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Non-skier here, but you ski folks are amazing and your photos are awesome. This reminds me of an impressive video I watched last week of Andrzej Bargiel, who summited Everest in September 2025 with no oxygen and then skied all the way down from the summit to the base camp. His slowing, turning...

Indeed technology has advanced exponentially during my lifetime, but tempus fugit. 1956 was three generations ago.

Not photos of my father's originals . . . But when I was 12 in 1956, I was communicating with all of you at 5 WPM with this device. A year later, when I qualified for my general license, I was communicating with you at 15 WPM (or faster) with this much more modern device—a "bug"—which had a...

Thanks for that video. I've never drilled or used a canoe with lining holes, but my understanding is that they should be low enough so that they are just above the cutwater when the loaded canoe is being lined or tracked. Robert, your DF 15 is so customized that I don't recall whether it has...

The most spectacular water freeze I've ever seen was from an airplane in the mid-1980s. I took off from Albany, NY, airport to get a connecting flight in Chicago. The pilot deliberately flew low over Niagara Falls and even dipped his wings so we could see it better. The whole thing was frozen...

Tom, you have significantly changed your tune since the OP. There, we had "aging canoeists" looking to shave weight from their Curtis Northstar and asking whether the NS Polaris is less stable than the Curtis Northstar. We still don't actually know the answer to the stability question. I'll...

The 2026 annual Assembly of the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) has been changed from its usual location at Paul Smith's College in Paul Smiths, New York, to Keuka College, which is in the Finger Lakes region of New York. It will be held from July 14-19. Paul Smith's College is...

The Malecite may not meet the lightweight objectives of the OP, @tketcham. Many years ago, when I was in the market for a composite tandem, I test paddled three 16'-6" canoes (among others): the Mad River Malecite, Bell Northstar and Wenonah Solo Plus. At the time, I was not nearly as obsessed...

I assume the Northstar Polaris hull is simply a slightly stretched version of the Bell Northstar hull. One reason I assume this is that the webpage description of the Polaris says: "Skilled paddlers raved about the performance of its predecessor and we named our company after it." The second...

Tom, you seem committed to the Polaris, which sounds like a fine canoe to me. My general musing about tandem couples progressing into an old age tier, a tier which you are not yet in, was not directed at the specific tandem canoe choice topic of this thread. Just a tangent, close to home. I'll...

I lost track of this thread when it took a long carve into skiing, which I've only done once in my life (in Yosemite). But I've sat in lots of ski resorts while I paid through the nose for three kids' rental equipment when we lived in the Catskill Mountains for eight years. What do I do in...

A long pedestal would be possible but sort of heavy and klutzy. Sliding seats have been common for many decades, including ones that can slide over 12 inches or more. When you slide the seat off center, you will have moved your body weight fore or aft but, unless you adjust your gear load below...

I'll offer a different perspective for a useful and desirable tandem canoe—just in general, not focusing on specific brands or models. The perspecive is that of an empty nest couple who are in their 70s through early 80s. In particular, where one paddler is a lot more experienced than the...

Bill, it sounds as if you are being thorough in considering your decision. The DF 15 is a creative hull that could be a top candidate for a "do everything" canoe, as I consider my SRT to be. That is, if I could take only one canoe for unknown waters, it would be my SRT. Harold Deal, for whom...

My aging eyes didn't catch that the Polaris is 16-9, not 16-0 like the Keewaydin 16 and Curtis Northstar. So, yes, that makes the Polaris look a bit sleeker in an overhead plan view. But that doesn't mean it will paddle faster at hull speed or more efficiently at less than hull speed. Those are...

Bill, you've tried a lot more canoes that I thought when you initially said you've had the Dragonfly since 1988. Even though I personally don't recall paddling a Curtis Dragonfly but have paddled the DF 15, there can be no doubt that the DF 15 is more stable. It is 2" wider at the waterline...

Not sure what you mean. All three canoes are 16' DY designs. All three have very close specs, especially the Polaris and Kee. The main difference I see is that the Curtis Northstar is from DY's bubble-sided tumblehome era, before his shouldered gunwale era, and all the Swift Kee hulls are a...

Robert, thanks for that detailed run down of decades of your canoe camping experience along with the pictures. Hope to see you again in the Pine Barrens . . . where you can be on the younger side. As I've aged, my canoe camping trips have diminished and I've become more of a base camp paddler...

Tom, I've never paddled either Northstar tandem or even seen them. However, I'll be bold and speculate that you and Nancy are of a size and vintage that would enjoy, and use, a lightweight day tripping tandem, which can easily be flipped on a small vehicle, significantly more than some big...

I'm behind the times and late to this thread. Thank you, Aslowhand, for this very interesting and dramatic trip report. Your English, grammar, spelling, and sentence structure are so good I've been wondering whether you are using some sort of language program or app. As to your canoe, are you a...