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I still have mine but it's now used as a utility knife/awl and sits in my tool box. The square end is good for tapping with a hammer.

Maybe that was your experience but mine has been a responsible indulgence in a glass or two of wine, beer or even a cocktail. I enjoy the conversation and comradery of sitting with friends. And even if I'm not drinking alcohol, I still like to join in. That's not the same as camping trips that...

I like to push against the footbrace with the onside leg for sit-and-switch paddling. It gives you additional leverage (so you're not sliding forward off the seat) during the abdominal crunch phase of the stroke.

Congratulations! I don't have much to add to this thread, mainly my experience paddling an Advantage. It's a fun canoe but as you're expecting, it's much different than paddling a rockered tripping or sport canoe. You just have to adapt to the boat's strengths and weaknesses. It flies along...

I was remarking on the often heard complaint expressed in Callan's article that it's getting difficult to have a wilderness paddling experience. It's the reality of more and more people trying to escape from (sub)urbanization with finite opportunities for travel by paddle craft. I agree that...

Wilderness doesn't exist anywhere in the world anymore. Eight billion people and counting but the earth isn't expanding to accommodate us. Just the opposite, we're developing (and despoiling) more and more of our finite resources each day. Remember the Zero Population Growth (ZPG) movement in...

I've done trips with both types of paddlers and although I prefer the groups that cook solo, I can deal with shared group cooking if that's what they want to do. I do stress over my meal responsibilities (which is why I don't like it) but then enjoy the rest of the meals on the trip. And I've...

Yup. There's theory, and then there's everything else. From my own experience and from what I've read, pulling with your arms isn't as efficient as pushing with your core.

We're going to miss that Lady Bug but happy to see it will be used by an appreciative paddler. It's a classic canoe with provenance. Have fun!

I hadn't thought about "going to ground" but I guess it makes sense if the trees aren't there at a campground site. I decided to "go to air" this year because I often see better hammock setups than tent spots at dispersed sites. I also like the idea of being able to string a hammock just about...

That complex is a nice mix of developed and dispersed campsites with multiple loop possibilities. Due to earlier commitments and recent injuries I haven't been over there yet this year. Your post is good motivation for me to recover quickly and get back in a canoe. I noticed you use a quilt(?)...

I use Firefox on Windows 11 and it works as described. I just nudge the scroll wheel on the mouse and the two shortcut buttons show up. I didn't know about this feature until now. Nice feature! Thank you, kahel for bringing this up!

This readable explanation mentions frowning holes... Understanding Holes - Lower Columbia Canoe Club

Mark Miller was one of those crazy canoers down in Chile and he put on the whitewater clinics I attended back in 1993 or so on the Methow River. He was paddling a Dagger Genesis that he used down in Chili and let me borrow it for the clinic rather than the tandem Blue Hole OCA I was paddling. I...

A fast canoe and light weight paddle let me feel like I've been paddling a lifetime, but I know who the "true" canoeists are. Thing is, being the fastest shouldn't necessarily imply being the best. Canoeing is so much more than a competitive event.

Erik, looks like a fun drop. I gave up running whitewater when I moved back to New England from the Pacific Northwest (only so much room in a U-Haul truck) but I do miss it. My boat wasn't a bad canoe, a Dagger/Clipper Genesis, but it was really designed for big water so it wasn't as playful as...

Our Hemlock Kestrel was originally supposed to serve as both a tripping and "sport" canoe but it's not as maneuverable as we'd hoped and freestyle lessons were a bit difficult to practice well so I bought a Northstar Firebird, which is a very nimble sport canoe. A lot of fun on flat or moving...

I hear ya, sort of. I sold my Advantage solo cruiser because I was getting a bit bored with doing laps around local lakes by myself, plus, the Advantage isn't a great canoe for exploring swamps and narrow streams. I bought a more versatile canoe, a Kestrel, to take it's place and found that...

After discussing it with Glenn I decided to re-post my original reply. I deleted it because it didn't seem relevant to the majority of CanoeTripping.net topics and I didn't want to come across as a FreeStyle fanboy on this site. I'm not, but taking those courses has done as much (and more) to...

I don't bring a true sharpening stone because the knives I bring camping are in good shape before I go and I'm not out on a trip for more than a week or maybe two. But I have started carrying a Swix or Toko diamond stone for touching up edges. I've found that these not only do a good job on...