There is something about being around a person who is passionate, who is deeply immersed in what they love. It’s exhilarating and inspiring and you can’t help but feel excited too. That’s what it’s like to spend a morning paddling with Jason Eke. I wanted to learn a bit more about Canoe: Icon of the North, a documentary examining the role of the canoe in Canadian culture, both past and present. Jason is the mastermind behind it all.
Jason is the opposite of the kid who takes things apart to learn how they work. Instead, he just builds them from scratch. “For me, and the canoe, it’s been to learn how to safely and efficiently use the canoe, then how to build them and understand how subtle and sometimes drastic changes in the shape of the craft can change the way it performs.” I am in awe of the one we’re sitting in, more a work of art than a mode of transportation – a cedar-strip prospector canoe, made of western red cedar and yellow cedar from Manitoulin Island. Strips of caramel and butter, sleek and sturdy all at once. I can’t help but run my fingers along the sides.
With over 30 years of paddling experience, and a decade of building these gems, Jason wanted to go even further, to examine where the canoe fits into Canadian heritage. “Canoes are an integral part of Canadian culture. From aboriginal and early settlement trading routes to Olympic races, or a dad out fishing with his kids, it’s a part of what it means to be Canadian.” Canoe: Icon of the North tells this story.
Authors, historians, artists and Olympic athletes, like John Jennings, Kevin Callan, Becky Mason, Hugh Stewart, Mark Oldershaw and Adam van Koeverden are part of the cast that will come together and share their story of how canoeing enhances in their lives.
Jason, a firm believer that people should follow their passion and build on their skills felt that recent grads would possess the enthusiasm and drive needed to see his project come to light. He’s assembled a brilliant team, all of them bringing their own fondness for canoeing to the project. “This film will not only give you a history of the canoe, but it will bring you into the lives of people who love it and have a true passion for it,” says Corey Saunders, a member of the crew. After many hours together on a lake or around a campfire, the group has become more a family than a film crew.
As we make our way across the lake, a snapping turtle dives into the water next to the boat and we instinctively stop paddling. We’d been chatterboxes since launching the canoe and almost missed the best part – simply taking in our surroundings. Fresh air, nature thriving all around us, soft morning sunlight, friendship and a Jetboil of tea. I think Jason is on to something here.
Old Town Canoes & Kayaks launched a new generation of personal watercraft, the Old Town NEXT, earlier this month at Outdoor Retailer. Combining the comfort and solo-paddling performance of a kayak with the convenience, capabilities and confidence of a canoe, the NEXT is easy to approach and built to last a lifetime.
Rapid Media publisher Scott MacGregor gets a first hand look at the NEXT here:
From the manufacturer:
The NEXT is a boat for one, but a craft built for all with bold colors, clean lines and a robust feature set. Crafted using the 3-layer construction technique that Old Town helped pioneer and patent, the NEXT incorporates some of the brand’s newest innovations like the Element seat system and blends them with the brand’s years of expertise to create a boat only Old Town could bring to market.
“The NEXT is a completely different take on personal watercraft and represents the culmination of Old Town’s years of paddlesports experience into one progressive new boat,” said David Hadden, Brand Director for Johnson Outdoors Watercraft. “We’ve poured an incredible amount of consumer research into the NEXT and heard loud and clear that today’s consumer really expresses themselves through the products they align with. While other companies have marketed their spin on hybrid watercraft, we feel the NEXT personal watercraft is a new generation of boat for today’s generation of paddler and we’re confident it’s something our customers will really identify with.”
Lightweight, fun and easy to paddle, the NEXT is built for the adventurous, independent spirit. It has a pronounced tumblehome design which reduces the amount of reach required when paddling; improving paddling ability for both the two-bladed and traditional single blade paddler. The NEXT has a trim profile, sitting low to the water to reduce drag in wind, while Old Town engineers crafted the boat’s hull to include a subtle rocker that provides straight, smooth tracking.
The ALL-Terrain, $79.99, from FresheTech, is a Bluetooth-enabled, portable speaker that is waterproof and shockproof. It has a sturdy polycarbonate clip at the top which allows you to attach it to backpacks, PFDs, or a hook on a boat/kayak. It’s perfect for crakning out the tunes on paddles, because even if it comes loose, it will float!
It’s about three inches tall without the clip. With the clip, it’s about 4.5. It’s also roughly 3 inches wide. Another great feature of the speaker, is with the push of a button, you can answer calls and talk on your phone through the speaker. Perfect if you don’t want to risk getting your phone dirty or wet, or just handsfree talking while paddling.
Feature photo: Franklin Carmichael / Library and Archives Canada / E007914169
Everyone knows the two questions at the heart of the mystery surrounding famous artist Tom Thomson’s death: Who did him in and where is he buried? But there are eerie stories within those mysteries, and none so spine tingling as what became of Winifred Trainor’s old home.
Feature photo: Franklin Carmichael / Library and Archives Canada / E007914169
Tom Thomson’s canvas-covered mystery
Winnie Trainor, a Canoe Lake cottager, had been one of Tom’s many girlfriends, but one so special he was said to have arranged a honeymoon cabin at Billy Bear Lodge just before he went missing on July 8, 1917.
Thomson had often stayed with the Trainors in the nearby town of Huntsville, and the day-by-day paintings he created that spring had been left to dry in the Trainors’ cabin on the northeast shore of the Algonquin Park lake where he drowned—or more likely was murdered.
What was behind Winifred’s message?
Winnie never recovered from the shock of his death. She and her mother spent the winter and spring staying with relatives in Philadelphia, raising local suspicions that she had really gone there to give birth to Tom’s child.
She tried desperately to see the Thomson family to tell them things she felt uncomfortable putting down on paper, but they refused to see her, claiming she was unstable.
In perhaps the only thing she ever wrote of her time with Tom, she told the head of Canada’s National Gallery in 1954 that, “Tom Thomson was the man that made me happy, then vanished. If I saw you I could say things that I will never write.”
Tom Thomson, The Canoe, 1912, oil on canvas on wood, 17.3 x 25.3 cm, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
She lived out her life in her parents’ ramshackle wood-frame house on Huntsville’s Minerva Street. She had no running hot water and no central heating, yet kept a dozen or more Tom Thomson originals wrapped in newspaper and stuffed in a six-quart basket. She never married. Eight years after she wrote that mysterious note she died at age 77.
A mural appears on Minerva
Forty years after her death the town of Huntsville launched a beautification project, painting Tom Thomson and Group of Seven murals on the walls of several downtown buildings.
By happenstance, a mural was painted on the wall of a red brick building that stands in the same place where Winnie lived out her long and lonely years. The painting chosen was a Tom Thomson—his empty canoe.
This article originally appeared in the Summer/Fall 2014 issue of Canoeroots. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine and get 25 years of digital magazine archives including our legacy titles: Rapid, Adventure Kayak and Canoeroots.
Feature photo: Franklin Carmichael / Library and Archives Canada / E007914169
For riverside camp-outs, you won’t do better than the Vizz. It features three beam profiles and one intuitive function button and it runs off three AAA batteries. The Vizz is lightweight and boasts a low profile but what we love most about this headlamp is that it’s waterproof. After a year of use, it’s become our go-to lamp.
CAUTION: DO NOT DRINK THE WATER. | PHOTO: PETER HOLCOMBE
For the urban wave hunters of Colorado, there is no such thing as an off-season.
Any time of year they can be found squeezing a session between work shifts, home life and the daily grind.
You can pick them out a mile away. They’re the only people wandering the streets of downtown Denver with wet hair, and wearing board shorts under their parkas in February. You’ll spot them changing into dress pants and blazers in the parking lot next to the South Platte River, which drains snowmelt from the Rocky Mountains and flows through the capital, heading north towards Nebraska.
Confluence Park, a 100-yard whitewater run in the core of downtown Denver, offers a dam-controlled course with decent drops and eddies for squirt practice and play boating—a prime play spot in the cold season and the perfect location for a pre-work session.
The run begins under the swooping roller coasters of the Elitch Gardens Theme Park and travels under the ornate Speer Boulevard Bridge into the park basin.
For regular Confluence kayaker and pro photographer Peter Holcombe, it’s all about the scenery. Bikers, skateboarders, runners, hula-hoopers and hand-holding couples on park benches wallpaper the unique river run.
“While you’re sitting in the eddy trying to catch your breath there’s always something to look at,” he says. “I’ve had old retired couples out on a walk start cheering for me.”
Holcombe says the park gives a new meaning to a ‘quick and dirty’ session.
“It’s never like a beautiful mountain stream,” he says. The run has been nicknamed Confluenza Park for the gutter runoff that makes it into the river—piles of dog poop from city gutters flow downstream and mountains of sudsy foam collect in the eddies. It doesn’t stop Holcombe from getting out on the water.
CAUTION: DO NOT DRINK THE WATER. | PHOTO: PETER HOLCOMBE
“It’s urban boating so that’s just how it is,” he says, joking that if anything his time at Confluence has made his immune system stronger.
Holcombe gladly puts up with the city runoff for the benefits of boating year-round.
Just 15 miles west of Confluence, the Clear Creek White Water Park in Golden boasts the crème de la crème of the state’s whitewater offerings. But when those runs freeze in December, Confluence, however cold, remains unfrozen thanks to Denver’s city drainage.
The park has no regular maintenance crew but volunteers recruited by Colorado Parks and Recreation organize a cleanup once a year.
Mick Ralph calls himself the King of Confluence since he’s paddled there for 15 years. He says one time authorities were called in when a slew of kayakers were spotted “struggling” in the water on a particularly snowy day in early spring.
“Someone must have seen us and thought we were in danger,” he says.
An ambulance, fire truck and the police arrived on scene to find a crew of happy paddlers throwing ends in a hydraulic.
This article first appeared in the Summer/Fall 2014 issue of Rapid Magazine. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
Adventure tourism isn’t just the domain of wilderness travelers and backpacking vagabonds anymore. Today’s parents are taking their children on adventurous trips all over the world in greater numbers than ever before. The children of Generation Y will be the best-traveled youngsters in history.
Whether it’s a week kayaking the coast, a month canoeing the backcountry or a season spent cycling across Patagonia, the trend is the same—today’s parents are unwilling to put their passions on hold until their kids grow up.
“The family outdoor industry is booming because the people who grew up in the ‘70s and ‘80s with the advent of backpacking, mountain biking, rock climbing and other adventure sports now have kids they want to bring along on their outdoor pursuits,” says Scott Graham, author of Extreme Kids: How To Connect With Your Children Through Today’s Extreme (and Not So Extreme) Sports. His family floated their first multi-day rafting trip when the kids were just toddlers and by age six the kids were paddling their own kayaks on multi-day trips.
The rewards are worth the extra work it takes to plan a trip that includes little ones. “Family closeness and a shared appreciation for the natural world are the benefits of family adventure travel—it’s especially important when so many electronic-gadget-addicted children and parents are losing touch,” Graham adds.
Traveling with kids brings great rewards
“Traveling with kids brings great rewards,” agrees Dan Clark, a father at the leading edge of this trend. Creators of award-winning flick Have Kids, Will Paddle, the Clark family canoed 2,000 miles to reach the Arctic Ocean in 2012. The film inspired many families to get outside on trips of their own, albeit usually shorter ones.
This summer, Clark, wife Alice, Kobi, 6, and Ava Fei, 4, are cycling 3,000 miles from southern Chile to northern Argentina, crossing windswept pampas and the jagged Andes mountain range.
“One thing I really enjoy about the pace of self-propelled travel is the opportunity to see something on the horizon, chat about it, look at it and then talk about it after,” explains Clark.
“Kids can be part of that in a canoe or on a bike, but it goes by too fast in a car. We notice so many things in our travels that we would miss in a car. We met one car-bound family in southern Chile who had yet to see a condor. Kobi heard this and was surprised because we had seen at least one every day that week.”
PLAY. | PHOTO: DAVE QUINN
CLARK FAMILY EN ROUTE. | PHOTO: DAN CLARK.
Along the way the Clarks have met like-minded families, including a German family who started their cycling journey in Alaska, about 17,000 road miles away. Clark hopes their family adventures help his kids develop goal setting skills, tolerance for adversity and an interest in exploring the world.
Some may consider an international journey with kids risky, “but most of those risks can be minimized with planning, a conservative approach and listening to the kids along the way,” Clark adds.
Graham agrees: “There’s growing recognition that the most dangerous thing we can do to our kids is allow them to become couch potatoes. The current generation of American children is the first ever that may have a shorter life expectancy than their parents. That’s alarming, and something a growing cadre of parents are recognizing and working to forestall by making sure their children are active.”
“There’s growing recognition that the most dangerous thing we can do to our kids is allow them to become couch potatoes.”
Author, TV personality and veteran traveler Bruce Kirkby spent this summer on a three-and-a-half month journey to Ladakh, India, with his wife Christine, and children, Bodie, 6, and Taj, 4. To get there they traveled from British Columbia by canoe, container ship, train, jeep and by foot—no planes allowed.
“For us, these trips are all about exposing our kids to the beauty and diversity of the planet,” explains Kirkby.
“Traveling is what Christine and I truly value—open-minded exploration of the world’s wildest places and cultures. It is what we live to do, so it would make no sense not to involve our kids,” he adds.
Brian McCutcheon, founder of ROAM Adventures Inc., runs adventure travel trips all over the planet, from week-long, laid-back paddling trips in the Great Bear Rainforest and Galapagos Islands, to multi-week treks in the Himalayas. He notes that kids are much more a part of the adventure travel scene than they were just a decade ago—40 percent of his return clients are families.
Family adventure travel doesn’t have to include far-off international destinations
Family adventure travel doesn’t have to include far-off international destinations or high-adrenaline activities to be beneficial. According to McCutcheon, what parents are craving are real experiences with their kids.
“People seem to be more busy than ever, so spending quality, meaningful time with their kids has never been more important,” he says. “A wilderness experience is so much more authentic than a contrived resort vacation—no matter how fancy the pool.”
Dave Quinn recently returned from a family surf trip in Nicaragua with his wife and two kids, Tumelo, 5, and Mariha, 1. They went for the sun, but savored the slow pace of beach life and cultural immersion.
“CAN WE GO NOW? “ | PHOTO: DAVE QUINN
Generation Fly
If you are just dipping into the family adventure travel scene, a few simple tricks can make sure you cruise through your trip.
• Get buy in » Ask your kids where they want to go, what they want to see and what they want to do. Feeling like they’re a part of the decision-making process will help keep them invested in the activities on trip.
• Travel less » Transitions are tough for all of us. The less packing and unpacking, buses, planes, trains and hotels, the easier it is on many kids. Staying in one spot can also immerse your family in the local community, which adds a whole new dimension to the travel experience.
• Avoid restaurants » What used to be a romantic evening out for two can easily become a fork-flinging, tantrum-filled nightmare. Cooking for your family is cheaper than eating out, creates a normalized sense of home and minimizes the risks of food-borne illness.
• Call the doctor » Health concerns can be a major stress when traveling with kids. Visit a pediatrician for advice on recommended medications and how to stock your first aid kit. Even where there is no risk of malaria, bring a small mosquito net to avoid sleepless, itchy kids covered in bug bites.
• Kid-friendly destinations » Everyone will have more fun if you are confident that your kids are safe, happy and healthy. Do research before you go to identify red flags—big riptides, stinging jellyfish and hordes of biting sandflies are red flags for me, but each family will have their own.
Get the full article in the digital edition of Canoeroots and Family Camping, Summer/Fall 2014.Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
Proper fit and lightweight make paddling more fun for kids.
Andrew Stern of Bending Branches chats with Rapid Media’s Scott MacGregor about kids and paddling at the Outdoor Retailer Show. Canoe and kayak paddles that fit young paddlers are important to getting them into the sport. Watch it now.
Even before I paddled Swift’s Keewaydin, I heard what a lovely ride it is. Organizing a pickup date by phone, longtime Swift enthusiast-turned-employee Brian Duplante confided, “That’s my favorite canoe to paddle.” It wasn’t a hard sell, but genuine passion for the design.
Swift Keewaydin 16 Specs
Length: 16’
Material: Kevlar Fusion
Weight: 36 lbs
Width at gunwales: 32”
Optimum load: 300–575 lbs
Capacity: 950 lbs
MSRP: $3,095 base model / $3,180 with kneeling thwart
www.swiftcanoe.com
A few days later, tying down the canoe on site at Swift’s Oxtongue Lake location on the edge of Algonquin Provincial Park, owner Bill Swift Jr. added wistfully, “It’s a honey of a canoe.”
Complete in Swift’s two-tone white and silver Barracuda finish, I couldn’t help but agree—the Keewaydin is a thing of beauty. At 16 feet and just 36 pounds with dynamic lines, the Keewaydin looks as energetic as the north wind it takes its name from. I couldn’t wait to get it on the water.
First, however, I peeked into what was formerly Swift’s manufacturing facility, now their repair shop. Just big enough to work on a few canoes at a time, the simple space highlights the humble beginnings of this family-owned business.
Now surrounded by a rental fleet a thousand Swift boats strong, the buildings erected by Bill Swift Sr. in 1961—the original Algonquin Outfitters location—look like they haven’t changed much. In 1984, boat manufacturing began onsite to meet AO’s rental demands. Back then it was a franchise, making Sawyer designs.
By 1989, the Swift family was looking to branch out. To design lighter and more efficient canoes for their own operation they called in prolific designer John Winters, who dreamed up the Kipawa model and the Swift brand was born.
In the 20,000-square-foot South River factory where Swift now manufactures, they make 29 canoe, kayak and pack boat models and take pride in melding traditional design with high tech processes.
Unique to Swift canoes is its Carbon Kevlar Trim (CKT), where gunwales and hull are fused together as a single piece, adding stiffness and structural integrity, as well as a pretty finish.
“By volume, canoe gunwales are the heaviest part of the canoe. By using CKT we can reduce the weight by four to six pounds,” explains Swift Jr.
Released in 2012 and designed by David Yost, the Keewaydin 16 is now Swift’s most popular retail model. Swift Jr. attributes this to its versatility—great for daytrips as well as lightweight tripping.
On the water, the keyword for the Keewaydin is efficiency. The Keewaydin cuts through the water and chop rolls underneath the hull with little effect.
Swift Keewaydin 16 | Photo: Geoff Whitlock
Its asymmetrical hull tracks nicely in open water, yet our bow paddler was able to pull the boat around tight corners, ideal in winding and twisting streams. Swift Jr. says this is thanks to its differential rocker—two inches in the bow and half that in the stern.
On an evening solo paddle on Lake Ontario, I found it responsive and more manageable than many other boats of its length in wind and waves.
A kneeling thwart and significant tumblehome allows for comfortable cruising, without needing to reach out far over the gunwales.
Thanks to Swift’s distinctive curved and angled cherry seats, “You should feel as comfortable a few hours into the paddle as you did when you first got in,” says Swift Jr. The bow’s sliding seat also allows for on-the-fly trim adjustments.
While the Kevlar Fusion lay-up we borrowed offers the highest strength-to-weight ratio of Swift’s materials, the Keewaydin comes in a variety of lay-ups, ranging from 33 pounds in Carbon Fusion to 58 pounds in Gold Fusion with aluminum trim. Swift also manufactures 14- and 15-foot solo versions, as well as the Keewaydin 17, which Swift Jr. confesses is his personal favorite.
Get the full article in the digital edition of Canoeroots and Family Camping, Summer/Fall 2014.Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
"Just 40 miles north of the last road and the last portage."
The ultimate Canadian experience is waiting for you. Fly into the Hudson Bay Lowlands on a float plane over Thunderhouse Falls, 40 miles north of the last road and the last portage. Paddle the Lower Missinaibi, a river of the fur trade, camp each night on the banks of a sub-arctic river, visit Native Cree villages, explore James Bay and return on the Polar Bear Express Train. The trip is suitable for both beginning and intermediate paddlers.
Want to start planning your trip? The Missinaibi Headwaters Outfitters can make your dream trip a reality, starting from $2,075 CAD per person. The trip lasts 9 days, 8 nights, with dates available from June through August.
This article originally appeared in the Summer/Fall 2014 issue of Canoeroots. 
This article first appeared in the Summer/Fall 2014 issue of Rapid Magazine. 
Get the full article in the digital edition of Canoeroots and Family Camping, Summer/Fall 2014.
