H’mmmm…
Seems to me I know a kayaker who yelled “hut” in a race once !
If you really want to see something funny, get yourself among a bunch of tandem racers in the first several hundred yards of a race.
You’ll hear several times: “no, no, no, that wasn’t me that called the hut”
Been there, done that!
cheers,
JackL
understand
I went from an SOT for fishing to a solo canoe and you want to talk about stability problems! Try lowering the seats on your canoe to get your center of gravity lower. Get the double blade if that makes you feel more relaxed until you get the stability under control. It’s not the canoe it’s you, unfortunately. Go out and make sure you have relaxed hips while keeping your torso and head centered. After a while you’ll feel more comfortable and will enjoy your trips more.
Switching sides to brace
Do I understand that you were in a canoe and felt tippy, and couldn’t brace to your offside?
Well, first off, first-timers in small solo canoes almost always say they feel like they are going to roll right over. Even people with plenty of kayak experience are often taken aback by the “feeling” that the canoe is very delicately centered. You’ll get over that feeling. Learn to keep your body loose, and centered, and the canoe will not tip over, and many canoes can be leaned so far that you start taking water over the side yet they are still in no danger of tipping, IF you are in control.
Second, if you learn to use a single-blade paddle well, you can brace against rolling in either direction without switching sides. It’s harder to learn to brace against tipping to your offside, but once you learn how, it works just fine (one way is a “high brace”, as Bill Mason and other traditionalists would do, and the other is a “gunwale pry”, the method taught by the McGuffins).
I’ve done it often; HOWEVER,…
you’ll need a longer paddle.
Nothing is betterfor pushing a heavily laden canoe (as opposed to a Ben Laden canoe), across
a big lake in a wind.
Get a medium sized blade so that
your wife doesn’t wreck her arms and shoulders. I use a touring type blade for flat water and a wider,stiffer blade for class I and II. The big double enders may be ok for the guys, but us ladies need something that puts less torque on our joints and muscles.
BTW—If she’s flailing away in the bow, you’ll probably get wet, too. :^)
great timing on this post
Im also new to a solo canoe and have experienced the higher center of gravity problem not found in my kestral… ive lowered the seat (last night) and will use both a double bladed and a bent shaft paddle while getting used to my new friend…hoping to eventully graduate to a old fashion straight shaft paddle… ill probably get wet a few times but what the hell…
I think that after spousie gets wet down
from a trip or two with a double bladed paddle, she will appreciate single blading in the bow.
My wife often uses a double blade to solo our canoes, but has never asked to use one while out on a windy lake.
What’s sauce for the goose…
I bring this up because the “using a kayak paddle in a canoe” discussion always has a certain “Benedict Arnold” undercurrent to it! In the current issue of SeaKayaker Magazine there is a terrific article by Brian Day (whom we know here in Wisconsin as a very accomplished paddler) on the value of using a bent-shaft canoe paddle to paddle long distances in your sea kayak. Don’t dismiss his “traitorous” thoughts until you read the article, 'cause he’ll really open your eyes with some of his techniques.
Been in canoes for over 20 years,
and I know there’s many others with many more years.
Point is just got into some kayaking, and now use kayak paddles most of time in canoes and kayaks.
I think a lightweight kayak paddle is more efficient all around. A heavy kayak paddle will tax and tire you fast, but that’s true for canoe paddles too.
A big natural advantage of the kayak paddle is that you already have a paddle on each side, so there is no energy and time wasted in switching sides.
Good luck and Happy Paddling!
We decided
to take the high road, and learn to paddle a canoe. We’ll have plenty of time for kayak paddles this summer when we buy kayaks, but right now, we have a canoe, so we need to learn to use it. Thanks for all the help and suggestions!
Since I brought this whole thing up, I almost feel bad about deciding against the double blade, but, I bought a canoe in the first place, because I like the traditionalist look of it. Seems everyone these days is in a Kayak, I kinda like doing the old fashioned thing. So, we signed up for a 3 day “Canoe School” with the Arkansas Canoe Club next weekend. Ironically, we are the only tandem canoe, and one of only 3 canoes total registerd for canoe school (out of some 50+ boats coming!)I guess we’re just living in a kayak world!
Congrats!
My wife and I paddled 14 miles in our tandem canoe yesterday using the traditional method.
We have paddled so long together that the canoe basically goes by itself.
It takes a lot of time to learn all the strokes, so don’t try to hurry it.
I am not sure how much you will learn at the class, but I think the most graceful craft on the water is a tandem canoe with two experienced paddlers paddling in sync doing “sit and switch”.
We are also kayak paddlers and in my estimation kayaks should be paddled with kayak paddles, and canoes should be either paddled with single blade paddles or poled.
I wish you were in this neck of the woods I would invite you to join us on the local lake.
Cheers,
JackL
there are no canoe police
You betcha I use a double blade. Sometimes there are those trips that no matter what direction you go there is wind in your face.
And sometimes no campsites for many miles.
(The Boundary Waters Area is way south of where I go)
The wonderful thing about the canoe is that you can propel it by many methods(Lets exclude the gasoline motor!)
The most graceful thing to do tandem isnt hit and switch. Sometimes its the most practical. Try tandem FreeStyle.
www.freestylecanoeing.com
I have been paddling with my husband for many years. We are not divorced. One of the things we are finding out that with old age we can paddle further each day…even with portages. We now can knock off 12 miles in a morning and an average day of 22 miles. This is with single blades.
Has anyone tried a GP in a canoe? The sliding stroke actually works …
So what are you trying to say ?
- to each his own!
never heard of “HIT and switch”
Is that where the stern paddler bops the bow paddler on the head which means it is now time to switch?
Cheers,
JackL
not funny then JackL
When you are gasping for breath, Can’t see because of the sweat pouring into your eyes, it isn’t possible to tell one hut from another.
Its like using dynamite for fishing…
…its just wrong.
[-:
Kayak paddle in a canoe?
Can’t be done by definition. If you use a double-bladed paddle in a canoe, then it is clearly a double-bladed canoe paddle.
whatever
Do what you want. You’re doing it. Personally, I use a single blade always. Almost got a double blade one for soloing, but the J stroke works just fine solo or tandem. Always thought a yak paddle in a canoe would be too hard on my arms in the long run. Up away from my body too much compared to a more natural stroke with a single blade (this is when in a canoe). If you get one it needs to be 8 or 9 feet.
we have recycled this one over and
etc.
but it does not necessarily have to be that long.
A db canoe stroke is low and shortlike a GP stroke and depending on the shape of a paddle and the gunwale width at the paddling station and the boatdepth a 240 can do nicely.
Just as in kayaking its all about the torso.
I think it was a typo…
…was supposed to be $hit and switch. This is where you switch seats with your partner after you have a little “accident” in the boat,