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Touring Sanborn Canoe Company’s Wood Shop
When I think of Sanborn Canoe Company, I think of handcrafted paddles steeped in the heritage of Minnesota’s canoe country. Their paddles take the names of some of the most scenic lakes in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, America’s most used and loved wilderness area. And the owners are the same guys breaking their backs making the paddles. They’re the real deal that love paddling so much that they were willing to sacrifice steady 9-5 jobs to build paddles that can be trusted on long canoe trips. As far as the paddles that they make, they do both bent shaft paddles with modern shapes and traditional paddles. They also offer…
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Ah, Matey, Drop the Kayak Sea Anchor (Drogue), We Be Waiting Out the Storm
The above illustration comes from E.Y. Arima’s Inuit Kayaks in Canada: A Review of Historical Records and Construction, Based Mainly on the Canadian Museum of Civilization’s Collection. It shows a group of kayaks rafted together, under sail, dragging behind them an inflated seal skin, which supported geese carcasses being used as a kayak sea anchor (in this case, a drogue as it’s dragging behind). The kayak sea anchor was used to allow the kayak party to sleep a night at sea as they crossed from thew mainland to the Belcher Islands. Modern kayak sea anchors or kayak drogues are a bit less sophisticated that a seal skin and geese; they’re…
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What Kind of Kayak Cockpit Should I Buy or Build?
I recently found this question in PaddlingLight’s inbox (BTW, I answer all questions that I receive. Sometimes they spark article ideas): I am considering the Siskiwit SOF build. My son & I are about to skin a Sea Tour 17 Explorer, but I haven’t formed the cockpit yet. Can you enlighten me on the different cockpit shapes? I see round, oval and egg shaped with “arm rests”(?) at the narrow end. So, what kind of kayak cockpit should you buy or build? Short Answer: I personally like the egg shaped with the “arm rests” cockpit, which is called a keyhole cockpit. The “arm rests” are knee or thigh braces (depending on…
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How to Choose a Dry Suit for Kayaking
How do you choose a drysuit for kayaking on cold water? When do you use it? What brand – always Kokatat? How do you get one to fit right? Do you get used to the feeling of claustrophobia with the tight gasket around the neck? How do you care for it? How long can you expect the gaskets to last? These were all questions posed on Paddlinglight’s Facebook page when I recently asked for article ideas. These are all great questions to get answers for when you’re preparing to buy what might be the most expensive piece of kayaking gear that you buy after your kayak. What are my options…
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Wetsuit vs. Drysuit for Kayaking
When it’s cold out and the water temperature starts dropping, dressing for immersion might mean the difference between surviving a swim and succumbing to cold shock, cold incapacitation and eventually hypothermia. At a base level, paddlers should dress to survive a swim of any length and still function in the canoe or kayak afterward. This means dressing in a wetsuit or drysuit when the water gets cold. The ultimate question: what’s the difference between a wetsuit vs. drysuit for kayaking? Defining Cold Water Paddling There’s no commonly accepted threshold at which water changes to cold water, so various organizations use different guidelines. Some of the commonly used guidelines are those…
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U.S. Coast Guard Required Signalling Devices for Kayakers
When kayaking on the Great Lakes, U.S. Coastal Waters or territorial seas, the U.S. Coast Guard requires kayakers (or other paddlers) to carry signalling devices. An other article, Signaling Devices to Carry When Kayaking or Canoeing, covers the most common signalling devices that you should carry, but if you want to get by legally, you must carry these. Don’t be caught without them. Don’t want to read the article and just want to know what you have to buy to be legal? Scroll down to the summary below. It has bullet points. Visual Distress Signals The U.S. Coast Guard requires kayakers to carry three visual distress signals for night. For…
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Signaling Devices to Carry While Canoeing and Kayaking
Maintaining communications within and outside of your group when kayaking or canoeing, whether it’s a day trip or a longer one, adds a degree of safety to your trip. There are multiple types of signaling devices on the market, and many can be used for both communications to your paddling partners and any outside entities, such as other boaters or shore-based stations. The following can be considered the minimal recommended devices for a trip of any length. Why Carry Devices? If you’ve heard the safety acronym “CLAP” before, you know that the first two letters stand for communication and line-of-sight. The reason that these are important is that if you can’t communicate with…
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The Tuilik: a Perfect Bit of Kit for Winter Kayaking
I love to winter kayak especially when Lake Superior starts to freeze over in late February and early March. It’s a time of the year when other paddlers stay home bundled up in front of the fireplace, and it’s a time of the year that the shoreline changes almost everyday due to the varied ice patterns. When the water and air temperature starts to drop, it’s important to have the right winter kayaking gear, and I covered that in my winter kayaking checklist. One item that I left off the list is a Tuilik. Note: Featured photo by photographer Paul Sundberg. What is a Tuilik? A tuilik (too-e-leek) is a combination of…
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How to Pack Camera Gear For Kayaking and Canoeing
For issue 28 of Ocean Paddler, I wrote an article about my approach to kayak expedition photography. In it I touched on the subject of how to pack camera gear for kayaking. I use a similar approach for canoeing. Essentially, my approach is based on the idea that if you can’t get to the camera, you can’t take the picture. There’s no ideal solution for every situation, but you have plenty of choices for waterproof camera cases. In the above picture (staring left and going clockwise): Pelican 1020 case, SealLine Baja 5 HD, Pelican 1400 case, Aquapac SLR case, Aquapac Mini Camera with Hard Lens case. Cameras are a Canon…
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Kayak Weathercocking vs. Tracking
Kayak weathercocking is the tendency of a moving kayak to turn into the wind. It’s caused by a difference in pressure between the bow and stern of your kayak, and it can feel frustrating if you don’t know how to correct for it. Luckily, there are tools and techniques that can keep you on course even when the wind blows. Kayak tracking is the extent that a kayak holds its course when underway. A kayak with high or good tracking stays on course even when a turning force such as a sweep stroke acts on it. A kayak with high tracking can weathercock and without right equipment can be a…
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How to Pack a Sea Kayak Part 2: Packing Your Kayak
Learning how to pack a sea kayak for camping isn’t a mystical black art reserved for expert expeditionary paddles who spend most of their life at sea. Instead, it just takes planning and knowledge of boat trim and balance. In How to Pack a Sea Kayak Part 1: Selecting and Packing Dry Bags, you learned how to pick the right dry bags and pack them properly. The next step is to actually pack the sea kayak. Sea Kayak Compartments and Storage Spaces A sea kayak with bulkheads and watertight cargo compartments that are accessed through hatches make packing much easier than trying to pack a kayak without bulkheads and hatches.…
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Fall and Early Spring Canoe Camping Checklist – Extend Your Paddling Season
In the late fall, most of the paddlers have put away their canoes and wouldn’t dream on heading to a canoe camping destination where snow, sleet, cold rain and even ice are possible. Yet, these times of the year offer the best time for solitude, reflection and camaraderie. If you want the former, you spend plenty of time alone, see no one and with the short days you’ll have time to think. For the later, the night comes quickly, so you find yourself sitting around a campfire trying to get warm and laughing with friends. With the right gear, it needn’t be a miserable experience. Here’s a fall canoe camping…
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More Kayaking Accessories for Beginners
A first-time kayaker may not realize what kayaking accessories he or she may want or need when getting into kayaking. In the first part of this article, Kayaking Accessories for Beginners, I listed items that I think are necessary for beginners. In this list, I’ll highlight items that an entry-level kayaker may want to buy right now. Eventually, most kayakers end up with some of these items, especially those who want to paddle further than swimming distance from shore and in less than perfect weather. Note: If you paddle in water colder than 60 degree Fahrenheit (15.5 Celsius), then you need a wetsuit or a drysuit. I’ve covered that before in…
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Lightweight Sub-5 Ounce Cook Kit
My friend Jeff Scott, who is an ultralight backpacker, sent me his most recent sub-5 ounce cook kit list. It weighs in at an astonishing 4.62 oz., and it features everything you’d need without skimping on anything. He uses it for on solo backpacking trips, but there’s no reason why this wouldn’t work on a paddling trip. The stove burns alcohol, so you need a supply of denatured alcohol or you can use HEET in the yellow bottle, which you can purchase from almost any gas station. Sub-5 Ounce Cook Kit List T’s B Side Burner Stove – 0.33 Spark Lite Fire Starter – 0.17 Snowpeak 600 Mug – 2.8…
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How to Carry a Spare Kayak Paddle
Most kayakers know that they should carry a spare paddle, because getting a broken paddle on a kayak trip — even on a day trip — is a pain. I know, because I’ve done it, and I didn’t have a spare. I limped back about a mile to the place I launched using my snapped Greenland paddle canoe style. Although, it got me back, it took extra time, and if I wasn’t an avid solo canoeist who knows the “C” stroke, the paddle would have caused misery. Since that day, I’ve always carried a spare paddle, and you should, too. On the Kayak’s Front or Rear Deck It’s best to…
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