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Free Plans: 1910 St Francis Canoe
The St. Francis Canoe of About 1910 appears as Figure 81 in the Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America. Howard I. Chapelle notes that the canoe features a narrow, rockered bottom, and he notes that the model was popular with guides and sportsmen for forest travel. The almost vertical to slightly flared sides resemble a more modern canoe than some of the other free plans that I posted. Chapelle writes that some of the St. Francis canoes had midship tumblehome like the Malecite canoes, but that those were not marketed to sportsmen. As my Winter Free Canoe and Kayak Plan project draws to an end, I feel like…
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Kupilka Cup Review
I’ve always liked the look of a traditional wooden kuksa, a drinking cup made by the Sami people. When I saw the plastic and wood composite Kupilka cups, I fell instantly in love. I always wanted a wooden cup, but didn’t want the maintenance or weight that comes with it. The plastic version seemed like a good substitute. When I first saw the cups, availability was limited to Europe, but I managed to get a Kupilka 21 and a 5 in exchange for a review. The Kupilka 21 is a round cup with a molded handle that extends from the cup’s lip. The cup hold about 8 oz. It has…
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Mindfulness in Paddling Practice
Mindfulness, mindlessness, practice makes permanent and practice makes automatic are four topics that I’ve pondered lately. I think how they relate impacts directly on how much enjoyment a paddler experiences. In my experience, I enjoy experiences when I’m feeling the flow versus when my actions become automatic to the point that I don’t realize what I did until after it finished. I wonder how instructors can add the flow and mindfulness experience to paddling instruction. Paddling Instruction Methods One point emphasized during my American Canoe Association instructor trainings is that we should as instructors practice and emphasize that practice makes permanent. I whole-heartedly agree. We’re also taught that one method…
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Free Plans: Long Nose Ojibway Canoe
In the Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America, Howard Chapelle tells us that the most common type of Ojibway canoe northwest and west of Lake Superior was the “long-nose” form. The form shows a straight sheer, only slight rocker near the stems and a steeply upturned sheer near the stems. The stems were rounded and full. Chapelle seems to think that the combination features resulted in a clumsy and unfair looking canoe. He notes that the appearance didn’t affect the seaworthiness or paddling qualities. Later, he writes that Adney, the person who collected the lines, thought the long-nose canoes originated with the Dakotas before the Cree and Ojibway…
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Adding Ritual to Paddling Trips
Adding a ritual to the beginning of a paddling trip helps create a break from our normal life, which helps to enrich both our experience of the trip and our “real” lives after. After months of planning, organizing, packing and traveling, the start of a paddling trip is a relief. The instant of push-off removes all the responsibilities of home life and all preparation duties end. In that moment all that matters is the trip itself. The contrast between the moment before push-off and after is great. By adding a ritual at that moment, the paddler can recognize the contrast and celebrate the break life’s continuity. The recognition of the…
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Navigation: Fixes and Triangulation
When lost or slightly misplaced while kayaking or canoeing, if you have a view of a couple of landmarks you can get a fix, which is the navigational term for finding an “X” that marks the spot. The “X” is your location. The process is a quick and easy way to find your location. For a more exacting needs, finding your location with triangulation involves only one extra step. Getting a Navigation Fix First, find a line of position, which is a line that runs from a landmark to your position. You can take a bearing with your compass or find a range to get a line of position. To…
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Free Canoe Plans: Malecite Racing Canoe of 1888
In 1888, Jim Paul and Peter Polchies built the Malecite Racing Canoe of 1888 for Lt. Col. Herbert Dibble of Woodstock notes Howard I. Chapelle in The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America. This 19-foot, 30-inch canoes, which appears as figure 66 in his book, shows flare in the center and tumblehome towards the ends. Its sleek hull looks fast. The original was built lightly built and much decorated. There’s something about Malecite canoes. The lines seem to draw my eyes, and the canoe in this free plan does the same. I imagine that it’s a tender but fast ride, and I think it looks like a fast…
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Kayaking Through Winter Sea Ice
Winter kayaking opens up new worlds to paddle through. The ice changes the shoreline from just-another-sand-beach to towering cliffs of ice chuck full of caves. This is especially true on large bodies of water that produce sea ice, like the oceans and the Great Lakes. Not only is ice interesting to look at, but it also has fascinating names, such as grease ice, pack ice, bergy bits, frazil ice and my favorite, because it looks cool and sounds delicious, pancake ice. Next time you kayak through ice, think about the fun names and become a winter-ice geek by using them. Read more about Winter Kayaking. And remember, winter kayaking is…
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Hiking Eagle Mountain, Minnesota
It’s winter and even though the winter paddling on Lake Superior is still great, I do like to explore the snowy aspects of Minnesota. I’ve never hiked up Eagle Mountain, Minnesota’s highest point, in winter before, so I decided it was about time. Eagle Mountain is part of the Misquah Hills in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. And at 2,301 feet, it’s the tallest mountain in Minn. It’s also only 15 miles from Minnesota’s lowest point on Lake Superior. In the summer, some people race the Minnesota Lowest to Highest Duathalon Challenge from the lake near Grand Marais’ bike shop to the summit and back — first on bikes…
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Free Kayak Plan: Koryak Kayak
This style of kayak, used in the Sea of Okhotsk, is the only distinctive Asiatic type, says Howard I. Chapelle in the Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America. It is a hunting boat designed for calm waters. Chapelle notes that it shares the same form as hunting and fowling stiffs used in America. He also notes that the Koryaks weren’t daring canoemen and stayed out of rough water. Paddlers of the boat drawn in this week’s free kayak plans used two ping-pong-looking paddles to move the boat. It is, reportedly, highly maneuverable. This kayak was seriously easy to model. It’s also the shortest boat that I’ve modeled in…
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8 Canoe and Kayak Photography Composition Tips
Using good compositional techniques can turn a boring picture into an interesting one. These photography tips will help give your canoe and kayak images pop. Next time you go paddling try these and see the difference they make. They will make your kayak expedition photography or canoe expedition photography pop. Canoe and Kayak Expedition Photography Composition The following eight tips are just a few of many. Think of them as techniques that you can use to accomplish a goal similarly to how different paddle strokes move your canoe or kayak in different ways. Use a tip when it works, but discard it when it does in favor of something that…
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Boundary Waters (BWCA) Primer
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota protects 1.09 million acres of Boreal forest and lakes under the Wilderness Act of 1964 and the 1978 BWCA Act. The U.S. set aside the area to provide a place “where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” It is one of two protected canoe areas in the U.S. The other one, the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Canoe Trail System, is in Alaska. A typical BWCA experience takes a visitor across lakes and the portage trails connecting them into an unspoiled forest. Because most the area’s 1,000 lakes and over 2,200 backcountry campsites are only accessible by water, the…
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Free Kayak Plan: Southern Alaskan Baidarka Plans
The Southern Alaskan Baidarka appears as figure 179 in Edwin Tapppan Adney and Howard I. Chapelle’s The Bark Canoes and Skin Boat of North America. This is the only tandem kayak in the book, and the only known style of kayak that was built with more than one seating position — sometimes baidarkas had three. Chapelle notes that this kayak has the stern like the Kodiak kayaks but the hull and bifid bow of the better known Aleutian boats. The original boat in the Washington State Historical Society and Museum is damaged. John Heath took the lines in 1962 and corrected for the damage in his plans. This by far…
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Tarptent Cloudburst 2 Review
In early 2009, I traded a Tarptent Double Rainbow for a Cloudburst 2. For various reasons, I didn’t like the Double Rainbow, but I wanted to try another Tarptent before I wrote off the category. Tim Smith, the owner and founder of Jack Mountain Bushcraft School, says “It takes four nights to own a shelter.” But, I think it takes slightly longer to really know how a shelter performs. I need to see how it performs in hot humid weather, rain, cold, wind and more before I really know how to rate it. I usually like to spend 30 nights in a tent or under a tarp before I write…
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Simplicity in Wilderness Travel
A trend in ultralight-speak is defining “simplicity” and its meaning within the context of personal relationships with wilderness travel. A couple of examples: Ryan Jordan writes on his blog about Wilderness Simplicity, Flexibility, and Power: I love Brent Simmon’s recent post about flexibility and power in the context of iOS Apps, and especially, his brilliant observation that …flexibility is just a tool to use exceedingly sparingly, only when it substantially increases power. There’s a lot of meat in this statement, with direct relevance to trekking, and trekking gear. Now, it depends on how one might define power. Traditional definitions might equate power to speed, or distance. A more thoughtful person…
