Well, after building a rack, buying a paddle, buying a PFD, setting up my car, and doing a little maintenance on my new-to-me 2015 NW Solo canoe, I finally got it on the water. 
The main goal on this trip was to get my Border Collie, Lucy, accustomed to the canoe. I also, of course, wanted to try out my new toy that I have already owned for a month without using yet. Since I didn't want to push it with the dog, I limited myself to one hour and at a local park with little to no boat traffic.
To prepare, while I had the canoe in the garage, I did one session of training with Lucy so she felt comfortable getting in and out of the canoe, and learned where to hang out in the canoe. I had planned on doing two sessions, but she picked it up pretty quickly, and frankly, I just wanted to get out on the water and see what happened.
The local park is called Lake Catherine, and is roughly a triangle-shaped lake with a park on one side and houses on the other two sides. Not a very back-to-nature location, but it would do for a test paddle or two. I took Friday, July 5th off from work, so off we went.
The launch was not great, although it did have a really nice parking lot quite close to the water. The launch itself consisted of an actual gated off concrete boat ramp (which I was not going to use), and a fairly steep bank down to the water. I picked a section with the most gentle slope and put the canoe in the water.
Once on the water, Lucy was a bit curious about everything. She loves the water, so I half expected her to jump overboard, but she never did. She did dip her front paws in the water. This is something she does to cool off. A couple of times she thought it would be a good idea to put both front paws in the water at the same time (narrator: it was not). She eventually learned that one at a time was the way to go. She also sampled the water with her tongue many times.
Eventually, she started to calm down enough to get a picture of her:
As far as the canoe went, the only thing I really noticed was that I was looking for a place to put my feet all the time. It paddled well enough, but I spent most of my time corralling the dog, so I didn't get much time to evaluate the canoe on that trip. It was also quite hot and humid that day and one hour was more than enough time on the water that day.
Unlike my ground-based training, I wanted to get back out on the water again with Lucy at the same location to reinforce proper behavior in the canoe so we went back out again on Sunday. This time it was a little cloudier, the humidity was less, and there was a light breeze. It was much more pleasant this time.
It also helped that Lucy settled down a bit quicker and it let me spend a little more time learning the canoe. I like it quite a bit, but the main thing I learned was the seat is too low for me. The reason I didn't know what to do with my feet the first time was because my legs are so long I could never get them "under me." I tried kneeling, but I didn't have room to bend my legs around, and even if I could, I don't think I could get my feet under the seat anyway. The only real "success" I had was when I sat cross-legged. That finally got my feet under me and I felt I had a bit more "leverage" when paddling.
I may eventually want to add a foot brace, too, but the first thing I'll probably do is install the kneeling drops from Northstar and see how that goes. If I don't like that then I will either modify the drops I have or build my own, or maybe remove them all together.
In any case, the second trip was much more useful all around. I'm not sure I'll be back to Lake Catherine, as it is not the most scenic location. It is close by and motor boats can't get to it. I only saw one other kayak the two hours I was on the lake on Friday and Sunday. It will make a good "test lake."
Here is Lucy on Sunday. I can't quite get her to lay down much because she can't see what's happening when she lies down.
And here's the route we took on Sunday:
The main goal on this trip was to get my Border Collie, Lucy, accustomed to the canoe. I also, of course, wanted to try out my new toy that I have already owned for a month without using yet. Since I didn't want to push it with the dog, I limited myself to one hour and at a local park with little to no boat traffic.
To prepare, while I had the canoe in the garage, I did one session of training with Lucy so she felt comfortable getting in and out of the canoe, and learned where to hang out in the canoe. I had planned on doing two sessions, but she picked it up pretty quickly, and frankly, I just wanted to get out on the water and see what happened.
The local park is called Lake Catherine, and is roughly a triangle-shaped lake with a park on one side and houses on the other two sides. Not a very back-to-nature location, but it would do for a test paddle or two. I took Friday, July 5th off from work, so off we went.
The launch was not great, although it did have a really nice parking lot quite close to the water. The launch itself consisted of an actual gated off concrete boat ramp (which I was not going to use), and a fairly steep bank down to the water. I picked a section with the most gentle slope and put the canoe in the water.
Once on the water, Lucy was a bit curious about everything. She loves the water, so I half expected her to jump overboard, but she never did. She did dip her front paws in the water. This is something she does to cool off. A couple of times she thought it would be a good idea to put both front paws in the water at the same time (narrator: it was not). She eventually learned that one at a time was the way to go. She also sampled the water with her tongue many times.
Eventually, she started to calm down enough to get a picture of her:
As far as the canoe went, the only thing I really noticed was that I was looking for a place to put my feet all the time. It paddled well enough, but I spent most of my time corralling the dog, so I didn't get much time to evaluate the canoe on that trip. It was also quite hot and humid that day and one hour was more than enough time on the water that day.
Unlike my ground-based training, I wanted to get back out on the water again with Lucy at the same location to reinforce proper behavior in the canoe so we went back out again on Sunday. This time it was a little cloudier, the humidity was less, and there was a light breeze. It was much more pleasant this time.
It also helped that Lucy settled down a bit quicker and it let me spend a little more time learning the canoe. I like it quite a bit, but the main thing I learned was the seat is too low for me. The reason I didn't know what to do with my feet the first time was because my legs are so long I could never get them "under me." I tried kneeling, but I didn't have room to bend my legs around, and even if I could, I don't think I could get my feet under the seat anyway. The only real "success" I had was when I sat cross-legged. That finally got my feet under me and I felt I had a bit more "leverage" when paddling.
I may eventually want to add a foot brace, too, but the first thing I'll probably do is install the kneeling drops from Northstar and see how that goes. If I don't like that then I will either modify the drops I have or build my own, or maybe remove them all together.
In any case, the second trip was much more useful all around. I'm not sure I'll be back to Lake Catherine, as it is not the most scenic location. It is close by and motor boats can't get to it. I only saw one other kayak the two hours I was on the lake on Friday and Sunday. It will make a good "test lake."
Here is Lucy on Sunday. I can't quite get her to lay down much because she can't see what's happening when she lies down.
And here's the route we took on Sunday:
