Esquif canoes were one of the first brands to use rotomolded polyethylene in canoes. And as time has gone on, the rotomolded canoes have gotten older.
Esquif showed off two whitewater canoes with rotomolded hulls. The first is a lite version at 52-pouns and the second is a super-lite version at 43-pounds. Both canoes have a foam bulkhead for more buoyancy.
Grab some whitewater and you are ready to boof.
For a closer look, check out the video below:
Hurricane kayaks are introducing a new boat to their ABS-thermafoamed plastic boat line, the Santee 110 Sport. At 33-pounds and 11-foot long, the Santee 110 sport is the perfect kayak for a solo paddle or a long trip with friends.
The seat of the kayak is an aluminum frame seat that is easily removed for loading. The best part about the seat is that you can use it as a camp chair after a long day of paddling. The hinged hatch in the back is great for storing your camping gear and the adjustable foot-pegs will help you stay comfortable all day long.
For more information, check out the video below:
After spending a few years as an under-the-radar passion project, Dagger Kayaks has revealed the Phantom. The Phantom is about nine-feet long and is a perfect creek boat.
The boat has a ton of bow volume and rocker, to ride up and over anything you can throw at it. It also has a flat hull.
Never compromising on safety, the Phantom has rotomolded outfitting, a step-out pillar and an adjustable bulkhead on the front.
The boat also has five true grab handles, for pin extraction points and places for swimmers to grab in the event of a rescue.
For more information, check out the video below:
The Current Designs Serene is a recreational kayak for all types of paddlers. At only 31-pounds, you can throw this kayak over your shoulder and get to the water with ease.
The kayak is outfitted with a comfortable seat, foot braces and a really large, open cockpit. And it ships this fall, just in time for the holidays.
For more information, check out the video below:
Whitewater can seem chaotic and hard to understand when you first tackle it. But with a little practice, reading whitewater will become second nature.
The video below introduces 5 things you need to look for when learning to read whitewater.
Current is where water is flowing downstream. It usually creates a downstream V. Current will always flow in a straight line until it hits an obstacle. It will always be the strongest on the outside of a turn.
Eddys form on the downstream side of obstacles. This is where water can be shielded from the force of the main current, but they are moving water. The flow of the water will be toward the object that created it. Eddys can be broken down into three zones.
In the middle of an eddy is the standing part. This is where the water is the calmest. You can stay in this area with only a few paddle strokes.
The second zone is the draining part of the eddy. This is the downstream end of the eddy where the water is going back into the current. Here, you need to paddle in order to stay in the eddy.
The third zone is the filling part. Here, the current is flowing back toward the obstacle that created it. This part will pull you back into the obstacle or back into the main current.
The eddyline is the swirly water where the current and eddys meet. The are narrowest at the upstream point where they begin and widest at the downstream part where the eddy ends.
The waves are most often formed by current slamming into and slowing down by downstream water. They can come in many shapes, and a lot of waves will also mimic holes.
Holes are formed when water flows over a ledge or rock. The water is forced downwards and the water on the surface of the obstacle downstream is forced to flow back upstream into the whole. This creates a strong recirculating current.
For more detailed information, watch the video above.
Seal Skirts are introducing a fourth category of kayak spray skirts. Check out the video below to find out more.
Check out the new products from Venture Kayaks in the video below!
Airhead SUP introduced a ton of great new products at Paddlesports Retailer 2017. The first is the MOAP, the Mother Of All Pumps. It is a two stage pump, one to fill the cavity of the board and the second to get the board to full pressure.
The second prodcut is their new electric pump. It is a “set it and forget it pump,” so you just have to set it to the pressure that you want in your SUP and it will kick off when it reaches the desired PSI.
For more information on new Airhead SUP products, check out the video below.
Hala Gear brought their river-specific boards to Paddlesports Retailer 2017. Hala is about design and technology, they are known for innovation. On of these innovations is the Hala Stomp Box, a retractable fin system on the bottom of your board.
Hala also uses double stacked rail systems. The Hala Peño has two chambers, tented to create a play board style.
For river surfing, Hala produced the Hala Gram and Hala Miligram. These boards are four and three quarter inch thick inflatable, that brings ISUPs to surfing.
In the open water paddling category, Hala has introduced the carbon-stringer technology. The carbon performance series is sure to fly on the open water.
To learn more, check out the video below:
On a humid September morning, the Toronto skyline’s glassy condos that stretch to the sky and the pin-like CN Tower are filtered through an overcast haze.
Cranes work on multiplying the buildings in the downtown core, and constant airplane traffic filters in and out of the waterfront airport. Michael Zhang, his wife, Riya Wang, and four-year-old son, Michael Jr., are just two kilometers from the downtown core, canoeing in a quiet channel of the Toronto Islands. They could be in a remote national park.
Michael calmly J-strokes and they make their way up to a narrow passage between islands, floating under willows and past weedy, narrow beaches. Michael Jr. alternates between strokes with a tiny paddle and peering over the gunwales to get a better look at the soft lily pads and long-tailed ducks.
On this Sunday, Michael and his family are just like countless other Canadians who spend their weekends’ canoeing. Yet the Zhangs’ experience in many ways differs from the image of Canadian paddlers as hardened backcountry experts who begin their canoe tripping careers swaddled in a Hudson Bay print blanket.
Not long after immigrating to Canada from China in 2008, Michael had the opportunity to go paddling at the Harbourfront Canoe and Kayak Centre.
He was instantly hooked, and further participation in paddling not only helped Michael and his wife make friends, but it made them feel more connected to their new country. “More and more that has reinforced our identity and our agreement with who we are and what Canadians are,” Michael says.
The Zhangs are just one family in the ever-growing cultural mosaic of North America. In 2011, 20.6 percent of the Canadian population was foreign-born, and in 2010, 12.9 percent of the U.S. population began life in another country.
According to the Outdoor Industry Association, 34 percent of outdoor consumers live in cities, and those consumers tend to be young and ethnically diverse.
Many North Americans who grew up canoeing and camping see it as a normal part of childhood and recreation. Those who have never held a paddle, slept in a tent or been involved in these activities can find them intimidating.
Some worry this lack of exposure for new Canadians and Americans may lead to a decline in the number of people canoeing and camping in the coming years.
As North America’s population becomes more diverse, what are the canoeing and camping industry and government agencies doing to encourage immigrants and minorities to engage with the great outdoors?
One innovative service aims to brings the wilderness closer to urban centers. Boris Issaev and Alex Z. Berlyand began non-profit Parkbus in 2010 in the hopes of making outdoor destinations in Ontario more accessible by public transportation. Immigrants without a lot of outdoor or camping experience are an important part of Parkbus’ reach.
Issaev acknowledges that a lack of experience and the numerous unknowns can be intimidating for those who have never spent time in the woods. Depending on the situation immigrants have come to Canada from, sleeping in a tent outside of the city may seem like a step backward from comforts they have worked so hard to achieve.
As North America’s population becomes more diverse, what are the canoeing and camping industry and government agencies doing to encourage immigrants and minorities to engage with the great outdoors?
A lack of outdoorsy friends, experience, and equipment can also keep new Canadians from embracing a weekend camping or a day hike. “Our mission is to break down these barriers,” Issaev says.
Parks Canada is also working to teach outdoor skills to those who haven’t yet been exposed to camping. Through the Learn To Camp program, participants can spend time in some of the most beautiful areas of the country while learning skills like how to set up a tent, how to prepare a meal outside and canoeing basics. The skills they teach differ depending on the diverse areas where the Learn To Camp program is offered.
Ed Jager, director of the visitor experience at Parks Canada, says the program was driven in part by how the population of the country was changing, but the demographics of park users weren’t necessarily following suit.
He says the typical park user is slightly older and wealthier than the average Canadian, more suburban and of European descent, while the participants in the Learn To Camp program tend to be the exact opposite.
“Certainly there’s a sense of the outdoors like a wild place,” Jager says when asked how camping can be intimidating to newcomers. “There’s an inherent appeal of the natural environment people have, but there’s also an inherent fear,” Jager says part of Parks Canada’s role is to make sure Canadians know about the country’s amazing parks and to make sure they can be a part of it. “The makeup of the country is changing and it’s super important people are experiencing it and being exposed.”
In the United States, similar programs run by the National Park Service are sprinkled from coast to coast. In Anchorage, Alaska, the NPS works to introduce youth to camping and outdoor programs with a focus on underserved audiences and Title 1 schools with a large percentage of students from low-income families. This summer they will add a new program for families in the community that are first-time campers.
Sequoia National Park in California has a program that introduces people to camping, and there are numerous NPS partner organizations that introduce new campers to the outdoors, especially focusing on children from urban environments spending time in the wilderness.
One of the most storied and iconic parks in Canada for canoeists is Algonquin Provincial Park. Its vast 2,946 square miles of forest, lakes and rivers is approximately the same size as the state of Delaware. For 40 years, Sven Miglin has run The Portage Store on Canoe Lake, offering canoe rentals, outfitting, guided tours and campground canoe delivery.
He has seen more diversity in visitors to the park but says those going on backcountry canoe trips still skew towards second and third generation canoe trippers as opposed to new Canadians.
Miglin says once new canoeists are at The Portage Store, having a helpful and sensitive staff to answer questions can help alleviate some of the intimidation.
As a long-term solution, he thinks an increase in high school camping trips to parks would have a great benefit in terms of exposure for young people. “Canada is defined by the great outdoors. The only way we preserve that is to care about it.”
Government programs, outfitters and transportation alternatives can all help in encouraging immigrants to become involved in canoeing and camping, but the boat and gear manufacturers have a role to play too.
The majority of advertisements featuring canoeists and campers show Caucasian people, something that may reflect the reality of the majority of those engaging in these activities, but nonetheless lacks diversity.
“It’s a slow process,” says Samantha Searles, director of market and consumer insights at the Colorado-based Outdoor Industry Association. She says the industry still has a ways to go in terms of diverse marketing but notes that REI, as well as some high-end brands, seem to be at the forefront.
She says she thinks some brands will go faster or be more interested than others, while some may not know how to reach this growing diverse demographic.
Back at the Toronto Islands, Michael Zhang is now alone in the canoe. His wife and son have returned home, and he paddles with ease against a gentle pink sky.
The 2.5 million people turning on the lights in their houses on shore seem far away. These are the moments that make Michael feel like Canada is home for good.
“We have so many beautiful Canadian landscapes that can be only accessed—or be better accessed—through canoes and kayaks,” he says. “I feel paddling, especially canoeing, makes me a little bit more Canadian every single time.”
In the city but off the grid. | Feature photo: Hannah Griffin
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This article was first published in Issue 50 of Paddling Magazine.