This video is for those of you wondering what the heck is the appeal of the Greenland Paddle—A.K.A. the skinny stick.
With the majority of modern sea kayaking paddles adopting a spoon-bladed design, it may seem odd to revert to a paddle with substantially less surface area for water catch (typically we’re looking at a 2.5-3.5 inch width at the tip of the Greenland blade). But according to Brian Shultz from Cape Falcon Kayak, size doesn’t necessarily matter.
The difference actually comes in the ergonomics of how you’re driving your forward stroke. With the Greenland paddle, you can adopt a lighter grip than its Euro counterpart, releasing tension on your forearms and shoulders.
Shultz recommends adopting a “push” approach with the exposed paddle blade, rather than relying entirely on the pull of your submerged blade. This technique naturally will promote better torso rotation and a more effective forward stroke.
For paddlers thinking about making the transition in paddle types, Shultz provides a solid summary of the basic advantages in ergonomics, maneuvering, rolling, sculling, and stabilizing your kayak with a Greenland paddle.
Nothing causes panic on a remote river trip like serious damage to your canoe. However, with a black bag of essential items and the skill of a drunken surgeon you can repair even large, gaping gashes in whitewater hulls. Try these backcountry canoe repair techniques next time you’re in a pinch, and make sure you’re properly prepared with our ultimate canoe repair kit.
Even though Royalex canoes have a toughness approaching elephant hide, they can rip if a loaded or water-filled boat meets just the right knife-edged rock.
To patch a small tear you need heavy-duty duct tape, which means at least 13-mils-thick with a tensile strength of 45 pounds (look for Polyken by Covalence Adhesives). Normal duct tape is weak, barely adhesive and readily delaminates.
With a black bag of just five items and the skill of a drunken surgeon you can repair even large, gaping gashes in whitewater hulls. | Photo: Peter Mather
Clean the torn area inside the hull and flip the canoe over so you can slide your camp stove under the canoe below the tear. Apply the duct tape to the inside once the damaged area is clean, dry and very warm. Applying the tape to the outside of the hull or to the inside if the hull isn’t warm is just a waste of great tape.
If your ABS canoe wraps on a rock in fast current your hull will likely only become hideously creased, but it is possible that the hull will rip in an even more dramatic way.
Assuming you can drag the carcass off the rock, the repair requires a spool of 19-gauge stainless steel wire (from most hardware stores) and a four-inch nail. Kick out the hull to its normal shape the best you can. Heat the nail and melt holes on either side of the tear, then stitch the boat together with the wire. Cover the fine stitching with proper duct tape on the inside after first warming the hull. With this unbraided stainless wire you can fix any number of things: seats, broken hanger bolts, thwarts, paddle shafts. Don’t leave it at home.
For chemists, there is a way to actually plug the hole left by a tear or puncture. Black ABS plumbing pipe will initially dissolve in acetone before setting to become hardened plastic once again. Before the trip, reduce a section of pipe to shavings with a rasp and pack a small amount of acetone in a can or padded glass jar. If you need to plug a hole on the trip, mix acetone and ABS shavings until they reach the consistency of gravy. Fill deep gashes with a few consecutive layers, allowing the acetone to evaporate and the ABS to harden between coats.
This gunk is about the only material you can use on the outside of ABS boats. Make your job easier by first backing it up with a warm application of duct tape on the inside.
With this tear kit you can float your way out of situations that would otherwise end your trip.
With this canoe repair kit you can float your way out of situations that would otherwise end your trip. | Feature photo: Brian Shields
12 Items for the Ultimate Canoe Repair Kit
1 Multi-tool with pliers
A multi-tool is invaluable for undoing various nuts on a canoe, pulling stainless steel thread, boring holes and tightening screws.
2 Nylon zip ties
Take an assortment of lengths of nylon zip ties. Repairs broken seats, thwarts and gunwales.
3 Stainless steel wire
Bring 19-gauge stainless steel wire on a flat card spool. A great substitute for bolts of any size.
4 Square of 80-grit sandpaper
For roughening surfaces to be glued.
5 Vinyl patches
Cut up old water toys for these pieces. Repairs almost any equipment with holes, from drybags to spraydecks.
6 GOOP
A tube of GOOP glue—that works as both an adhesive and a patch—will repair almost anything from tent flies to hiking boots. Include latex gloves for working with glue.
7 Aluminum tape
Aluminum tape is a very aggressive water resistant adhesive that sticks to anything and never comes off. Use for quick repairs on torn equipment, from hulls to rain gear.
8 Tent pole sleeve
A tent pole sleeve or splint slides over a broken pole, turning a tragedy into a non-event.
Heated over a fire or stove, this tiny tool will easily burn holes in a canoe hull. Thread your stainless steel wire through the holes and you can lace a severely damaged canoe hull.
10 Duct tape
Polyken by Covalence Adhesives has a tensile strength of 45 pounds. Pack no other.
11 Two-inch needle with large eye
For repairs on torn materials, from quick-dry pants to canvas Duluth packs. Bring thread.
This article originally appeared in Paddling Magazine Issue 65. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions here, or download the Paddling Magazine app and browse the digital archives here.
With this canoe repair kit you can float your way out of situations that would otherwise end your trip. | Feature photo: Brian Shields
A record 37.9 million participants engaged in paddlesports like kayaking, stand up paddleboarding, canoeing and more during the pandemic in 2020 according to the Outdoor Foundation. Kayakers and stand-up paddleboarders, like those seen here, represent the largest group and fastest growing group, respectively, of paddlesports participants. | Feature photo: Courtesy American Canoe Association
ORLANDO, Fla. – April 12, 2022 – A record 37.9 million participants engaged in paddlesports like kayaking, canoeing and stand-up paddleboarding during the pandemic according to the latest data (2020) from the Outdoor Foundation. This pandemic surge brought an estimated 2.5 million new paddlers to American waterways. However, it increased accidents to 331 and fatalities to 202—also a record—accounting for more than 26% of all boating fatalities that same year.
Water Sports Foundation (WSF) Executive Director Jim Emmons said boating in general is still one of the safest forms of recreation, but data from 2020, the most recent year for which complete data is available, indicates most paddlesports deaths occurred due to lack of safety training and experience.
“We know from analyzing U.S. Coast Guard data that in 2020, nearly three-quarters (74.6 percent) of people who died in paddling accidents had less than 100 hours experience in the activity,” Emmons said, “And over one-third (38.8 percent) had less than 10 hours experience.”
“People are drawn to paddlesports,” said Robin Pope, Ph.D., PA-C, Fellow, Academy of Wilderness Medicine and chairman of the board of directors of the American Canoe Association. “And why not? It’s fun, accessible and inexpensive. It’s easy to get your craft to the water, no license required, no marina fees, no fuel to buy and plenty of great exercise.”
While Pope supports greater participation, he’s also concerned that many newcomers to the sport simply don’t recognize the hazards.
“Data tells us most accidents happen in flatwater due to falling overboard or capsizing,” said Pope. “Untrained paddlers usually don’t know how to get back in once they’ve fallen out, aren’t wearing a life jacket and aren’t prepared for cold water exposure. It’s imperative that we help more paddlecraft purchasers take advantage of the many free and inexpensive safety education resources available to them.”
Emmons and Pope say sales associates rarely provide guidance or safety training, especially at stores selling entry-level paddle craft. And most states do not require the purchaser to take a boating safety course, as some states do for motorized vessels.
Walt Taylor, the Recreational Boating Specialist for the U.S. Coast Guard’s First District headquartered in Boston, believes a change in mindset would boost safety training while decreasing incidents and deaths.
A record 37.9 million participants engaged in paddlesports like kayaking, stand up paddleboarding, canoeing and more during the pandemic in 2020 according to the Outdoor Foundation. Kayakers and stand-up paddleboarders, like those seen here, represent the largest group and fastest growing group, respectively, of paddlesports participants. | Feature photo: Courtesy American Canoe Association
“Many paddlers do not consider themselves ‘boaters’ and therefore don’t realize they are required by law to obey navigation rules and carry the required safety equipment for their size and type of vessel,” said Taylor. “By taking a recognized paddle safety course, paddlers will learn the basics about navigation rules, aids to navigation, risk management, and required and recommended safety gear.”
Taylor said that in 2016, paddle craft fatalities in the First Coast Guard District, which includes Northern New Jersey, Eastern New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine, jumped to 29, or 53% of the district’s recreational boating fatalities for the year. Drowning after falling overboard or capsizing accounted for 27 of the 29 deaths, and 24 drowning victims were recovered not wearing a life jacket.
In response, Taylor said the First Coast Guard District intensified its focus on paddle craft safety through public safety outreach, paddling education courses and vessel safety checks, along with greater enforcement of federal requirements on paddle craft. These efforts contributed to a 34% decrease in paddle craft fatalities from 2016 to 2017 (19 paddling fatalities, down from 29), demonstrating the life-saving importance of paddling instruction.
Emmons recommended the following safety tips to help paddlers reduce risks:
1 Seek safety training
See the following free or inexpensive safety resources:
U.S. Coast Guard data shows 85 percent of all paddlesports drowning victims were not wearing a life jacket.
3 Be prepared to get wet
Dress appropriately for the conditions including the possibility of cold water exposure. Compared to other types of boating, in paddlesports you’re far more likely to end up in the water. Or as paddlers say, “We’re all between swims.”
4 Check conditions and weather forecast
Always check current weather conditions and the forecast before each paddle trip. Avoid conditions that exceed your experience and skill level. Water current and local winds could make it easy to get out and difficult to get back in.
5 File a float plan
Share a simple float plan with friends and family that includes your anticipated departure and return times and locations. Ask them to alert authorities if you are not back on time.
6 Always paddle sober
U.S. Coast Guard data shows alcohol has long been the leading known contributing factor in fatal boating accidents. Safe paddling requires clear thinking and good decision-making. Don’t drink and paddle.
About the Water Sports Foundation
Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, the Water Sports Foundation is the non-profit educational arm of the Water Sports Industry Association (WSIA.net). Since 2011, the WSF has received U.S. Coast Guard boating and paddling safety outreach funding through their non-profit grant program. The Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund administered through Congressional action provides funding for the U.S. Coast Guard’s recreational boating safety initiatives. For more information contact the WSF at 407-719-8062 or visit: www.watersportsfoundation.com
When you’re nervous, anxious, or fearful, you don’t perform at your best. But you already knew that. When we start to envision the worst-case scenario, our bodies stiffen up and we lose sight of our well-ingrained knowledge of proper skill and technique. Our negative energy is almost magnetic, too. When visualizing failure over success, failure often follows.
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Water is inherently scary–you also knew that. Coupled with the many ocean variables–capsizing in shallow water, navigating rock gardens, paddling through unpredictable waves, surges, and hydraulics–it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with fear while sea kayaking.
Advanced paddler Kayak Hipster offers up his advice for dealing with–and overcoming–fear on the water in a number of different scenarios.
A confident and skilled instructor can help put you at ease. You’ll be encouraged to push your boundaries and try things that make you uncomfortable, with the knowledge that you’re learning in a safer, supervised environment.
Pace Yourself
Pacing will look different for every paddler. Kayak Hipster opts to play around in smaller waves to get comfortable in the boat before approaching larger sets of waves. He spends time holding his spot, sitting sideways to the wave and back surfing on small waves.
It’s not about having the perfect conditions every time. It’s important to get out and practice at every opportunity. Some low-tide activities include rolling, forward strokes, racing, and other basic strokes. The more time spent in your kayak, the more comfortable you will be when trickier situations arise.
Use Appropriate Safety Gear
Wearing the appropriate gear helps you overcome most all things the ocean can throw at you. It’s a great idea to sport a helmet for activities like rock gardening and always wear a drysuit and appropriate thermal layering to suit the conditions you’re in. The correct safety equipment is one variable you can completely control.
Visualize Your Next Move
Visualize what might happen in every scenario you enter. This means thinking ahead of time about what you might do if something happens to you. For example, if you’re going to get hit by a wave, visualize what it’ll be like being upside down and imagine how you’ll roll-up. Or, envision the steps you need to follow to make a wet exit from your boat should your roll fail you.
Tripping alone raises the stakes, so here’s how to hedge your bets. | Feature photo: Paul Epp
Solo trippers don’t have partners to lean on when things go wrong. To paddle alone you need to be prepared and attentive to every detail, because the consequences of mistakes or accidents are totally different from group tripping. Here are some tips on staying safe when solo canoe tripping in the wilderness.
A ditch kit is a fanny pack of essential safety gear you should wear at all times. It contains everything you need to survive for a few days should you become separated from the rest of your gear. Include items like matches, emergency blanket, compass, fishing hooks and line, pen flare, knife and a personal locator beacon.
2 Tether your canoe
Tether your canoe to shore anytime you step out of it. Tether even if it is up on shore and overturned. If your loaded canoe takes a run on a river with steady current or blows away from an island campsite, you can quickly become a modern day Robinson Crusoe.
Tripping alone raises the stakes, so here’s how to hedge your bets. | Feature photo: Paul Epp
3 Bear spray and bangers
The chances of encountering a problem bear in the backcountry are minimal, but without a group to help intimidate the bear, you’ll be glad for backup.
Before setting out, fill out and distribute a detailed float plan or itinerary. It should include your route, when you expect to be back and the color of your canoe and tent. If you don’t return on time, authorities will have a good idea of who they’re looking for and where to find you. Leave copies with two people you trust and in your car.
5 Know when to walk
With nobody coming to rescue you or your gear if you dump, evaluate rapids conservatively. It shouldn’t be too hard to check your ego and hit the trail. After all, no one’s watching.
6 Pack a satellite communicator
This could be your only ticket home if you become immobile when alone.
A ditch kit should contain everything you need to survive for a few days—including some way to start fires. | Photo: Jeremy Bishop/Unsplash
7 Don’t forget to eat
Stay well nourished to stay strong and in a good frame of mind. A group shares the workload, but alone you’re battling headwinds yourself, carrying all the gear, doing all the cooking, all the cleaning and all the packing. Plan on eating 25 percent more food, and even more if traveling early or late in the year.
Waking up with your heart pounding each time a mouse slowly circles your tent is no way to stay well rested. Steel yourself for the amplifying effects of solitude by paying attention to nocturnal sounds when camping with the security of a tentmate. Be mindful of how many noises there are at night, so you won’t be too surprised by your heightened perception when you are, you hope, the only human for miles.
This article originally appeared in Paddling Magazine Issue 65. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions here, or download the Paddling Magazine app and browse the digital archives here.
Tripping alone raises the stakes, so here’s how to hedge your bets. | Feature photo: Paul Epp
Are you even a whitewater paddler if you haven’t had a near-miss experience with a commercial raft? Safety kayakers, for obvious reasons, often find themselves in close quarters with these rafts–ready to sweep up escapee clients who’ve taken accidental swims down the river.
The waterfall featured in this video is Tutea Falls, a 7-meter-high waterfall on the Kaituna River in New Zealand. The stretch has been given a class V rating due to the 3 tall waterfalls it features. Tutea Falls is the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world, regularly attracting adventure-seeking visitors from around the globe.
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On this occasion, a Rotorua Rafting safety kayaker was in for more than his daily near-collision with the raft. Instead, we watch the raft come barrelling down the falls and land directly on the poor fellow.
It takes an uncomfortably long time for the guide and clients to realize the boater is actually buried under their raft. It’s only after the guide and clients have all cheered at the camera, paddles raised, that the kayaker awkwardly re-emerges and rolls up.
Sushi makes a great, versatile backcountry meal. Sushi prepared ahead of time is a quick and elegant meal on the first night of a trip. Or, you can carry ingredients to whip up a gourmet sushi feast mid-camping trip.
Although some sushi combinations use raw fish, there are many others that use an array of ingredients ranging from cooked fish to vegetables. Nori maki is made by placing sushi rice on top of a thin sheet of dry, roasted seaweed called nori, adding some fillings and rolling it up. The roll is then sliced into pieces and served with four other essential ingredients: soy sauce, pickled ginger, wasabi horseradish paste, and sake (rice wine) or green tea.
Sushi prepared ahead of time is a quick and elegant meal on the first night of a camping trip. | Feature photo: iStock
The pickled ginger, wasabi, green tea and nori leaves are available in most grocery stores. Pickled ginger often comes in small plastic pouches that are easy to pack. The sake can be purchased at most liquor stores.
Rice
You can buy special sushi rice but any short grained rice will work in a pinch—Kokuho Rose is a common brand. Boil the rice according to the instructions on the package (typically three cups water to two cups rice). Remove rice from heat and let cool covered with a damp cloth. Don’t worry, the rice is supposed to be sticky. Mix 4 tbsp of sugar with 4 tbsp rice vinegar and 2 tsp salt and heat gently until sugar and salt are dissolved, then cool and mix with the rice. Set rice aside to cool.
Fillings
Wash the vegetables and cut all your ingredients into long thin strips. Carrots especially should be very thin—like linguine. You can use any combo of fish, egg and/or crab with your veggie strips. If you have fresh salmon, cut the fillets into thin strips with the skin still on and marinade them in some soy sauce, rice vinegar and a bit of sugar. Fry the fish strips in oil at high heat until crisp. Smoked salmon and imitation crab can simply be cut into long, thin strips. Whisk eggs and fry them on both sides like a pancake, and then cut this into long, thin strips.
To make sushi on an extended trip, try vacuum packed smoked salmon, canned smoked oysters or mussels—or even fish that you catch yourself, for safety you should cook it first. For veggies try dehydrated pepper strips, sun dried tomatoes or longer-lasting fresh vegetables like carrots, sweet potatoes or cabbage. Use your imagination to create your own kayak roll.
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The art of the roll
Some people swear you can’t roll sushi without a bamboo sushi-rolling mat, but I find a clean cutting board works fine. The first step is to dampen the nori to make it flexible—moisten a tea towel and cover the nori sheets for a few minutes. The optional mayonnaise can be spread thinly on the entire surface of the nori sheet. The next step is to use your fingers and spread a half-centimeter thick layer of rice over the nori sheet, leaving just an inch or two uncovered at one end. The rice is very sticky so one trick is to have a small bowl of water nearby to wet your fingers.
Now lay the fillings on the rice along one end of the sheet. Begin to roll while holding the fillings tightly in the center with your fingers. Once you have a nice tight roll, seal the edge of the nori by moistening it with some water from the bowl.
If you are going to eat the sushi later, store the rolls in plastic wrap or a container. When you are ready to eat, just slice the rolls into several sections and serve with a small bowl of soy sauce, a dab of wasabi, some pickled ginger and a nice warm glass of sake.
When you are ready to eat, just slice the rolls into several sections and serve. | Photo: Louis Hansel/Unsplash
Basic Maki Sushi Recipe
8 to 10 rolls = 3 to 4 very happy campers
2 cups sushi rice
1 package of roasted nori seaweed (10 sheets)
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1–2 carrots
1 bunch of green onions
1 cucumber
200 g package of smoked salmon or 500 g fresh salmon fried in thin strips
350 g package of imitation crabmeat
2 eggs
Rice vinegar
Wasabi paste
Pickled ginger
Soy sauce
Salt
Mayonnaise (optional)
This article originally appeared in Paddling Magazine Issue 65. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions here, or download the Paddling Magazine app and browse the digital archives here.
Sushi prepared ahead of time is a quick and elegant meal on the first night of a camping trip. | Feature photo: iStock
The cross-forward stroke is one of the most helpful strokes used by solo canoeists. | Feature photo: Andrew Westwood
The cross-forward stroke is one of the most helpful strokes used by solo canoeists, even though it’s looked down upon by some traditionalists who don’t like the look of a paddle swinging over the canoe. It is a powerful tool to counter the forward stroke’s tendency to veer the canoe toward the offside during quick starts. The cross forward can also be used to paddle around a curve to your offside.
The power of the cross-forward stroke comes from thrusting the hips toward the paddle. A hip thrust resembles the same motion you would use if you were sitting in a chair and wanted to move closer to the kitchen table.
The hip thrust is a slow movement and if the canoe is already moving you can use a quicker variation of this stroke by only employing arms. Though weaker, stroking with just arms will let you keep up with a moving canoe as it carves a turn to your offside, so you can maintain forward momentum and avoid spinning out.
5 steps to complete the cross-forward stroke
1 Switch to your offside
Begin the cross-forward by placing the paddle on the offside of your canoe. Bend forward at the waist to increase your reach and to enable your hips to add power to the stroke.
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2 Reach forward for power
Your top hand should reach beyond your knee and the shaft hand should reach even further toward the bow. Both hands should be over the gunwale. Power comes from thrusting your hips toward the paddle.
3 Pull the paddle vertical
As the stroke progresses, use your top hand to push the paddle grip forward and the shaft hand to pull the paddle into a vertical position. Both hands finish the stroke near the knee. Since this may be an awkward motion at first, make sure you are warmed up before you try it.
4 Twist and return to onside
For the recovery, twist your top hand thumb a quarter-turn toward the bow. This rotates the blade’s power face parallel to the hull so that you can easily lift the paddle, edge-first, out of the water and back over to your onside.
Alternatively, you may decide to turn the blade and slice it along the hull, keeping it in the water so you can repeat the cross-forward stroke.
This article originally appeared in Canoeroots and Family Camping, Fall 2007 and Paddling Magazine Issue 65. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions here, or download the Paddling Magazine app and browse the digital archives here.
The cross-forward stroke is one of the most helpful strokes used by solo canoeists. | Feature photo: Andrew Westwood
For tandem canoeists, this parallel rescue is a great one to practice and learn because it can be adapted for a variety of situations. It is the fastest, simplest way of getting an overturned canoe upright and drained.
If you are in swift-flowing water, it is very useful to be able to right a capsized boat with both boats parallel with the bank to avoid broaching. You can also get the swimmer out of the water and into your boat first, where they can have a breather and even help you with the curl.
Two canoeists work together to empty a flipped, red canoe in a marshy bay. | Photo: Leo Hoare
How to do a parallel canoe rescue
Words by Leo Hoare
The rescue appears precarious with the rescuer standing and seeming to lift a boat full of water. You need to do it carefully to protect your back. If you perform it hastily or unskilfully you are likely to do yourself some damage. Use this rescue only if the situation makes it clearly the best choice. Once you learn the proper technique, however, you’ll realize that the boat you are holding acts as a balancing aid, making the rescue very stable. Even the slightest of paddlers can master the parallel rescue if they understand the key: you are not lifting, but tipping the water out.
Make contact with the swimmer(s) and either get them into your boat or holding onto the side. In moving water or strong wind, make sure they are on the upstream or upwind side of your boat.
Approach the capsized canoe so it is parallel to your boat, making sure to keep your body square on so you’re not twisting for the next steps. Kneel on one knee (rifleman stance) in the center of your canoe, reach down and grab the near gunwale of the capsized boat with your fingers on the inside and your thumbs on the outside.
Keep your back STRAIGHT throughout, use your leg muscles to stand up.
As you stand, slowly and smoothly raise the gunwale until it rests on your own gunwale, sliding it upwards and allowing the canoe to drain.
Don’t worry about the last little bit of water—this can be bailed later. Extending your arms from the curl position, flick the boat away from you.
Immediately drop down into kneeling stance again and grab the now-upright canoe.
Assist the paddler(s) back into their boat.
Tip: Looking straight ahead, rather than down, will encourage you to keep your back straight.
And that really is it—this is the fast, dirty rescue that works. If it takes you more than 10 seconds once you’ve mastered the technique, then you’re doing it incorrectly. Practice in different conditions so you have the parallel rescue in your toolkit when you need it.
The day the teddy bear got his picnic. | Photo: istockphoto.com
Generally, bears would like to avoid an encounter with you as much as you would like to avoid an encounter with them. In fact, you’re more likely to be hit by lightning than mauled by a bear—the 750,000 black bears in North America kill less than one person per year on average, despite tens of thousands of human-bear interactions.
Bear spray is the most effective deterrent and works more than 90 percent of the time. Just don’t apply as a preventative spray to your tent, it actually attracts bears when not used properly. The steps you can take to deter a bear apply to black bears and grizzly bears.
Generally, bears would like to avoid an encounter with you as much as you would like to avoid an encounter with them. | Photo: Paxson Woelber/Unsplash
Avoid bear encounters
Make noise when moving through the woods by talking or singing.
Travel in groups.
Keep your campsite clean.
If a bear sees you and doesn’t run away
Make sure the bear has an escape route, since leaving is probably what it wants to do.
Speak in a calm voice to identify yourself as a human.
If with other people, remain in a tight group.
Back away slowly, preferably in the direction you came.
Stand your ground. Most charges are bluffs and a bear may bluff charge multiple times.
The majority of attacks by grizzly bears are defensive attacks involving a sow protecting her cubs. A defensive attack is likely to be brief. The best you can do is protect your head, neck and belly. Very rarely, predacious bears may attack someone looking for a meal. Fight back with all possible means, targeting the bear’s face and eyes. Visit the Get Bear Smart Society to learn how to recognize the difference between a defensive attack and a predacious one.
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This article appeared in Canoeroots & Family Camping, Spring 2009 and in Paddling Magazine Issue 65. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions here, or download the Paddling Magazine app and browse the digital archives here.
The day the teddy bear got his picnic. | Feature photo: iStock
