It definitely does…
So does having a crew on shore taking video. In some runs they start off with gear in the boat, and in the next shot the gear magically disappears. Still, it is a great video.
Yup
But you still need to know how to do an eddy turn, peal out, side slip, front/back ferry for all the unexpected stuff that might come up.
I’ll have to watch the gear more closely
I seem to remember that the boat is empty on the solo run, and I figured they were carrying the gear around. I’ll have to see if there are any other places where it happens and there’s no logical explanation.
One thing I like about this video is that even though everyone always talks about eddy turns being a way to pause in rapids, or to get off the river in situations where there would be no other way, this shows how an eddy turn can be the only way to set up some other crucial move.
…agreed, it’s always good to keep
those abilities to peel the bow out and maintain really relaxed hips and upperbody for whenever it would be the best move.
Not being critical
Just an observation since other have commented on the difference between paddling a loaded and unloaded canoe. Either way, they do some nice paddling. It definitely shows how you put different moves together to get down the river.
The more skills you have
the better off you will be as long as you keep in your mind that the #1 thing is to do things cautiously when you are out in the pucker brush and as long as you are honest with yourself about the skill level of the entire crew as a whole.
Nothing to do with the original post
but I was just watching Bill Mason’s Waterwalker and was amazed by the whitewater paddling that begins at 46:00. Wow - that is amazing paddling in a big tandem boat.
http://www.nfb.ca/film/waterwalker
nice! jet ferries, surfin in big tandems
with no flotation!
And CCM hockey helmets
Gotta like it…
that Chestnut Prospector = ideal manu-
verability.
I had a 16’ w/c prospector
– Last Updated: Feb-03-16 7:16 AM EST –
built for me two years ago by Hugh Stewart, Headwaters Canoe. It is very well built on an original Chestnut form. Great canoe. I love it. I think that Mr. Mason actually paddled a Chestnut Pal most of the time, not a Prospector. Sadly, I may have to sell my Prospector to help pay for an upcoming northern trip. I think this could well be my last northern trip. We'll see. But, it is comforting knowing that there is at least one builder (and he has younger folks building with him) still putting out these lovely hulls in wood and canvas.
I think younger paddlers could learn a lot about the beauty and grace of the natural world by watching that video. I know it is dated. But goodness we have gone over the top with banana boats and flotation and carbon fiber. I worry that the spirit of the wilderness traveler is getting lost in all of it.
Floatation
Pretty sure that they were using inner-tubes in the white water segment. The kids and I watched the film again right after I saw this post. Beautiful film regardless of its age. If the opening scene doesn’t stir one’s soul, he or she has lost all connection with nature. I think the film was to be a wake up call some thirty years ago. The content is even more relevant today.
Agree
– Last Updated: Feb-03-16 8:37 AM EST –
The sport has blossomed, diversified, specialized. That's not a bad thing, IMHO, but the beauty of those days and the traditions that are at the root of this sport tend to get lost, or at least fade a bit.
Waterwalker always takes me back to early northern trips with my family and is something I always refer back to in the winter when the paddling slows or stops around here. With it up on the internet, there's just no excuse not to watch it occasionally. Beautiful film. As good a paddler as Bill Mason was, I think he was a better film maker.
Another guy who I associate with that time period and who spoke to the question of running whitewater in loaded tripping canoes is Sig Olson who lived and guided in the BWCA before he took up writing. This bit comes to mind:
"Only fools run rapids, say the Indians, but I know this: as long as there are young men with the light of adventure in their eyes and a touch of wildness in their souls, rapids will be run. And when I hear tales of smashed canoes and lives as well, though I join in the chorus of condemnation of the fools who take such chances, deep in my heart I understand and bid them bon voyage. I have seen what happens when food and equipment are lost far from civilization and I know what it takes to traverse a wilderness where there are no trails but the waterways themselves. The elements of chance and danger are wonderful and frightening to experience and, though I bemoan the recklessness of youth, I wonder what the world would be like without it. I know it is wrong, but I am for the spirit that makes young men do the things they do. I am for the glory that they know."
Never owned a w/c Prospector (or Pal) but the royalex NovaCraft version is also an amazingly maneuverable canoe, especially considering its size. Plenty of free board, too.
Some of us are whitewater paddlers first and wilderness canoe trippers second. Others seem to have those priorities reversed. (No "right" and "wrong" in those approaches, just different.) A guy (from Rushing River ONT., if I recall correctly) who used to post here and who seemed to me to be of the latter group once posted, "Its usually better to regret having made a portage than to regret having run a rapid." I think perhaps there's some wisdom in that idea, though I don't usually do it.
A blast from the past - back in the day when we use to actually use to post about paddling. Hasn’t been a good debate like this in a while. I did enjoy rereading this one.
Some of us are both whitewater paddlers and wilderness trippers and we vary our approach depending on the situation we find ourselves in including the load we are carrying, the skill of our crew, the remoteness of the location and the load we are carrying.
Reminds me of running 5 Fingers Rapids on the Yukon… the current is some 10-12 mph and there is a big eddy on the right. The eddy line is so strong that a flip is quite possible with that differential of speed. Its in a wilderness setting… That is one you just want to run and hope you don’t ship a lot of water in with the one meter standing waves.
That is one eddy I would never want to find myself on a collision course with.
The main thing is you have to know your strokes. You have to have some timing and initiate everything a little earlier in a loaded boat. It helps a lot to have a larger tripping boat with plenty of rocker. Don’t overload it.
Jerry Nyre from Denver was the first guy to really open my eyes about skills with a paddle. He could control even an 18 foot canoe with a straight keel in rapids from the bow seat. The vast majority of canoeists are not that skilled.