C-Forum

The first canoe with an electric pump I saw was in the late 1980s on the Ocoee. The guy who had this set up called it the EZBailer and he would offer to sell the components. He had an EZBailer sticker on the side of the Whitesell Piranha he paddled. I don't remember the guys name. Years later I hea...

As an ancient, I can't help resurrecting this thread. Why not use a pump? Weight, hassle, but most importantly, it is inconsistent with my view of the ancient sport of open canoe paddling. To me, it's not such a different question as using an electric motor to attain upstream. Moreover, pumps are no...

Jakke, I don't mean to take this thread off topic, but I think I have a pretty good handle on single blading in the USA. It's dying - along with single blade technique and available hulls. Kayaks and double blading are dominant in all flat and white water venues. In my experience, many FW canoeists ...

What's a "pitch-stroke"? You WW guys just have to paddle more FW. After all, many great WW runs end with miles of that flat stuff. See Tugaloo, Lake. You can correct the off-side yaw of a forward stroke at four places during the stroke: at entry, during the pull, at exit, or during the recovery. Th...

This is the first picture I ever recall seeing of an open canoe ender. It's Bob Foote in a Mad River ME, possibly in Burnt Ranch Gorge, sometime in the early or mid-80's. Who need decks when you have length?

I remember you well, Bruce. I mean, how many guys have I met who soloed a Hydra Duet and practiced rolling at the bottom of Soup Strainer. I haven't been paddling any real whitewater for about 10 years nor anything in Reno, Nevada, recently. One of the reasons I used to lead trips every spring and f...

I knew John well in the 80's. I bought two canoes from him, took instruction from him on the Hudson and Schroon, and corresponded and visited with him on and off for years. I wrote him a check for an ME on a piece of minicell foam, which I suggested he glue on a Perception saddle so it would always ...

Here are two videos that illustrate the two different pitch turning techniques. This is Karen Knight turning in flatwater freestyle technique with stern slides that are enhanced by subtle and aggressive down pitching of the bow. See especially her nose ender turn at 2:20. The canoe is a Bell Flashfi...

Perhaps I should let Harold Deal's published writing speak for itself regarding turning the Shaman. Perhaps I have misunderstood him. Here is how he describes turning technique in the Shaman hull design: "Outstanding bow control can be achieved by combining knee pressure and appropriate stroke place...

Let me clarify that I am not asking about "heeling" the canoe laterally on turns, whether to the outside or inside of the turn. Of course, everyone is going to heel one way or the other to turn in all open boats, on both flat and white water. I'm only asking about fore-aft longitudinal pitching. Hav...

This is a question about both open boat design and open boat turning technique in whitewater. The question is do you pitch the boat bow down, stern down, or keep the boat level on turns -- meaning eddy turns, peel outs, and any sort of pivots on current differentials? As background to this question,...

Interesting and nostalgic topic. The biggest change is the rapid Darwinian advance of kayaks on both white and flat water, and the near extinction of the canoe. 1950's in Maine: Canoes in front of almost every house and cottage on every water body. Never saw a kayak except in a picture book about Es...

I realize this a whitewater forum but, historically, the designer and boat builder who effectively created the sport of canoeing in the US, and dominated it for 40 years, was Henry Rushton. In modern times, Dave Yost is the most prolific canoe designer. Over the past 30 years, DY has has designed mo...

I've had an Al Camp (the original owner) lightweight wood-foam bent shaft for about 20 years, which I use on flatwater. Camp made probably the lightest wood paddle until the marathon world invented carbon. Very reasonably priced.

Now that I've bought a ZRE ... well ... time to go to confession.

Tragic. Here is a picture from a local paper of rescuers rappelling down to the base of Great Falls on the Housatonic, where a bunch of high school students decided to go swimming. The Hous was at very high levels, about 4000 cfs, due to lots of rain here. Two students were rescued from the many sco...