Top Expert Tips to Solo Your Canoe | Skills | Canoeroots | Rapid Media 

Thank you. As a matter of fact, it is more comfortable and less stress on joints/muscles this way. The angle of the boat means you aren't leaning out to get a solid stroke - you sit more upright and can paddle much longer periods without getting tired.

Not entirely a comfortable position for long hauls. More for messing about on the lake by the cottage.

To really make the most of any canoe, it should have no keel, and the paddler should be roughly centered from front to back. All you can do when paddling from the rear is make the canoe go forward and steer like a ship, but canoes can do so much more than that. Incorporating pivots and side-slips into your ability makes the canoe far more capable, especially where any kind of maneuvering really matters. And yes, a full-size tandem canoe won't be as responsive as a dedicated solo boat, but the pros can still make such a canoe dance, literally.

@@ericl2969 i should have added that the canoe i did that with was a flat- backed canoe, so it could really only go one direction.

Add a couple of bags of sand to the front of the canoe if you are alone. It will track much easier.

Jim's idea is on the right track but it is better to get some old/cheap dry bags and fill them with water. That way it is cleaner and easier than putting in the dirt.

actually, angling the side of the canoe like that can create a sail effect that can help when crossing large bodies of water. You basically sideslip the canoe like you would ferry on a river, only with wind current instead of water current.

@@glennshark9296 6 5

I usually do just the opposite, I sit in the bow, facing the stern, as the thwart is nearer the centre of the canoe. Kneeling, of course, and depending on the wind, using his technique of sitting close to the side of the canoe to reduce wetted surface. My canoe has upturned bow and stern which drastically increases crosswind effects and must be managed carefully. Be sure to practice emptying and re entering the canoe by yourself if you are going to be soloing, and wear a pfd!

Less hull in the water means less resistance, so you don't tire out on a long paddle. If you do it correctly you can keep the boat moving straight about as easily as you can sitting normally, although adding wind is always tricky. As other posters have mentioned, you can tack across the wind using the bottom of the canoe as a sail to push you where you want to go.

Once you learn how to make even the loosest-tracking boat go straight, poor tracking is nothing to worry about, and in fact, the boat becomes much more forgiving because if the wind does pull you off heading, you can force it back much more easily than you could do with a hard-tracking boat. This is why solo paddling is a skill that you keep developing over a lifetime. You can always get better. And believe me, once you have even a modicum of solo-paddling skills, you'll avoid boats that have a keel, unless you only paddle on big lakes.

There is a difference between how one paddles a solo canoe (or a pocket tandem) and a 17' or bigger camper. Narrower 15' boats can be paddled level, like an old slalom boat, which allows a decent amount of speed for that size, but don't glide all that well when heeled. A big boat is just too wide in the middle to be paddled like that, but it still goes pretty fast even with the stems out of the water. When making the canoe go straight, you end up mostly fighting your mistakes from three strokes ago; a longer, straight-tracking boat only allows you to make bigger mistakes without veering off course too much, but you have to correct them anyway.

Heeling does a few things. It shortens the overall length of the boat and also reduces surface contact area, and that reduces travel resistance - a big advantage for a solo paddler in a big canoe (yes, longer boats are potentially faster but only if you have the power to make that happen. At more moderate and slow speeds, boats of shorter length move with much less effort than longer boats). It shifts the effective centerline of the canoe toward your paddling side, reducing the distance between the path of your paddle stroke and that centerline, and that reduces yaw and therefore reduces the effort you need to put into correction. It also puts the path of your paddle stroke closer to your body, making your paddle muscles more efficient. Heeling the boat isn't the best thing in all situations, but when you can do it, the three factors listed here all add up to make paddling much easier. Those who discovered and perfected this technique more than 100 years ago didn't keep at and rely on it because it was harder.

Same technique, just throw the rod lmao

dan andy is

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So what is the correct method?

He said use the C-stroke for the initial startup from being stationary. When heeled like that, such a canoe will pivot so easily that counteracting that tendency during the whole stroke will keep the boat straighter during that initial phase of starting up. Also, a canoe that closely matches the original Prospector design does not track well at all, whether heeled or not. It's a boat that "veers off heading" extremely easily and it will not coast in a straight line if your paddle is out of the water for more than a few seconds, but that's a good thing if you want maneuverability, and it's no problem to control if your paddle skills are good.

Oc1 canoe race

Fraser ANDERSON meh, he’s just doing a demo and he’s not going to dump. Plus, Bill Mason used to paddle in jeans all the time as many used to.