July 10, 2010
Wonderful Day Doing Canoe Level 1 Cert Course
I'm a self-taught canoeist, and my wife Yumi has little boating experience of any kind. So we decided to take the Level 1 Lake Water canoeing course to increase our confidence, learn some skills, and get experience with water rescues for canoes, and swimmers.
The course was taught by Dave and Rick from Ridge Wilderness Adventures, a couple of great guys who are top-notch at what they do, have great teaching skills, and calmly lead folks with a deft combination of seriousness, fun, and when needed, a firm guiding hand.
The full-day course took place on a gorgeous Saturday on Pitt Lake and Widgeon Creek, launching from Grant Narrows Regional Park.
I thought we'd run into Ridge Wilderness before, but I wasn't sure until we arrived at the site and introduced ourselves to Dave and Rick. Sure enough, they'd led a Voyageur "Big Canoe" trip for streamkeepers down the mighty Fraser River that we took part in a year ago.
What are my revelations after a hard day with the professionals?
- Practice, practice, practice all the strokes until you know them cold, and can make your canoe move where you want it to go, immediately. And this doesn't mean just forward and easy turns, it includes moving sideways, in circles "on a dime," and any combination thereof.
- Canoeing is a weighty matter, and you'd better get your canoe trimmed properly if you want any semblance of manoeuvrability. The paddler in the stern (the back end) calls all the shots and does the steering. That much I knew. But Yumi had never had any stern paddling experience. As part of the course, she had to pull stern duty, and boy did she have trouble changing course, and maintaining course, with 100+kg of me in the bow, and 55kg of her in the stern! We moved all our packs to the stern, and finally Dave even filled a huge dry bag with water to further weigh down the stern.
- On-water rescue is a crucial skill. Somehow I got through some 50 years of life never tipping a canoe. When asked to do it on purpose, I was amazed at how fast it happens! You see, actually we were supposed to try to gently sink our canoes by gradually tipping them just to the point where they'd slowly fill with water, and then our designated rescuers would practice rescuing first our canoe, and then us. I dunno if anyone accomplished the slow fill! In our case, twice, it was slowly tip. . . tip. . . and suddenly FLIP! Once that canoe reaches the rolling point, she just goes so fast you don't even have time to scream :-).
- There are huge differences in canoe design. We got to try three models over the course of the day and again I was amazed, this time at the great variability in stability, tracking in a straight line, and ease of manoeuvring. And I discovered that at least to me, manoeuvrability is much more important than tracking. Proper stroke techniques will keep you on track, but in a heavy, low- or no-rocker canoe with a keel it's a real pain to get it pointed where you want it to go.
So thanks Dave and Rick! We're exhausted, but we had a hugely enjoyable experience, learned a lot, and will practice our strokes.
A few photos:
Now does that look like a perfect day to take a canoe course?
A few of our fellow students.
Yumi in the stern learning to call the shots!
Paul enjoying lunch :-)
Working on canoe rescue.
More rescue practice.
Posted by Paul at July 10, 2010 09:00 PM