This summer has been packed full of weekend trips, family reunions, weddings and house projects. It’s been nearly impossible to get my boat in the water. Am I the only one?
Strainer: The deadliest trap on the river! When water pours through the branches of a fallen tree, or through a pile of rocks or ice, it produces a strainer. Even with a gentle current, strainers are bad. They can pin you below the surface of the water and you can’t get out. If you realize you can’t avoid a strainer, climb on to it, climb over it! If you are swimming in the water, and about to wash into a strainer, swim headfirst as aggressively as possible toward it and climb onto, up and over it.
It’s time. Time to slap on some sunscreen, crack open a beer, and paddle our way to glory… or something.
Some high school buddies, including myself, Jason Ratkovec, Bernie McGill, Jeremy Reiter and Russ Bader, are all heading down to Eminence, Missouri, for the The 4th Annual Manly-Man River Excursion. It will be the first year Andrey Hiebner, another buddy from “back in the day”, won’t be making the trip. It will not be the same without him, but it does mean more beer for the rest of us.
The plan is to paddle the Jack’s Fork River, in the beautiful Missouri Ozarks. I plan to take lots of pictures so check back soon! This pic is from two years ago…
I’m gearing up for a annual canoe trip with some old friends. We started out with 6—a nice even number for 3 canoes—but a buddy had to drop out due to work conflicts. We’re down to five, which means someone is going to have to paddle solo in a tandem canoe. I figured this would make a good topic to cover. So, how do you do it? How does one person successfully navigate a canoe that was designed to be paddled by two people?
First, avoid the easy way out. While it may be tempting to sit towards the stern, where a comfortable seat is waiting for you, the best results will be achieved if you kneel in the center of the boat—just behind the yoke. This will position your body, and the canoe, to get the most out of your paddle strokes. The key is to slightly lean towards the paddle side of the boat. This approach lifts the bow slightly out of the water, keep the stern in the water, and reduces the waterline of the boat, making it easier to maneuver. The rest is all in the paddle strokes: The Forward Stroke, the Draw, the Pry, and the C-stroke.
The Forward Stroke
This is the stroke that everyone knows and it comes naturally to most. Simply lean towards the paddle side of the boat while holding the paddle straight up and down. With your outside shoulder turned slightly towards the bow of the boat, slice the paddle into the water and smoothly pull the paddle towards you. When the paddle reaches your hip, lift it out of the water and do it again. This stoke propels the canoe forward and slightly away from the paddle side of the boat. If this is the only stroke applied, you’ll simply paddle in circles.
The Draw
This paddle stroke pulls your canoe towards the paddle. While leaning towards the paddle side of the boat, and the paddle blade parallel with the length of the boat, extend the paddle away from the canoe and pull the paddle towards you. Keep the paddle as vertical as possible. If you draw towards the bow, the bow turns toward the paddle. If you draw towards the stern, the stern turns toward the paddle.
The Pry
This stroke pushes the canoe away from the paddle. The best way to execute this stroke is to place the shaft of the paddle up against the gunwales, with the blades of the paddle parallel with the length of the canoe. Lean towards the side with the paddle and put the blade of the paddle into the water at an angle that puts the blade under the canoe. Using the gunwales as leverage, pull the handle back towards your body. Like the Draw, Prying towards the bow pushes the bow away from the paddle, and Prying towards the stern pushes the stern away from the paddle.
The C-stroke
This stroke is a combination of the Forward Stroke, the Draw and the Pry, combined into one continuous stroke. The name “C-stroke” comes from the shape your paddle makes while it’s underwater. The first part of the stroke is a Draw, which moves the bow towards the paddle. As you Draw, smooth the stroke out to a Forward Stroke that’s parallel with the length of the boat. This propels the canoe forward and pushes the bow away from the paddle. Finish the stroke with a Pry, which turns the bow back towards the paddle. When using a C-stroke, a solo paddler can easily paddle a solo or tandem canoe and keep it going perfectly straight.
Wet Exit: Going into the water directly from your boat. It is imperative that both decked and open boaters be able to wet exit their boats quickly, smoothly and without tangling in gear, especially when in disoriented and violent whitewater (the usual conditions that mandate a wet exit.)
On Saturday, May 17th, about 10 paddlers showed up at the downtown Sioux Falls YWCA to practice rolls, wet exits and entries, and self-rescue techniques.
Personally, it was time well spent as I have never even attempted to roll one of my 12ft. Dagger Deltas (I’m the one in the top right). Surprisingly, when I rolled my Delta, my spray skirt kept out all the water. However, with no thigh braces (and no experience rolling), it’s impossible to roll one of my Delta kayaks upright. Every time I tried to hip flick, I fell right out. The upside to the event was I now know how to renter my boat if it ever capsizes, and I know the limitations of my boat when it comes to tipping and rolling.
I had my oldest daughter tag along to take pictures and video. She got some great shots of me flipping and attempting to roll, but somehow all of her pics were lost before I had a chance to upload them to my Flickr page. So, I’ve been forced to steal Jarett’s instead—thanks Jarett.
Hairboating: Boating within a hair’s breadth of disaster. Boating beyond your skill level, or boating extremely dangerous stuff.
Crazy? Yes. Stupid? Maybe. Fun? Absolutely. If you haven’t realized yet, I’m a wannabe whitewater kayaker.
There comes a point when one must evaluate the situation and be able to say to themselves, “self… I think this is more than we can handle”.
I’ve seen a lot of videos featuring crazy kayaking, but rarely do experienced paddlers run rapids with so much water. This dude is crazy.
I took my family on a little hike at Palisades State Park this weekend. We had a blast. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my kayak along because with the recent rain and heavy snowfall to the north of us, Split Rock Creek is running a little high. As a result, there is some fantastic water flowing through the Palisades right now. I’m trying to figure out when I’ll be able to get up there and run the rapids before the water levels subside. I also made the mistake of not bringing my camera, so I have no pictures to share.
If anyone has time to slip up to Garretson, for a rendezvous with the rapids, I highly recommend it!
