-
The Paddle Float Rescue: Why is Everyone Down on It?
One of the first self-rescues that many kayakers learn is the paddle float rescue. The paddle float rescue (reentry) uses an inflatable bag, called a paddle float, on the end of a paddle to act as an outrigger that helps stabilize the kayak as the swimmer gets into it. The paddle float itself is simple and is easily stored bungee-corded to the back of a sea kayakโs backband. With practice the technique can be fast and effective even in rough water. In the Midwest, where I live, itโs becoming increasingly popular to claim that the paddle float rescue is a relic of an older era of sea kayaking and something thatโฆ
-
Canoe & Kayak Magazine Peopleโs Choice Award
I need some help to try and win a Canoe & Kayak Peopleโs Choice Photo Contest. Please visit Canoe & Kayak Peopleโs Choice Photo Contest. And then click โVoteโ on my photo. Thanks! Hereโs the image again. A sea kayak on Two Island Lake in Cook County, Minnesota. The clouds reflect in the calm water at sunset.
-
How to Pick the Perfect Campsite
At the end of a long, hard day of kayaking or canoeing finding the perfect campsite can boost your morale and make the dayโs effort feel more rewarding. With limited daylight and no desire to paddle further, and a just okay campsite at your bow, itโs tempting to paddle on just to see whatโs around the corner. Follow the advice on this How to Pick the Perfect Campsite flow chart, youโll find the perfect campsite every time you start to look. Click the image to view it larger.
-
Spring(?) Kayaking on Brule Lake in the BWCA
This spring has been slow in coming. In northern Minnesota, weโre between 14 and 20 days behind median ice out, and itโs wearing a little thin on the nerves. This week some of the bigger lakes in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness finally started to go out, so with that in mind, Jeffrey and Michelle Forseth of Sea Kayak Safety and I went to paddle on Brule Lake. The put-in was completely ice free and it was 50ยฐF, so we figured that we were golden, but as we paddled east along the shore, we started to run into ice and soon ice coated as far as we could see,โฆ
-
Kayak Outfitting Idea: Non-Skid Tape to Prevent Jammed Fingers
Last December, I read a blog post on Rouge Wave Adventures about how to performance tune a new sea kayak (the post contained many great tips, so I suggest you check it out). What I really liked about the post is that it suggested a new technique that solved an actual problem that Iโve experienced and you may have also. The technique was installing non-skid tape, such as Land N Sea Vinyl Traction Tape on a sea kayak to prevent jammed fingers. When getting out of the kayakโs cockpit, you often put your hands behind you and push on the rear deck to lift your rear. Now and then, when the deckโฆ
-
Why didnโt the kayaker cross the road? Ferry angles in kayaking
The Seven Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys connects the Middle Keys to the Lower Keys. Under the bridge, the water is shallow, and it seems like the 1,000 square miles of the Florida Bay flows through the opening on the tide generating up to 4 knot currents. In a kayak, the current is swift enough to push you out to sea on an ebb tide or into the bay on flood. The common practice in a situation such as this is to find a ferry angle that prevents you from drifting out to sea and this is also a common practice with preventing leeway in cross winds. This isโฆ
-
Touring Sanborn Canoe Companyโs Wood Shop
When I think of Sanborn Canoe Company, I think of handcrafted paddles steeped in the heritage of Minnesotaโs canoe country. Their paddles take the names of some of the most scenic lakes in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Americaโs most used and loved wilderness area. And the owners are the same guys breaking their backs making the paddles. Theyโre 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 offerโฆ
-
Kayak Camping: A lesson in leaving no trace and how to poop in the woods
See that island in the distance? The one surrounded by mangroves. Unlike other mangrove islands, the center of this one was all sand instead of clay. It also had a sandy beach that faced north with a view to the distant Seven-Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys and a view towards the setting sun. With the tide out, the beach extended about 100 feet. For sunrise, tidal pools formed in old coral reefs or limestone bedrock. The center of the island raised far above the tide. The open nature of the island meant that the breeze would help keep the no-see-ums away after the sun went down. It seemed likeโฆ
-
Press Release: Attempt to Circumnavigate the World Suspended
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Unattempt to Circumnavigate the World by Kayak Suspended Grand Marais, Minnesota (April 1, 2013) โ Today expedition paddler Bryan Hansel indefinately suspended his attempt to attempt a never before attempted kayaking route in the pursuit of becoming the first person in the world to circumnavigate the world by kayak. He was attempting the solo expedition to bring attention to the slowest growing religion in the world, The Church of the Latter-Day Dude. The expedition was set to start on the Great Lakes, travel to England via Greenland and Iceland. Then journey to the Mediterranean Sea to the Suez Channel and around India, with a short jaunt belowโฆ
-
The Roadless Coast Kayaking Trip Documentary is Now Free
Today, the award-winning film Ikkatsu: The Roadless Coast available for viewing to the public. This is about a kayaking trip that documented the Japanese Tsunami debris along the Washington coast. Hereโs the blurb from the movie: In March of 2011 Japan suffered a devastating earthquake followed by a series of equally devastating tsunamis. As the waters receded, an estimated 1.5 million tons of debris was washed back into the Pacific โ all of which was destined to land on distant shores. In the summer of 2012 three professional kayakers, supported by a staff of mainstream scientists started an unprecedented journey; paddle the roadless coast of Washington to survey the debris on someโฆ
-
How to Install a NDK Kayaks High Performance Seat
If you own an older NDK (Nigel Dennis Kayaks), now called Sea Kayaking UK, youโve probably experienced a broken seat. The older seats were fiberglassed into the kayak under the deck and that fiberglass would eventually tear away. The standard replacement was a foam seat, but now you can install a NDK high performance seat yourself. It takes about 2 hours to install a high performance seat, although it can take much less time if youโre used to repairing kayaks. Even if you donโt need to replace your old seat, you may want to consider a new seat, because theyโre much more comfortable and the built-in back band is great. Theโฆ
-
Solo Stove: a Lightweight Cooking Solution
Iโd like to announce a new advertiser on PaddlingLight.com. Today, we added Solo Stove, a wood-burning backpacking stove that can also be used with alcohol burners as a backup. The Solo Stove boils a quart of water in about eight to ten minutes using sticks, twigs, pine cones or other burnable items. It weighs 9 ounces and fits inside a 4.5 inch by 4.7 inch pot. Both the pot and stove weigh just over a pound when taken together. This is only an ounce heavier than a PocketRocket stove setup (without the fuel) and it comes close to a popcan stove setup if you include the fuel for the popcan. On longer trips,โฆ
-
Press Release: Kayaker to Attempt to Circumnavigate the World for a Cause
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Kayaker to Unattempt a New Route for a Cause Grand Marais, Minnesota (March 2, 2013) โ Starting on April 1st, 2013 expedition paddler Bryan Hansel will attempt a never before attempted kayaking route in the pursuit of becoming the first person in the world to circumnavigate the world by kayak. Heโs attempting the solo expedition to bring attention to the slowest growing religion in the world, The Church of the Latter-Day Dude. Hansel begins his journey in the Great Lakes where heโll paddle from Grand Marias, Minn. on Lake Superior out the Saint Lawrence Seaway. After reaching the Atlantic coast, heโll head north and cross the gap between North Americaโฆ
-
Kayaking Norwayโs Lofoten Islands
In 2008, a friend and I took a trip to Norwayโs Lofoten Islands to kayak and tour the countryside. I wrote about the Fram Museum Kayaks in Oslo before, but Iโve never written about the trip itself. I usually write a bit more about the nitty gritty details of my trips, but this time, Iโm mainly going to include photos and talk slideshow style, because the trip had its upsides and downside due to the nature of how it was designed by a tour company we hired โ we didnโt kayak camp and we sometimes drove to new places to kayak instead of starting at one point and making ourโฆ
-
Winter Canoe Paintings
Each winter photographers and painters from around the Midwest gather at the YMCA canoe camp Menogyn for the Grand Marais Art Colonyโs Winter Arts Festival. This year, the artโs festival ran from January 25th to February 1st. During the week, plein air painters, Neil Sherman, Matt Kania and Tom McGregor painted canoes racked for the winter at the camp. The contrast between the white snow and blues, reds and greens of the canoes popped off the wall during the show that runs all of February at the Grand Marais art colony. (Featured painting by Tom McGregor.) I caught up with each of the painters and asked them a few questions: PaddlingLight: Canoes,โฆ
Or if you use a RSS Feed Reader subscribe via our RSS Feed.