I would like to know how good Wenonah Escape is to paddle solo if center seat is added?
Is it possible to paddle Escape as solo with J-stroke or is hit’n’switch technique required?
Pete
Escape solo
I’ve done it with ours a few times, you’ll want to be aware that that is a lot of boat to handle by yourself if it gets very windy. You won’t be able to paddle hit-and-switch. The boat is too wide at the center. However, it paddles fine with traditional strokes.
Escapade vs. Escape
For a boat more adept at the tandem to solo shift you might consider the Escapade. The boat is pinched and so should offer a center paddler better access to the water.
escape as solo
– Last Updated: Mar-25-04 8:25 AM EST –
I also paddle a escape and have tried to paddle it solo and it is really tough to do in the wind. I also found it is to wide in the center I kept hitting the gunnels with my hand or the paddle. I do love the canoe as a tandem with which is the primary reason that I purchased it.
Escapade
is the one to consider for a tandem/solo. As the others have said the Escape is alot of hull to paddle from the center. It is not especially wide for a 17’6" canoe, but it is deep and that means getting the paddle way up in the air on switches. The 17’Jensen is much easier to solo, and the Escapade is shorter and narrower than the Jensen. As a tandem the Escape is as stated, a great boat. But that long straight keel line is a handful to turn solo. And the deep hull catches a lot of wind when its blowing.
Having a 17 Jensen i am in the middle, slower by a tick than the Escape and with less carrying capacity, and not as nimble as the Escapade. But all three are great canoes and the Small differences are only significant in comparing the three. Any one of them is easier to solo than a 169 Discovery, and any of them will outdistance 90% of the available 16’6" to 17’6" canoes.
Bill
we no nah
I have not paddled an escape but have tried to paddle a minn2 solo. Fortunatly it was just across a small bay in jackfish lake. It was not something I am egar to do again. My Dad bought a 16’6" foot Echo 23 years ago. I solo in it resting my butt against the 2nd thwart. It works well enough. I have run small rivers in it and had it on lakes many times. Sometimes when the wind picks up it is a terror. Just too much boat. I have found that a longer pddle makes life easier. I normally paddle flatwater with a 50 inch bent shaft but change to a 57 inch straight or 60 inch beavertail for soloing. It gives me more leverage. Fortunatly my fist solo, a Vagabond is ordered and will show up in a few weeks.
Minn II & Echo
These two boats do appear to share a lineage with the new Escapade. The Escapade seems to share the efficiency as a smaller sibling of the Minn II and as a solo it’s a bit more refined cousin of the Echo. Hence a good choice for the person who’d primarily tandem but also wishes a capable solo. If a paddler will primarily solo but requires a boat that can tandem when lightly loaded then the Solo Plus might be a better choice.