Drybag Review: MEC Slogg

View from back of canoe of woman and dog in stern and blue dry bag behind. — One bag to carry it all. | Photo: Geoff Whitlock

This big but lightweight dry pack is simple, reliable and offers great value. Rugged and dunk-proof, it’ll find a home with backcountry canoeists and anyone else needing to keep their gear safe from the elements.

Contrary to its name, I was impressed by how comfortable MEC’s Slogg 115 is on long portages. The cushioned shoulder straps and hip belt on the easy-wearing Slogg help save your shoulders for paddling while it transfers weight effectively to your hips.

[ Further reading: How To Choose The Right Drybags For Your Paddling Adventures ]

Its single 115-liter compartment means packing is super easy, but favors the already-organized. It’s cavernous blue interior will leave you searching if you drop in odd-and-ends or leave your rain gear at the bottom.

The Slogg is made of 840-denier, high-tenacity nylon and coated on both sides with PVC-free polyurethane. All seams are radio frequency welded. After seven years of hard use, the pack is only now starting to show it’s age. A couple of punctures have been easy to seal. Extend the Slogg’s life by avoiding picking it up by one handle or shoulder strap when it’s packed, to keep the attachment points in good condition.

Don’t stuff the bag too full—the stiffened roll-top closure requires a full four rolls to properly protect your gear from immersion. The closure system has been more than a match for any rainstorm and brief dunkings, but MEC warns it may not keep your gear dry during lengthy submersion.

[ Paddling Buyer’s Guide: View all drybags ]

The Slogg’s angled side handles are a welcome addition, making loading and unloading this over-sized bag much easier. They also act as anchor points, so the bag can be lashed securely if that’s your style. The Slogg comes in three sizes, a 35-liter, 70-liter and 115-liter option.

For those facing truly epic portages, MEC also offers a deluxe version with a welded frame, which mimics an alpine backpack’s ergonomics.

One bag to carry it all. | Photo: Geoff Whitlock

Whitewater Skill: Coil Rescue

Skills

Photo: Dan Caldwell — Neatly coiled rope on the river bank

Ideally, your throw bag hits its target the first time. Even so, there are situations when throwing a coiled rope is called for, like multiple swimmers or a failed first attempt.

You want to avoid having your coil look like a bird’s nest. The secret is keeping the motion of the rope to a minimum. Do this by coiling to the hand you throw with and keeping your throwing arm as still as possible. If throwing with your right hand, your left retrieves the rope and brings it to the right hand. Avoid switching a coil from hand to hand, which usually results in tangles.

Many paddlers prefer a standard coil where each loop is in the same direction—think hanging up a garden hose on a hook. Another option, the butterfly coil, has paddlers alternating between placing the rope in the throwing hand with thumbs parallel and pointing in opposite directions, then in the same direction. Repeat the pattern back and forth until coiled and you’ve got equally sized butterfly wings draping on either side. Be sure your throwing hand remains still; it’s the retrieving hand that is in motion. I’ve tried both, you’re less likely to create potentially limb-trapping loops with a butterfly coil.

Other things to consider: small rope tangles more easily than larger diameter rope; you only need to coil enough rope to reach your target before throwing it; and don’t allow any rope to get wrapped around you. Just as practicing your aim is important, practice your coiling technique so you can coil and toss when it counts.

The Longest Single-Day Paddle Race In The World

Photo: Courtesy Muskoka River X — The Longest Single-Day Paddle Race In The World

Tomorrow marks the first running of the longest, single day expedition-paddling race in the world. We expect it’ll also be one of the hardest.

The Muskoka River X will see canoes, kayaks and one lonely SUP traverse 125 kilometers in 24 hours. Participants will race around the clock to cover four lakes, two rivers systems and 19 portages. Navigation is by topographic map and compass only and all teams must be self-supported.

Paddler Steve Varieur will be paddling a solo canoe. While he’s no stranger to adventure races, having competed in the Yukon River Quest twice, this is his first significant solo race. He filled us in on what he’s expecting on race day.

“The race is not merely a paddling race but combines key elements of adventure racing, which bring out new challenges. Teams receive no outside support, there are no aid or resupply stations and teams must remain self-sufficient throughout the entire course,” says Varieur. All variables, including food, hydration, shelter, how to deal with changing weather, injury and gear failure, all have to be considered beforehand.

Varieur expects to meet the most challenging section of the course in the dark. “Racing in the dark, or even just paddling in the dark for that matter, is a very unique experience. The rapids above Bracebridge will need to be negotiated in the dark and against current. Although not much more than swifts and class I rapids, being in the dark, dragging your boat up boulder gardens after having been racing for 15 or more hours, will prove challenging.”

Another tough section will be Lake of Bays. A serene 20-kilometer paddle in calm weather, high winds can whip this section into misery for paddlers. “As a solo paddler in a skinny little race canoe, my concern will be big waves and the risk of a swim,” adds Varieur.

With the temperature forecasted to drop to between 2 and 5 degrees Celsius Saturday night, hypothermia is a major risk for paddlers who will be forced to get their feet wet when dragging upstream over gravel bars.

So, how do you train for such a race? Varieur began cross training in February and competed in shorter adventure racing events throughout the summer. “But, for the last two months, I’ve mostly focused on spending long periods of time in the canoe.”

Registration for the race is full. Learn more at www.muskokariverx.com.

Daily Photo: Swallow’s-Eye View

681a23d9bda3cc6608e358bb4db90e3a_XL — Photo: Bryan Smith

Bryan Smith combined the skills he developed dangling from cliff edges to shoot climbing, with his eye for sea kayaking on a recent visit to Washington’s San Juan archipelago. The Squamish-area photographer and filmmaker explains, “To get this shot of Lise-Anne Beyries off Sucia Island, I hung from above and shot through a narrow opening in the sandstone cliffs.”

Location: Sucia Island, Washington

This image originally appeared in the Spring 2013 issue of Adventure Kayak. Download our free iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read it here.

Paddle For The North Returns

4a76e83cdef04170824f4c440ecbc2bb_XL — Paddle For The North Returns

After 62 days, the six-man Paddle For The North team has returned home. They traversed 1400 kilometers through three time zones and six river systems, from the Yukon to Alaska, on their journey with the hopes of creating a documentary that will encourage conservation.

The group started on Elliot Lake and the Hart River, “Which was spectacular,” says team member Gabriel Rivest. “We spent 12-13 days on the Hart paddling, but also doing quite a bit of hiking.”

From there the group paddled into the Peel River, where they were faced with Aberdeen Canyon, a five-kilometer portage through swamp and thick bush. The next leg of the journey took them 140 kilometers upstream to the Continental Divide on the Rat River. “Other then a crazy flood—a two meter rise in five hours overnight—the Rat ended up being easier then we thought it would be. It took us 14 days in total, after losing six paddles because of the flood,” says Rivest.

Once on the other side of the continental divide, the group traveled down the Bell and Porcupine Rivers. “We spent a couple days relaxing in Old Crow before heading down the most beautiful part of the Porcupine, through the ramparts which includes the old Hudson Bay Company post that has been renovated by the First Nations and the Yukon Government,” adds Rivest. Their journey ended on the Yukon River at the Dalton Highway bridge, 200 kilometers north of Fairbanks in the heart of Alaska.

Find out more about their expedition at http://paddleforthenorth.org.

Daily Photo: Wenatchee Wanderings

Photo: Sarah Muszynski — Daily Photo: Wenatchee Wanderings

Adventure Kayak reader Sarah Muszynski sent us this fabulous photo of paddling on the calm, glacier-fed waters of Washington’s Lake Wenatchee in the Cascade Mountains. Visit Washington State Parks to plan your own tour this summer.

Want to see your photo here? Send to [email protected] with subject line Daily Photo.

34th Annual Gull River Race Results

Photo: Courtesy Marilyn Scriver — Gull River Open Canoe Race

This past weekend saw the the 34th running of the Gull River Open Canoe Slalom Race at Minden, Ontario’s Whitewater Preserve.

Top finishers included:

Men’s Solo:

1. Andrew Westwood

2. Mark Scriver

3. Scott MacGregor

Women’s Solo:

1. Stef Mcardle

2. Anne McGee

3. Beth Kennedy

Senior/Junior Team

1. Paul and Willa Mason

2. Scott and Kate MacGregor

3. Andy and Maggie Walker

Men’s Tandem

1. Paul Scriver and Kurtis Oman

2. Dave Humphreys and Andrew Westwood

2. Paul Mason and Mark Scriver

Women’s Tandem

1. Gail Shields and Beth Kennedy

2. Maureen Bretz and Wendy Grater

3. Bella Waterton and Stef Mcardle

For full results, click here to view all runs or best runs only (PDFs will open.)

For photos of the event by Marilyn Scriver, please visit her Flickr page here.

Open Canoe Technique: Wave Turns

Skills

Photo: Martin Lortz — Solo canoeist breaks into an eddy on a cross-bow draw

There you are, heading downstream, a maze of breaking waves, holes and fast current ahead. Off to the side is a great shore eddy with your name on it. The problem is that you’re traveling downstream faster than the current so there’s little chance of catching the eddy using traditional steering strokes. The solution may be right there in front of you—do a wave turn on an approaching breaking wave and front ferry across to the eddy.

Redirecting your downstream momentum toward the eddy requires the creative use of water features. Wave turns are just the trick to spin your canoe up- stream and halt your downstream momentum. Even better, wave turns set you up for a front ferry to take you across to that eddy pool you’ve been eyeing.

HERE’S HOW:

Set up for a wave turn by angling your bow 45 degrees or more to the breaking part of a wave. Aim for the pile so that the water falling upstream into the trough captures your bow.

As the bow anchors itself in the foam pile, your stern remains in the downstream current and passes the wave resulting in a spin pointing…

This article appeared in Rapid, Spring 2013. Download our free iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read the rest here.

Daily Photo: Reflections

Photo: Lester Lightstone — Daily Photo: Reflections

A broken sky crowns kayakers in British Columbia’s Broken Islands Group, Barkley Sound. Thanks to Adventure Kayak reader Lester Lightstone for sharing this great shot!

Want to see your photo here? Send to [email protected] with subject line Daily Photo.

Video: Made in Canada Episode 1

Videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72931467

NRS Films

Join filmmaker Mike McKay of Five2Nine Productions as he visits some of Canada’s classic whitewater runs to capture both the rivers and the local paddlers who know them best. Episode 1 of the Made in Canada series features a Quebec crew kayaking their home river, the Neilson.

From NRS Films.