best canoe stroke tutorial I have seen, I'm 72, ...I saw beautiful descriptions of strokes that I thought were just my own, developed ion years of my white water, lake and ocean canoing
Some things come naturally to people and some just make sense. Bill is good at making the difficult seem natural. Ocean canoeing? Wow, that must be a wild ride! Thanks for watching.
My parents got a canoe for us in the mid 90s along with this video when I was a boy. We watched this before going out and in between our first trips on the old local river. I learned so much and continue to learn more as I rewatch it. Thank you Jason brown for posting so I don’t have to dig out the old VHS player.
Far out! We used to poke fun at Bill Mason’s short shorts as kids. But boy does he earn them with his skills! Very cool you shared the same experience. Maybe one day I’ll find myself in that same river this was filmed at. Unfortunately, where we were the river was quite old, so it was never nearly as exciting or beautiful as what’s shown in this film. Staggering to think how much work it was to film and put together. Love the music too.
By watching and rewatching and studying his videos, Bill Mason became the mentor i never knew, and helped me appreciate the art of canoe handling, enjoy it more completely. The canoe is simply more elegant on flat water, and more of a challenge in whitewater than kayaking, which is in total its greater appeal. Thanks for posting these....
I've been watching hours and hours of different canoe videos just trying to learn how to do the J stroke. In less than 10 minutes this video has taught me so much. I wish this was the first video I had watched.
@@yankee2yankee216 Not so. He got into it, and was recognized, and realized he was low on knowledge, so joined a canoe club, and used his profile to get the message out, for which we are all grateful. But there is so much more to it, and his approach is well rooted in the past. Some of the stuff he exemplified is basically unsafe. It comes, perhaps from the prospecting side of things that was reflected in his chosen canoe. Basically you have a huge sail of a canoe, because you are carrying massive amounts of freight. But all that healing a big canoe with high ends, that will get you killed in the middle of a big cold lake. And having been on several recoveries dating back to the early 70s, you have to be a little less adoring in ideas, and search out the techniques that actually work. When the Path of the Paddle came out, there were multiple other paddling schools, like the one that grew up around marathon canoeing, or freestyle, or hard core white water, and they all have techniques to be learned. If you live in the north, in Ontario as an example, the two things you need to know about are cold and wind. And also be aware of how long after drowning you can resuscitate a person who drowns in cold water. Another good idea is to know when to use a canoe, and when to use a kayak. Hero worship can get you killed.
This WAS the first video I watched, on VHS, in 1992 . . . now I'm using it to teach my Trailmen canoe skills so they can train for wilderness canoeing.
@@HondoTrailside Can you explain some more about the type of canoe he chose and why it would be unsafe for big lakes? Is it the rocker bend that would make it hard to keep straight on a lake in windy conditions or something else?
i just picked up a cedar strip and canvas canoe, and i watched this film to brush up on my technique. but it has also empowered me to cut a pair of jeans into shorts and match them with a cravat. thank you nfb!
Great film! I was already convinced I needed a canoe when I got here but, I wasn't prepared for the intense craving for Gordon Lightfoot it left me with.
I've been going up LSPP for the past 6 years and always heard about bills name but never dived into his documentaries. It's amazing to see the exact same landscape untouched from his film in the 80s. A very inspiring individual who cares just as much as I do about a certain place. A place stuck in the heart forever.
Greetings from Ireland, This is a Lovely Video, Bought an Old Town Canadian Canoe a couple of years back and did not know there was so many strokes. Gonna try those out soon!
19:20 I learned this the hard way my first day out on my new canoe. Wicked winds, I stumbled around every which way till I finally ended up facing backwards and I could make headway again and got to shore.
Something tells me that an ice-cold Hamm’s and some Marshall Tucker Band on the 8-track were often the rewards at the end of a day’s shooting during this project ...
He did a lot of his films/canoeing around the North Shore of Lake Superior. It’s a really beautiful place. When the winds pick up it’s not recommended to canoe due to the cold water and huge waves. There is some really impressive footage in the waterwalker film of him canoeing on a windy day on the lake.
@@jamiepeirce526 I'm from Toronto. Algonquin Park is what I call "north." North of Lake Superior is VERY North. Imagine how untouched that wilderness was in the 1970s.
“When young, we mourn for one woman... as we grow old, for women in general. The tragedy of life is that man is never free yet strives for what he can never be. The thing most feared in secret always happens. My life, my loves, where are they now? But the more the pain grows, the more this instinct for life somehow asserts itself. The necessary beauty in life is in giving yourself to it completely. Only later will it clarify itself and become coherent.”
I appreciate you sharing. I agree theirs is better. I’m sure they had better equipment for transferring to digital. Not much competition. Thanks for watching and thanks for supporting the NFB!
