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Pack a kotex pad or two, very useful for dressing open wounds and stopping bleeding. A side benefit is if you travel with a lady who forgot to pack what she may need, you could (temporarily) become her best friend.

Did you ever watch a war movie where the medic tears open a packet with his teeth and dumps a powder on a wonded soldier's bleeding wound? That is a clotting powder, likely what is impregnated in the Israeli bandage and other similar dressings you can buy from medical supply.

A blade that tapers to a very thin edge all around the blade is important for quiet and in-water recovery. We've all seen such as the Feather brand big box store clunky paddles and their ilk that go for ~$20. Thick rounded edges, Might as well use a 2x4. It will drag down air on the catch and...

For regular power strokes, be sure to match the entry catch with the relative rearward velocity of the water for a smooth noise-less and cavitation-less entry that does not drag air down with it. At the end of the stroke, unless doing the Indian or box stroke, slice the exit straight out in the...

Good choice, but the Indian (or box) stroke can only be accomplished very awkwardly with a bent paddle. It will not be a complete Indian stroke, whiich when properly done, reverses the power face and the back face on each recovery by a palm roll of the grip as the blade is sliced foward in...

During the Yukon River races, in a voyageur canoe paddling at an average "flat water speed" of 6-7mph, added to an average 6+mph current pushing us along, I have averaged or on some days or even exceeded 160 miles/day, completing 1000 miles in just six days. Five Yukon races plus a local...

"A meander is the pleasantest distance between two points" -origiinal quote attributed to Paul Jamieson and favored often spoken by my friend "just john" Baumann, both wilderness canoe guides and mentors in the Adirondacks

While in Canberra on a business trip, after a brief chat about my recent Yukon 1000 mile race, I was invited by the Australian National Dragon Boat Team head coach to take an unocupied seat during a traning session. Yes, straight blade wood paddles. Very command driven specific action orders...

After I had been mainly self-taught for many years, I met Caleb Davis. born a Canadian, Moved to USA, became a guide and BSA High adventure instructor, a canoe builder and well known Traditional American Freestyle Flatwater Program Instructor and museum demonstator in the Notheast. Caleb tuned...

My canoe racing career has tended to attract a number of varied medical professionals. My Adirondack and Yukon race partners have been combinations of: a pathologist, an active current combat experienced field medic, a husband/wife team of a PA becoming a cardiologist and a hospital surgical...

In my earliest racing days as bow paddler in a heavy woodstrip voyageur canoe, I self-discovered the bow jam, I carried a spare very sturdy wood paddle and in the extremely twisty narrow Brown's Tract, I would lean my body far out to the offside of the turn and jam the paddle as I stuck the...

My brother toured Nova Scotia last summer. I have long been thinkig about planning a trip soon, maybe this fall after the '90. I keep getting tourism emails from there after I inquired last year. Guess I am glad I did not commit quite yet.

Nothing hard about using an efficient method of paddling, clearly the easy way for me and many others. . I fully realize that one can pry off the gunwales all day long if. you wish. I simply have a different very workable experienced method that has nothing to do with "just showing that I can"...

We each year have a single loon family residing on our small private no motors allowed lake. Early in the season they are skittish, as expected, and I understand they are very frightened of low flying large birds overhead (e.g., bald eagles that we may have around here). For that reason, they...

I remember well in the earlier days of the Adirondack 90 mile classic canoe race, especially when rounding a particular highly wind exposed point on afternoon windy Raquette Lake, a number of pro boats would be seen having capsized. Thankfully the prime track was close to shore, so no real...

A 10.5 foot Hornbeck has taken me on frequent trips well off trail to many remote Adirondack ponds, and on a 185 mile cross-Adirondack SW to NE diagonal trek from one side to the other and beyond with all gear and food I needed for a full week. Wind and waves on the larger lakes (including...

Unless in a crowded space, a draw on the opposite side is usually preferable to a pry. Rather than a direct paddle to on hull pry, an onside “push away” stroke can be done with a push-away figure-8 stroke when necessary, without touching the hull, similar to a figue-8 draw in reverse. in close...

More than 95% of my marathon canoe races see me as the bow paddler, nearly all in a voyageur or C4 canoe. While cruising open water, I set the cadence, as most bow paddlers do with hit and switch as called by the stern paddler, who controls overall direction of track. I occasionally provide...

While true bear protection is necessary both for the health and safety of the camper, but perhaps moreso for the protection and life of bears. As the slogan goes: "a fed bear is a dead bear", eventually too often the case. In most cases, the protection you need is from the destructive power of...

The answer for me is absolutely never does my paddle (straight wood ottertail or carbon bent) ever pry or touch my canoe in any manner unless it is laying inside the hull, when not being used. My solo power stroke with vertical shaft, both hands "stacked" over the water, goes from the catch in...