St Charles club
Thank you Tracy! Last Wednesday I went to meet people of the St Charles Canoe Club, but they were already out on the water. Will try to see if I can meet somebody this Wednesday.
Also, do you know good place for practice? Only place I know for beginner is Busse Woods. Fox River looks little bit early, but may be I don't know good shallow spot?
Thank you Jeff-B for the great link to NFB.ca!
Dmitry , one thing about the Penob. …
....... she is a fine canoe , but she also has the ability to be "heeled" (leaned) over fairly hard to either side . That particulat ability is one of the things which gives it higher performance than a strickily flat bottom canoe ... that heeling (leaning) ability is also refered to as having a greater "secondary stability" . The floats will impede your being able to exersise that higher performance ability for awhile , until you are ready to move on to a slightly more advanced paddling technique , at which time you will enjoy being able hold (ballance) a small to large heel (lean) and use it in your favor during turning manuvers (heeling ability is a good thing when you are ready to begin working on it some ... no need to rush , but remember the Penob. has that design feature built into her ... she likes to be heeled and held there in turns) .
Please just promise me this one thing ... since you are beginning to enter deeper waters already (good on you) , that you will have your PFD adjusted up extra right just for your shape (snug all around) , and be wearing it always . The proper snugness is as important as wearing it . If you have it fitted to loose and you are in the water depending on it , they will try to ride up around your head , like it is trying to hang you ... so give a good snug adjustment , and then test it out in water over your head before going to much farther ... after that intial adjust to your shape and first test out , you'll know without doubt you will be able to depend on it if ever needed .
You're doing just fine ... have a great time , it's all going to just be like a light bulb turning on in short order ... you be able to lean , turn , paddle and cover all the moves without a second thought before you know it .
If any of these folks give you hard time ... just punch em in the eye ... they won't feel a thing .
Congratulations!
On your 1st day of not dumping your new canoe. Keep up the enthusiasm and the practice.
Follow up Tracy’s suggestion below and take advantage of some of the canoeing instruction available in the Chicago area. The Prairie State Canoeists have some beginning instruction a couple times a year.
Just a quick bit of advice to add.
The Penobscot has less primary stability (feels kind of loose when moved slightly away from level) and more secondary stability ( stiffens up when you get the gunwales closer to the water).
The most stable position to paddle from is with your rear on the seat and knees on the hull, spread apart. Your body effectively has three points of contact to the canoe this way and your center of gravity is effectively lowered. This might feel a bit uncomfortable at first, but as previously mentioned, pads for your knees will go a long way.
When in the boat, you need to keep your nose over your belly button. This keeps your center of gravity inside the boat. As soon as you lean your CG over the gunwales or more, you’ll start to go over. The key to this is getting your “sea hips”. Over time, you’ll get the feel of it and your nose’ll stay over your belly button no matter what the boat is doing underneath you.
A good way to learn this is to paddle to a shallow area and slowly lean the boat to the left and right with your hips/lower body while keeping your upper body upright. This will help teach you how to disconnect your upper body movement from your lower body and the boat. You’ll also learn how the boat stiffens up (how hard it pushes back ) and how far is too far.
This might sound daunting, but really, body balance is learned pretty quickly. Standing upright and walking is a bigger balancing act than staying in a canoe. It’s all about learning how the boat feels and trusting how it will respond. Canoes aren’t unstable, but until they learn the mechanics, some people are.
I’d get rid of those sponsons ASAP, they’ll just prolong an important learning phase if you come to rely on them.
Doug