wayno the newbie

over at rec.boats.paddle.

saw to my horror that the ganger has preceded me in membership.

as well as the duc du chocolat and ol' rivermayun.

could be good times for that crowd... bwwaaaaaahhhaaaaaaaaa!

i have a mad river canoe, a couple paddles, pfd for me and the lovely renda
macrae speight, and the relentless need to learn.

help.

yfitons
wayno

On Sun, 06 Mar 2005 16:13:02 GMT, "Wayne Harrison"
wrote:

over at rec.boats.paddle.

saw to my horror that the ganger has preceded me in membership.

as well as the duc du chocolat and ol' rivermayun.

could be good times for that crowd... bwwaaaaaahhhaaaaaaaaa!

Thanks for reminding me of the paddle groups. Though I find the
rec.boats.paddle.touring is nearer my speed.

To begin to learn, go out to a calm lake on a day when the wind is
predicted not to rise, put on your life jacket, put canoe in water,
put you in canoe, complete with paddle in hand, and go mess around
some.

Best way to paddle solo is scary looking. Kneel in the bottom of the
canoe, a bit to one side (yes, it'll look as if it's going to tip, so?
You'll only be far enough over to be able to paddle easily) and paddle
out a bit. Then back to shore. Do not get too far from shore at
first.

Current, as in rivers and streams is a whole different canoe full of
water. It you should try it and happen to bump into something, lean
in the direction of the thing you bumped into. Again, scary sounding,
but the current will be on your other side and if you lean away,
you'll dip the side of canoe under the water and find out how quickly
one of those things can go right over.

More experienced paddler sits in the back when there's more than one
person. They're in charge. The person in front can do little wrong
that the person in back can't correct for.

Should you wish to cross a stream or river, do not go straight across.
You'll waste a lot of energy. Go on an angle. That way the current
will help push you. Yes, even if you're going upstream, which I
recommend for beginning paddlers. Far better to have the current help
you home than that you arrive after dark and exhausted, not even sure
of where your landing is.

Oh, yeah. Flip the canoe on purpose several times, so you'll know how
much it takes to flip it and how to react when it happens. Which is
not often. I've only flipped once. I let my husband sit in back and
hadn't mentioned the lean into obstructions thing. Since he thinks he
can't swim, he tends to be a bit nervous on the water. He won't even
sit in my recreational kayak or think about it. Little Otter is
stable and fun. Oh, well.

There are some very good books and Web pages on paddle strokes and
canoe safety. Some videos, too, I believe.

Wenonahs are good canoes. You'll have fun with it.

If loading in a lot of stuff, place it toward the center with the
heaviest stuff as near the bottom as possible. If the weather gets
nasty, have anyone who's not paddling hard get their butt down in the
bottom, too.

Cyli
r.bc: vixen. Minnow goddess. Speaker to squirrels.
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli
email: lid (strip the .invalid to email)

"Cyli" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 06 Mar 2005 16:13:02 GMT, "Wayne Harrison"
wrote:

over at rec.boats.paddle.

saw to my horror that the ganger has preceded me in membership.

as well as the duc du chocolat and ol' rivermayun.

could be good times for that crowd... bwwaaaaaahhhaaaaaaaaa!

Thanks for reminding me of the paddle groups. Though I find the
rec.boats.paddle.touring is nearer my speed.

To begin to learn, go out to a calm lake on a day when the wind is
predicted not to rise, put on your life jacket, put canoe in water,
put you in canoe, complete with paddle in hand, and go mess around
some.

Best way to paddle solo is scary looking. Kneel in the bottom of the
canoe, a bit to one side (yes, it'll look as if it's going to tip, so?
You'll only be far enough over to be able to paddle easily) and paddle
out a bit. Then back to shore. Do not get too far from shore at
first.

Current, as in rivers and streams is a whole different canoe full of
water. It you should try it and happen to bump into something, lean
in the direction of the thing you bumped into. Again, scary sounding,
but the current will be on your other side and if you lean away,
you'll dip the side of canoe under the water and find out how quickly
one of those things can go right over.

More experienced paddler sits in the back when there's more than one
person. They're in charge. The person in front can do little wrong
that the person in back can't correct for.

Should you wish to cross a stream or river, do not go straight across.
You'll waste a lot of energy. Go on an angle. That way the current
will help push you. Yes, even if you're going upstream, which I
recommend for beginning paddlers. Far better to have the current help
you home than that you arrive after dark and exhausted, not even sure
of where your landing is.

Oh, yeah. Flip the canoe on purpose several times, so you'll know how
much it takes to flip it and how to react when it happens. Which is
not often. I've only flipped once. I let my husband sit in back and
hadn't mentioned the lean into obstructions thing. Since he thinks he
can't swim, he tends to be a bit nervous on the water. He won't even
sit in my recreational kayak or think about it. Little Otter is
stable and fun. Oh, well.

There are some very good books and Web pages on paddle strokes and
canoe safety. Some videos, too, I believe.

Wenonahs are good canoes. You'll have fun with it.

If loading in a lot of stuff, place it toward the center with the
heaviest stuff as near the bottom as possible. If the weather gets
nasty, have anyone who's not paddling hard get their butt down in the
bottom, too.


All good advice, but let me add a caveat about flipping. Do it in water deep
enough that you can experience the difficulty of trying to get back in
without having the bottom to kick off of (its pretty much impossible, btw.
Try coming in over the end rather than the side), but DO IT NEAR SHORE so
you can swim back in. A good place to practice is off the end of a diving
dock, where you can catch a breath after awhile.

When its time to swim back in, its easier to push the boat in front of you
than it is to swim with the bowline and try to tow it.

--riverman
(and let us know how it goes. Its a blast hearing about someone falling in
love)

"Wayne Harrison" wrote in message
om...
over at rec.boats.paddle.

saw to my horror that the ganger has preceded me in membership.

as well as the duc du chocolat and ol' rivermayun.

could be good times for that crowd... bwwaaaaaahhhaaaaaaaaa!

One is tempted to say that it could get interesting........but it already
has.

i have a mad river canoe, a couple paddles, pfd for me and the lovely
renda macrae speight, and the relentless need to learn.

help.

All of Cyli's advice sounds good to me. I would only add the sum total of
what I'd have told you if I'd gotten there first.........keep your nose
above the water line. The rest is all nickel-dime ****.

Wolfgang

All of Cyli's advice sounds good to me. I would only add the sum total of
what I'd have told you if I'd gotten there first.........keep your nose
above the water line. The rest is all nickel-dime ****.

Wolfgang


Yup, and to help you keep your nose up wear your personal protection
device...no, wait a minute.

PFD, personal 'floatation device. Yeah, that's it..

john . . .who fell asleep right at the part where Frank Zappa started
talking about 'devices.'

Wayne Harrison wrote:
over at rec.boats.paddle.
and the relentless need to learn.

help.


simple...put pj in the canoe. learn or die m*****f****r.

hth, jeff