Search results

Preface: Please read my reply to Marc Orstein's post below and note the Added section to this post. After recently spending several days paddling on small twisty streams around, over, and sometimes through numerous obstacles of all sorts, I'm convinced that FreeStyle isn't really about advanced...

We'll be there. Bringing a Swift Prospector 13 and a Northstar Firebird if anyone's interested in trying them out. I'd like to give an Illusion a spin again after paddling the Firebird for three years. I rented Marc's Illusion when I attended my first Adirondack Freestyle Canoe Symposium in 2019...

Didn't seem to stop this guy... 😄

That's my point, a Phillips head is easy to come by or overcome, thus, a crime of opportunity. Locks really only keep mostly honest people mostly honest.

Unless the boat has integrated thwarts and the lock is attached to a roof rail, that will only stop an opportunistic thief. For many vehicles and canoes there really isn't a good way to lock it to a roof rack. Many racks are easy to remove by force (or an Allen wrench) and thwarts, yokes, and...

I use a rectangle cut out of an old dry bag. Separates me and my stuff from the ground and is easy to clean off. It's not padded, though, if that's what you're looking for. Of course, there's always the commercial product option but after searching online I've yet to find one I like.

I watched the first episodes you posted and am looking forward to watching the second set, where they embark on their voyage. What an undertaking! And the historical context really kept my attention. What do you mean? I distinctly heard one of the crew mention how it was like taking a "giant...

That's not encouraging. 😕 I noticed on their website that they highlight fishing kayaks and other rec kayaks that have channels in the hull. Their cart probably works great with those hulls. My suggestion to better accommodate both kayaks and canoes is to put width-adjustable saddles that...

The straps I used were not stretching like a rubber band, the problem is trying to use this Suspenz cart and their strap system with canoes. Probably works fine with kayaks, but the cart doesn't seem like it was designed with canoes in mind. At least that's my take. The solution(s) provided here...

One thing to consider if you set a canoe on the Suspenz cart towards either end of the canoe, where there's a lot of taper, is that the metal bars holding the pads have exposed corners that might damage a hull if the cart gets hung up and the canoe gets jarred and shifts. The DIY cart Cruiser...

We bought one of those Suspenz carts on sale at REI for a good price, otherwise I was going to make a DIY cart using a kids bicycle frame and wheels. What you're experiencing highlights the flaws in using that cart with a canoe, especially carrying gear on a rough trail. We've used it a couple...

Thanks, Marc. Glad to see there will be local options for meals, especially as a group. Thanks, Molly.

It was an easy guess for Robert (RPATCH) and me. I think we both noticed how Glenn took an interest in Marc's Illusion, especially how effortless it seemed lifting it on to and off from roof racks and how smoothly it negotiates the obstacle courses of the Pine Barrens. Of course, Marc's skills...

How to recruit new canoe paddlers? If you are really asking about converting kayakers to canoeists, my observation is that most kayakers prefer it to canoeing mainly because kayaks are much easier to paddle. Both water craft need a place to store them and require PFDs and paddles so it's not...

I received a spork as a gift many years ago and tried it out but didn't like having sharp points projecting from the end of a spoon. Made no sense to me. Instead, I've always carried a soup spoon of one variation or another. To eat salad (which I never bring), I use my knife to cut it up into...

That's about as simple as it gets. :)

When I was a kid, we used to fish for speckled (brook) trout in the small brook that ran behind our house. The "legal" minimum length back then was six inches but we'd keep whatever we caught because most of them were stunted due to the lack of (or competition for) food and didn't get much...

I'm hoping that there might be a Cruiser 15.8 I can try out at the WPASCR this year. I thought about requesting to test paddle a Cruiser 15.8 at Collinsville's Swift canoe demo day but it's a three and a half hour drive. I don't need another cruiser canoe but I'm curious how it compares.

This poll seems to be reflective of a conversation I had with a canoe/kayak retailer recently. When I went to pick the canoe up, I mentioned that it was replacing a similar canoe that's 16 lbs heavier. He chuckled and said other than kayaks, that's what's selling these days: lightweight canoes...

I think freestyle goes above and beyond basic boat handling (as I mention below) and Marc put some perspective on freestyle instruction vs traditional instruction... That's why I decided to start attending Freestyle symposiums back in 2019. I had attended clinics and classes geared towards...