but also use many cross-side strokes in much narrower solo canoes. Marc Ornstein is a master of this style and has posted many informative...

Let's start with some single blade flatwater control techniques that can be confidence building and hence practically helpful in many circumstance faced by day tripping/playing and wilderness canoeists alike. First, take some lessons in or practice so-called Canadian "style" paddling (or...

This topic title is an obvious truism to me, but others seem to consider learning multiple boat control techniques to be optional or even frivolous. Well, I'll just describe my experience and state my opinions, mainly with respect to solo canoeing. Others can do the same, either agreeing or...

I have two Moras. One is a Companion. The other is a Light My Fire, which is basically a Companion with a fire steel in the handle and a secondary bevel edge on the tip. Here they are with my Benchmade Bushcrafter 162: The Moras are a good value for their low price, but I consider them sort...

Paddling is paddling no matter where you do it. 40+ years ago I read some books that advised doing a pry in whitewater rather than a cross draw because lifting your paddle out of the water to do a cross draw is "risky." I don't agree with that, and have always used a cross draw in whitewater...

Four wood canoes on Tully Lake, Massachusetts, August 16, 2025. Big reward for anyone who can identify them.