A sunning turtle below Wingdam Island on the St. Croix River. This river forms the Canada – United States border between New Brunswick and Maine.
This photo is was taken by Mitchell Amos and submitted as part of the Canadian Hertiage Rivers Photo Contest. Want to see your photo here? Send to [email protected] with subject line Daily Photo.
A preview of the Astral Brewer water sneaker from Adventure Kayak magazine.
Combining street-smart styling with paddler savvy, these versatile shoes have Stealth Rubber soles for superb grip on slippery rocks. Water drains quickly from sidewall and heel ports, and the Cordura/mesh uppers are fast drying. Step on the heels to wear ‘em as slides, and say goodbye to extra camp shoes.
www.astralbuoyancy.com | $99.95
This article originally appeared in Adventure Kayak, Spring 2013. Download our free iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read it here.
From the look on his face, we’re betting that this moose isn’t fooled.
This photo is was taken by Jimmy MacDonald and submitted as part of the Canadian Hertiage Rivers Photo Contest. Want to see your photo here? Send to [email protected] with subject line Daily Photo.
So you find yourself out of the raft and in the river. Getting back in ASAP is almost always your first priority. If the raft is upright and somebody is still inside, he or she can just haul you in, but climbing back in on your own is more of a challenge.
How do you get back into a raft? Follow these steps for two different scenarios.
If the raft is upright, grab the side perimeter line on either side of a D-ring.
Push out with straight arms and kick your feet to get them to the surface. Don’t try to climb in until your body and feet are at the surface and your arms are extended. Then, with strong kicks and a swift pull, travel forward and up—you need momentum to get your upper body over the tube.
The other option is to turn your forward pull into a downward push, keeping your hands on the line until you are straight armed again, wrapping your upper body over the tube. Only then do you reach into the raft for a new handhold, likely grabbing a cross tube or the raft frame. Strong kicks this whole time keep you from stalling halfway.
Your approach to how to climb in a raft when it’s flipped over is a little different. The trick is to work from the end where the floor angles down into the water like a ramp, using the floor lace as a handhold. Be warned: the hold isn’t great. Once you’ve climbed onto the bottom your job is to flip the raft over, but that’s another story.
Where I come from, portage rhymes with corsage, not shortage. If that sounds weird, how would you pronounce massage, mirage, entourage, collage or camouflage?
Just sayin’.
This photo was taken by Chewonki Semester School Flickr user and is licensed under Creative Commons.
Think your image could be a Rapid Media Whitewater Daily Photo? Submit it to [email protected].
Ain’t Louiefest 2013 is only two weeks away. Open boaters will gather in Tennessee to paddle some of the best whitewater the Southeast has to offer from March 9-17. Check the forums at www.cboats.net for info on how to get involved.
Think your image could be a Rapid Media Whitewater Daily Photo? Submit it to [email protected].
This kayak trip destination is excerpted from “The East Coast’s Best 5 Places to Paddle” in Adventure Kayak magazine.
Outer Banks, North Carolina
Called the Graveyard of the Atlantic, North Carolina’s Outer Banks are littered with shoals that extend up to 15 nautical miles out to sea. The Outer Banks’ shifting sands have wreaked havoc on mariners for hundreds of years. Now sea paddlers are discovering the ideal playgrounds created by the combination of exploding waves, sandy bottoms and warm water. Cape Lookout, Cape Hatteras and Oregon Inlet all produce exciting water with the right wind, swell and tide combinations. Also blessed with fantastic protected water on the inside of the banks, North Carolina supports some of the most prolific shorebird habitat in the Lower 48.
Find more information about this area at Barrier Island Kayaks, www.barrierislandkayaks.com.
This article originally appeared in Adventure Kayak, Early Summer 2009. Download our free iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read it here.
This week in canoeing news: satellite gadgets are compared and a winner is crowned; meet Canoeroots at the Toronto Outdoor Adventure Show; Wenonah founder receives award.
Best Emergency Electronics
Outdoorgearlab.com took some of the best and most popular emergency electronic devices and used them side-by-side for six months to find out what’s the best for telling your family and friends you are okay and what’s the best for sending out an SOS signal. They compared five of the top emergency electronic devices, one PLB (Personal Locator Beach), three SEND (Satellite Emergency Notification Devices) and one lonely iPhone App. The DeLorme InReach came out on top—read more at outdoorgearlab.com.
Visit with Canoeroots
Say hello to the Canoeroots staff this weekend at the Toronto Outdoor Adventure Show, Canada’s largest adventure show. Open February 22-24, the show offers pre-season deals on the newest outdoor gear and travel destinations. See canoe and kayak experts in the Whitewater Demo Pool, watch scuba demos in the Dive Tank, climb the Rock Wall or ignite your passion for biking, hiking, running, water or mountain sports at over 300 exhibits. Via Outdoor Adventure Show.
Founder of Wenonah Canoe receives pretigous award
Mike Cichanowski, owner and founder of Wenonah Canoe, Inc. recently received “The LaBrant Award” from the United States Canoe Association. Originally established in 1980, the award recognizes individuals from both the canoeing public and the outdoor industry, nationally and internationally, that have shown outstanding contributions to the sport of canoeing. Cichanowski was presented the award at the 2013 USCA winter meeting in Tarpon Springs, FL. The award, a limited edition print by nationally known outdoor artist Fred Montague, is named after Howie LaBrant, one of the founders of the United States Canoe Association. Entitled “Quite Passage” it depicts a scene of a couple paddling leisurely on an idealized river. Via SNEWS.
This kayak technique article on how to paddle in tidal races was originally published in Adventure Kayak magazine.
On one of my early training trips to Anglesey, Wales, I was paddling out toward Penrhyn Mawr and the biggest water of my life when Nigel Dennis calmly paddled up beside me and said, “Remember, it’s the sea. It’s always worse than it looks.” Unsettled, I watched a two-meter swell roll through the Irish Sea and collide into four knots of current.
In the exploding waves my “highly maneuverable” 16-foot sea kayak felt like a fish in molasses. I’d sweep five or six times to get lined up with a wave; it would break and push me sideways and then I’d have to start all over again. I was all at once frustrated with my boat handling, nervous about the sea state and excited about being there.
The last few years have seen more and more paddlers enjoying tidal races like Penrhyn Mawr, Skookumchuck Narrows, Shubenacadie River, The Bitches, Deception Pass and others. Like paddling in the surf or wind, tidal water presents lots of mental and physical challenges and an equal amount of fun. Here are some basic concepts to ease you into the excitement of tidal rapids, including skills you can practice on flatwater anytime.
Paddle anything that moves
If you don’t have access to a tidal race—or even if you do—start out by paddling river whitewater at a moderate grade such as Class II. You’ll be surprised how accessible whitewater is and how much it improves your sea kayaking skill. This is one of the best ways to fast-track the water-reading skills you’ll need in tidal rapids.
Learn the environment
Perhaps the single most important skill in tidal race paddling is predicting how the water is going to affect your boat. Water- reading skill-level is directly proportionate to your cockpit time in moving water, so don’t get too frustrated if you can’t put your boat exactly where you want the first time.
Seek mentors to push you
To be an effective and efficient paddler in tidal races, you have to be comfortable and confident. The best way to safely increase your confidence is by paddling with coaches and peers who are capable of taking you into environments that are beyond your comfort level when paddling alone. With others covering the safety and leadership, you can experiment and learn.
Err on the side of edging
Get comfortable with spinning the boat 180 degrees with a series of forward and reverse strokes on flatwater. Edge the boat towards each sweep, using the stroke for support and balance. Increase the amount of edge as far as possible on flatwater. This will teach you to trust a more aggressive edge in moving water.
Chaos-proof your roll
When you add current to the equation, the potential for spending time in a low-oxygen, wet environment increases exponentially. A bombproof roll goes a long way to increasing your confidence and ability to perform. Practice by adding chaos to your flatwater roll practice: flip over mid-stroke and set up for a roll, but allow yourself to fail, capsize again and then switch to roll up on the opposite side; try flipping over with only one hand on the paddle—but first get a good pair of nose plugs.
Ease into leadership
Safe group management is critical in tidal races. Assuming that on the first several outings you have surrounded yourself with strong leaders and coaches, when your confidence increases it’s time to think about safety and leadership yourself. Assess the risks of the tidal venues you would like to paddle, considering the potential dangers as well as the best flows and tides, and whether you and your partners have the skills to resolve any situation that might arise.
BRYAN SMITH is a filmmaker and paddler in Squamish, British Columbia (www.reelwaterproductions.com).
This article originally appeared in Adventure Kayak, Early Summer 2009. Download our freeiPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read it here.
Mobile device users can now download a free weather app from forecasting upstart, Nooly, to get hyper-local “Nowcasts” for the put-in, takeout, beach or anywhere else in the continental U.S. and southern Canada. Competing with popular weather apps like Dark Sky and The Weather Channel, Nooly stands apart by offering paddlers and outdoor enthusiasts “micro weather” predictions for areas as small as 0.4 square miles (1 square kilometer), updating from real-time satellite data every 5 minutes.
Using an impressive network of NOAA radar stations and NASA satellites, Nooly is the only commercially available weather application that makes its own algorithm-guided predictions by tracking and analyzing each cloud above the continental U.S. Users can download Nooly by visiting the App Store or Google Play. Via Nooly.
Lake Superior Watershed Conservancy (LSWC) recently announced the acquisition of 20 islands off the coast of Lake Superior Provincial Park in the Gargantua archipelago.
Through the facilitation of LSWC, the 20 pristine islands totaling 128 acres were preserved through a landmark cross-border gift to American Friends of Canadian Land Trusts.
These islands have long been special to Native and modern paddlers alike. Islands like Devil’s Warehouse are home to sites of great cultural and natural significance, including a cave where Ojibwa mined ochre hundreds of years ago to paint the famous Agawa pictographs; nesting Peregrine Falcons and rare arctic alpine plants.
Many people assumed the islands were part of the Lake Superior Provincial Park, but since the early 1900s an American family has owned the archipelago. The great-great-grandfather of the present generation was a lawyer in Detroit and received the deed for the islands as payment from a client who couldn’t pay his bill for services rendered.
Stewardship of the islands is now the responsibility of Lake Superior Watershed Conservancy, and the protected lands are open to the public for recreational and educational use. Via SooToday.com.
In January, two of the most experienced Canadian and Arctic adventure companies, Black Feather and Polar Sea Adventures, joined forces.
Black Feather, owned by 2011 NWT Tourism Lifetime Achievement Award honoree Wendy Grater, has been operating trips across Canada since 1972, specializing in canoe trips on the Nahanni, Mountain and other Northwest Territories rivers, as well as hiking and sea kayaking in Nunavut and Greenland.
Polar Sea Adventures, run by David Reid since 1996, is an award-winning expedition company, based in the Arctic. In recent years, the company has also specialized in customized projects, in particular notable film and television productions such as BBC Planet Earth and Frozen Planet.
As a partnership, Black Feather and Polar Sea Adventures will be administered out of the Black Feather office in Parry Sound, Ontario. David Reid will join Black Feather’s guiding team as one of their senior guides, and also oversee the special projects run in the Baffin region. Via Black Feather.
Learn more about the science of weather prediction in Adventure Kayak, Spring 2013. Download our free iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch App or Android App or read it here.
