C-Forum

So I went paddling with a local club here- we did the middle channel on the Ottawa. Out of 40 boats I was the only C1. There was one open boat (tandem).

What gives? Are C-boats drying up? fading away? or are just more people getting into kayaking therefore tilting the scales?

Someone mentioned that open-boat culture is alive and well in Quebec. Is that it? why?

Gonzo, Keez, 1-blade -

lemme know when you're coming to Ottawa - would be good to paddle w/ some wholesome single bladers. (you're wholesome by merit of the single-blade, perhaps other stuff...? )

The canoe club I belong to in Vancouver is about to start it's 10-day "Rivers Week". Mostly class II some mild III, about 50/50 tandem & solo: lots of Explorers & Trippers, but also Captions etc.; some Genises, H2Pro and Impulses, but also Ocoees, Vipers, Solitos, Phantoms, etc., and maybe a C-1 or 2. Beginner to advanced.

Over the course of Rivers Week, I'd guess there are several days when we've got almost 40 canoes on the rivers.

But we all still complain about not many single-bladers to paddle with, and weekend to weekend for anything very challenging, there's probably not more than a dozen likely suspects.

Doesn't the Ottawa Canoe Club have lots of canoes? Based on the Single-blade Symposium and slalom races around Ottawa, I imagine it as ww canoeing heaven in terms of finding other paddlers. No?

PY.

The club is Couriers de Bois, it started as a canoe club... I'm sure there are cboaters, but in terms of numbers, very few! I think because the ottawa is such a great 'play' river it may be overrun moreso with kayaks than other places...

msims wrote:So I went paddling with a local club here- we did the middle channel on the Ottawa. Out of 40 boats I was the only C1. There was one open boat (tandem).

What gives? Are C-boats drying up? fading away? or are just more people getting into kayaking therefore tilting the scales?

Someone mentioned that open-boat culture is alive and well in Quebec. Is that it? why?

Gonzo, Keez, 1-blade -

lemme know when you're coming to Ottawa - would be good to paddle w/ some wholesome single bladers. (you're wholesome by merit of the single-blade, perhaps other stuff...? )

Mike, I was on the Middle channel of the Ottawa on Sunday 2 weeks ago (after running the Upper Pet on Saturday) forgot to call you, sorry. We had a much better ratio, 5 boats in total, 3 yaks, 1 C1 (Isaac the Maniac) and myself in the Prelude. I forgot how much fun the Middle is at high water in an open boat, even finally got the b@lls to run the Elevator shaft at Garvins (that was before seing a pro who shall be unnamed be off line there and getting WORKED in the hole at the bottom, when the dude finally flushed he looked like a drowned rat... ).
Last weekend we went to the Kipawa, again a better ratio, on Saturday 2 single bladers out of 12 boats, on Sunday 2 out of 7.

I'll be at the Ottawa aagain in a few weeks, I'll give you a call.

martin a.k.a. the great gonzo!

PS: let's not go into the wholesome stuff... ...

Out here in Colorado, we have the Rocky Mountain Canoe Club and Poudre Paddlrers that provides support for canoeing. These are good organizations to get new paddlers aquainted and introduced to the sport. We still struggle to find OC/C1 boaters who want to run class III and above. Also, it is hard to find younger age paddlers that want to canoe vs. kayak.

With that said, we had 10 open boats this Saturday running the North Fork of the South Platte (Foxton class III/IV-). It was great day!

So if there are any Colorado OC/C1 boaters lurking on the site that are looking for like minded paddlers, look us up!

martin wrote:I forgot how much fun the Middle is at high water in an open boat, even finally got the b@lls to run the Elevator shaft at Garvins (that was before seing a pro who shall be unnamed be off line there and getting WORKED in the hole at the bottom, when the dude finally flushed he looked like a drowned rat... ).

I think i heard about that, unless there was a different incident... I thought it was the river left channel, that's not elevator shaft is it?

I thought elev shaft was the river right channel- I saw a couple yaks go down it without incident, it didnt look like it had a meaty hole at the bottom...)

nice job! yes, the middle is a blast at high water... LNN was 'uge, with zero consequence

msims wrote:

martin wrote:I forgot how much fun the Middle is at high water in an open boat, even finally got the b@lls to run the Elevator shaft at Garvins (that was before seing a pro who shall be unnamed be off line there and getting WORKED in the hole at the bottom, when the dude finally flushed he looked like a drowned rat... ).

I think i heard about that, unless there was a different incident... I thought it was the river left channel, that's not elevator shaft is it?

I thought elev shaft was the river right channel- I saw a couple yaks go down it without incident, it didnt look like it had a meaty hole at the bottom...)

nice job! yes, the middle is a blast at high water... LNN was 'uge, with zero consequence

Yep, far right channel, that's the elevator shaft. At high water (it was 17 that day), there is definitely a fairly small, but nevertheless thrashy and sticky hole at the bottom for anyone who is too far right, and that guy was way too far right.
The far left channel is staircase, the 2nd one from the left is WT chute, and the one with the big tongue is Dragons Tongue

And yes, Lower No Name is fun at high levels and such an easy carry up, I think I ran it 5 times that day.

martin a.k.a. the great gonzo!

msims wrote:The club is Couriers de Bois, it started as a canoe club... I'm sure there are cboaters, but in terms of numbers, very few! I think because the ottawa is such a great 'play' river it may be overrun moreso with kayaks than other places...

The club's name is ''Coureurs des Bois''.

In Gatineau (Ottawa/Gatineau area) I'm part of Pierre Radisson canot club, there is also Kabek canot club.

We both give class II open boat certifications to about 70-80 people each year.

Our festival on the Gatineau river has close to 1000 paddlers each year of which more then half are open boaters running Class IV rapids.

We'll be in Québec city for our federation's annual outing next weekend. Should be paddling all levels of rivers(II to V) with + or - 300 open boaters

Yes open boating is very strong in la Belle Province, drive around our nation's capital and you will see all sorts of open boats on tons of cars.

I think open boating appeals more then C1 to the masses. C1 seems to be more for advanced paddlers, or people that want to play more then running rivers.

I beleive that the thousands of rivers la belle Province has to offer, the remotness of most of them and the influence of local open boaters like Paul Mason, Mark Scriver, Paul Danks probably explain why it's so logical to paddle an open boat up here and why they're so popular.
Ho yes, and Esquif, ''world's best open boats'' made up here, are probably another factor to take into account.

Open boating is very healthy up here and will continue to be as long as we have dam free rivers and guaranteed access to all of them !

See you in an open boat !

"What gives? Are C-boats drying up? fading away? or are just more people getting into kayaking therefore tilting the scales?"

what gives is that cboating is a harder to learn. longer learning curve, perfection of strokes, c roll is difficult (so I've heard compared to 'yaking), etc., etc.


as the addage goes, "half the blade,double the paddler"

canoeing isn't dying, kayaking is spreading like a disease. just kidding on the disease part. we're all river stewards. I think 99%of the people into boating are good folks committed to river and stream conservation and preservation, so it's all good in the end.

my .02

At Cheatfest there were supposedly 153 people in the race and I was the only C-1! I was sitting so tall in my downriver boat that I could see over all the rows of people. There are some advantages.

Alden

Don't let it get to you. On Sat. I put on the Lower Yough with my son for his first full on run of the entire section in his yak (he aced it by the way)!
I was in my Fink and Big Al was running shadow in his Zoom. Putting on with us was a group of yakers and one young lady in a C1. She was putting the lads to shame!
Behind us was another pod of boaters - of which a bulk of which were in OCs - mostly paddled by young ladies.
The only down part of this was that my daughter wasn't with me to see that single blade ladies can paddle hard and throw down too!
Paul C.

PAC wrote: mostly paddled by young ladies.

There might be a trend here.

From the 1st level II course we gave this year, out of a group of 26 was 19 LADIES, mostly single french speaking lovely gals

I don't know why, may be sexier then yaking ??? Or is it just a matter of size (of boat that is...).

Any ways lots of interested beautiful young people wanting to learn more about the C thing.

I'll keep giving classes (with shades)

Open Gate wrote:

PAC wrote: mostly paddled by young ladies.

There might be a trend here.

From the 1st level II course we gave this year, out of a group of 26 was 19 LADIES, mostly single french speaking lovely gals

I don't know why, may be sexier then yaking ??? Or is it just a matter of size (of boat that is...).

Any ways lots of interested beautiful young people wanting to learn more about the C thing.

I'll keep giving classes (with shades)

hmmm...

note to self, start paddling more often in Quebec... ... Road trip anyone... ...?

martin a.k.a. the great gonzo!

I sort of have to agree with Open Gate and if the trend follows that of Telemark skiing the thought process would be that C boating is elegant and un-clouded with a rad "dude" attitude.
The ladies that usually paddle C (at least my experience) have been those who want to paddle - not to hang with their significant other.
They are into what they do and enjoy it for paddling sake!
What also helps is that C1 and OC1ers are an inclusive group on a whole (or in a hole). We tend to welcome others of the like and are usually pretty helpful and friendly.
On a personal note it's also nice to see the young male kayakers stare as a C-hick throws down or make the difficult move. They some how look like they are "losing some manliness"... as the male C boaters cheer the ladies on!
We know a good thing when we C it!

As for you Martin... I didn't think you needed an excuse for a road trip!

PAC wrote:As for you Martin... I didn't think you needed an excuse for a road trip!

No I don't, I think 'road trip' is my middle name... ...
Talking about road trip, are you and Jake still thinking of coming up to the Ottawa in July?

martin a.k.a. the great gonzo!