In the past decade short solo canoes have bobbed into the whitewater scene. Now, short and long solo boats share the river in about equal numbers, and we expect to see four new sub-10- foot canoes hitting the rivers this year. Paddlers are attracted to these canoes because they are responsive, lightweight and well suited for technical rapids and popular low-volume creeks. They offer canoeists something different and are simply fun to paddle, once you figure them out.

Short canoes require adjustments in paddling style to maximize the performance of their unique hull features. Sure, these tricks work in long boats too, but the response time of a short canoe is almost instantaneous, and the effort required to accelerate and pivot is so much less than in longer and heavier boats.

Short canoes tend to be slower and have less glide, so you will want to reduce the use of speed-sapping friction strokes like the stern pry and J-stroke. Instead, paddle by carving an inside circle and use bow control strokes to adjust your direction while maintaining forward momentum. This will allow you to focus on dodging rocks and driving your canoe through converging currents.

Use the slower hull speed of the short canoe to your advantage. Cruise through a rapid at a relaxed pace, then when you need to manoeuvre, accelerate using on- or off-side forward strokes. These canoes are so responsive that simply adding one efficient correction stroke will completely change your direction. Anticipate this using the opposing forward or cross forward stroke to finish the move.

Playing with stroke length can help too.

A long stroke tends to turn short canoes. Why? Think about your traditional stroke with lots of torso rotation and reach. In many of these short boats you’d be engaging your paddle literally at the bow of the canoe—a long way from its sensitive pivot point at your hips.

Short strokes produce straighter paths and allow a quicker stroke rate. Typically most people paddle a Rival something like this: Long forward stroke—glide—stern correction—recovery—long forward stroke—glide—stern correction. However, an Esquif Spanish Fly is more like: Stroke— stroke—stroke—off-side forward stroke—stroke— stroke. With so little glide, if you need to get somewhere, you need to be always driving these little boats forward.

Some view short canoes as less stable than comfortable-feeling traditional solo canoes, when in fact, they are just more responsive to tilt.

The ease of tilting can actually keep you more stable because you can engage the boat’s edge by using leg and hip movement within your outfitting, and avoid risky body leans more commonly used in large canoes.

In short canoes you can easily use outside edge control for lightning fast pivot turns. By gently pressing down the outside leg to engage the outside edge, you can hold spectacular and dynamic draws to manoeuvre the tightest turns and mid-stream changes in direction. With your body held vertically throughout a turn you are less likely to capsize as the smaller and lighter boat can be securely gripped through good outfitting.

Low volume rapids filled with rocks, waves and slot moves are the playgrounds for which short canoes are made. Adapting paddling skills to short canoes is new and different and will expand your horizons of fun and excitement on the river.

Andrew Westwood is an open canoe instructor at the Madawaska Kanu Centre, member of Team Esquif and author of The Essential Guide to Canoeing. www.westwoodoutdoors.ca

This article originally appeared in Rapid, Early Summer 2010. Download our free iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read it here.

The following is an excerpt from an article appearing in a Fall 2008 issue of Adventure Kayak magazine. 

John “Wildey” Wilde started paddling on the open sea as a teenager growing up on England’s exposed northwest coast in the mid-1960s. For the next two and a half decades, he paddled rivers, competing in slalom canoe on the British and Australian national teams. He’s also taken part in more than a dozen Himalayan paddling expeditions, including leading the first descent of Nepal’s Sun Kosi River. These days, John spends more of his time sea kayaking, putting his rough water skills to use along the big-surf coasts of eastern Australia. He is the highest-qualified sea kayaking instructor in Australia. John recently undertook a solo paddle down Tasmania’s rugged east coast, notorious for its foul weather conditions, and survived paddling against 60-knot winds and a love bite from a giant shark. Here, John shares the extra preparations that he credits with saving his life.

1.Stay fit

“When an un-forecast 60- knot offshore wind came up towards the end of a 60-kilometre day, I was faced with a huge struggle to get back to shore—or the next stop would be New Zealand!” John says that if it were not for his strength and conditioning, he would not have made it. “For me, my fitness routine means paddling several times a week—if nothing else on the local lake, as well as rollerblading, some gym work, cross-country skiing in season and, of late (and to combat old age), yoga for flexibility.”

2. Have a bombproof (and toothproof) boat

When paddling in deep water offshore, John felt a sudden bump as his kayak lifted out of the water. Heart pounding, he sprinted to shore, to find big grooves in the gel coat and compression cracks in the hull just forward of the seat—and two glistening white shark’s teeth embedded just centimetres from where his thigh had been. John’s usual sea kayak is a lightweight graphite-Kevlar layup. “It is close to 10 years old and I love it, but it is light and easily damaged. My main thoughts were about dragging it up remote beaches fully loaded on my own, or landing in big surf.” So he switched to a heavier, more robust boat, which ended up not only saving the boat from damage, but protecting John himself.

3. Paddle hard and carry a predictable stick

For the last four years, John had been paddling mostly with a wing paddle, which is much more efficient for a forward stroke. “But it is hard to brace with, and generally more unstable to use. So I went back to a standard, spooned blade, more stable for bracing into a breaking wave and generally more predictable to use when the going gets tough.”

4. Supersize your rudder

If you use a stern-mounted rudder, chances are that in big seas, it spends most if its time out of the water. A handy friend of John’s made him a new rudder, six centimetres longer than the standard. “This bites much better in a following sea, so I have more control, especially when I am under sail.”

5. Practice, practice, practice

“I spend a lot of time surf kayaking. This involves lots of rolling, a really basic skill in surf, as well as bracing, balancing and judging waves. All these are essential to serious expedition paddling.”

6. Know where you are

Practice navigation skills too; don’t rely on a GPS. John says that expedition paddlers should try to work with charts and maps fairly regularly.

7. Test your gear in real-world conditions

Like many Australian paddlers, John frequently uses a kayak sail on the open sea. When testing the sail he intended to take on the trip in gusting 30-knot winds, he suddenly found himself upside-down. And to make things worse, with the weight of the mast and a sail dragging in the water, he was unable to roll up. From this gear test, he chose to completely revamp his system, purchasing a new, smaller sail that is more manageable in high winds along with a much  shorter mast.

8. Have a plan B

John says, “Finally I bought a top-of-the-line paddle fl oat, something I have never used before as my roll is usually strong. I had it strapped to the back deck the whole time. It’s always handy to have an insurance policy!”

9. Do your rescuers a favor

“If something goes wrong, someone is going to spend a lot of time looking for you.” John feels that you owe it to rescuers to be able to make contact, so he carries a phone secured in a waterproof pack, as well as a VHF radio, PLB (personal locator beacon), and flares stashed in the pocket of his PFD—accessible in case he ever ends up swimming.

This article originally appeared in Adventure Kayak magazine, Fall 2008. Download our free iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read it here.