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Tarptent Double Rainbow Review
Tarptent’s Double Rainbow, introduced in 2006, received consistently good reviews on the Internet, so late in 2007, I decided to purchase one. During 2008, I used the tent exclusively. This tent has some good and bad points. Initial Thoughts Upon Receiving the Tarptent When I decided to purchase the Double Rainbow, I noticed a waiting list, so I exchanged emails with Henry Shires, the owner of Tarptent. He quickly answered all the email I sent to him before the purchase, so I made the assumption that the customer service would be quite good. Settled on a long wait, somehow my Double Rainbow showed up at the door a little earlier…
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Print Your Own NOAA Charts
Note: Check out this updated article: Print NOAA Charts for Free. Printing your own NOAA Marine Charts is easy, produces a map exactly the size needed, and provides exactly the coverage needed. These are a few of the reasons to print your own, but equally compelling is that at 36″ to 60″, commercially produced NOAA Marine Charts are too big for practical use in a sea kayak, and buying them is expensive. If you were to buy an updated NOAA Marine Chart from the only approved print-on-demand on-line dealer, you’d spend $26 per chart plus shipping. The great news is that you can download NOAA Marine Charts for free and with…
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Public Radio Interview with Nessmuking Author Bryan Hansel
This interview appeared on WTIP and The Roadhouse with Buck Benson and Bob Carter. The interview is covering my (Bryan’s) Around the Great Lake Expedition 2009. Click Here to Listen: Around the Great Lakes on the Roadhouse with Buck and Bob [22mb, mp3] Learn more about the Around the Great Lake Expedition 2009.
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Kayaker Plans 5-month 3,800 Mile Circumnavigation of All Great Lakes
Grand Marais, MN – February 14, 2009 – On May 2, photographer, writer, guide Bryan Hansel will paddle out of the Grand Marais, MN harbor on a 5-month, 3,800-mile solo kayak circumnavigation of all the Great Lakes. During this expedition, Hansel will attempt to become the first person to complete this circumnavigation by kayak. His goals for the trip are to produce a book from photographs taken, to promote paddlesports participation and resource protection on the Great Lakes. “With this trip, I plan to call attention to the increasing pressure placed on this area and highlight the world-class paddling opportunities. I believe that by increasing paddlesport participation, we will advance…
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Canoecopia 2009: Canadian Style Canoeing with the Kraikers
Video I shot at Canoecopia 2009 at the impressive pool demonstration by the Kraikers. They were demonstrating the Canadian style to solo canoe, which as you’ll see is one of the best ways to paddle a double canoe solo. Canoecopia sale floor from above:
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Siskiwit Bay Multi-Chined Kayak Plans for Plywood Building
Description: The Siskiwit Bay MC is all-around fast mid-sized British-style touring kayak designed for plywood building. This kayak suits a medium to heavy paddler looking for good initial stability and with increased flare above the waterline lots of secondary stability. As the water gets rougher, this kayak feels more stable. It’s a fast design slightly more efficient than most British kayaks in its class. Designed by Bryan Hansel. Experimental: Since the Siskiwit Bay plans became available on the Internet, I’ve received requests for a plywood version of the kayak. The SB was originally designed as a multi-chined boat for plywood building using the excellent HULLS software. I’ve taken the original…
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8 Easy Ways to Go Lighter
Lightening the load in your kayak or canoe saves you energy, makes your load easier to portage, and ends up making camp life easier. These 8 easy tips are a few ways that you can reduce your load. Store your composite kayak or canoe upside with the hatches open. As composite materials age, they can absorb water, which makes your canoe or kayak heavier. If as little as a quart of water absorption, you’re craft will gain 2 pounds. Not only does this matter on the portages and for car topping, but a heavier boat performs worse on the water. New dry bags are now lighter and just as waterproof,…
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How to Photograph Northern Lights
It’s two in the morning, the northern lights are dancing across the sky and having to remember how to set a camera to record the blazing greens and reds is made easier with a simple cheat sheet. Clip this article, laminate it and stick it in your camera bag, so it’ll be handy next time the Aurora Borealis are lighting up the sky. Digital photography makes capturing pictures of the northern lights effortless. You’ll need a digital camera that can take long exposures and has noise reduction. A tripod is a must and a remote release or self-timer is helpful. Follow these steps and you’re sure to come away with…
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An Example Lightweight First Aid Kit
The knowledge of wilderness medicine is a primary skill for wilderness travel and once trained in wilderness medicine, you can start to put together a First Aid kit that will meet your needs. Below is the list that I’ve come up with for my needs when out on trips with 2 to 4 people and up to 10 days. Training Anyone traveling into the outdoors on day trips or multiple day trips should at a minimum have first aid training. Most basic first aid training is designed to keep a person alive until an ambulance arrives or until a hospital is reached. In the wilderness, an ambulance or hospital may…
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Cape Falcon Kayak Lightweight Gear List
Talk about going light, Brian Schulz of Cape Falcon Kayaks lists his standard kayak camping list in a thread at the Qajaq USA. His basic camping list: Clothing 1 set of quick dry clothes, no underwear, a warm sweater a hat Shelter System foam pad sleeping bag tarp Cooking System 1 qt pot a spoon knife 3 bic lighters msr 10L water bladder nalgene bottle Emergency Gear and First Aid roll of duct tape bottle of cipro benadryl Extra Gear book headlamp Other hat He writes as far as camping goes, when I look at most peoples kit’s I just shake my head and ask “What IS all this shit?”…
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Website Update and Moving Forward
Several years ago, I started Paddlinglight.com as a hobby website and a place to hold my writing. Since then, it’s morphed beyond my original scope now with 12 authors, over 125 articles and pages, and over 27,000 monthly page views. My hobby website has turned into an information source for fellow adventurers, boat builders, and wilderness enthusiasts. I’ve been excited by the expansion, and for the last year I’ve known that at some point I would have to upgrade the website from basic html to a content management system. For the last three months, I’ve been working to change all the old static html pages to this new version of…
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Borden to Grand Rapids: A River Traveller’s Challenge
Robert Pruden returns to the pages of Nessmuking with the next installment of his journey to the sea.
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Skiing the Cascade River
In Northern Minnesota in winter, skiing down the frozen rivers is an exciting activity. A broken ski binding on the Cascade River turns a short ski into an adventure.
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Shoulder High: A Georgian Bay Trip
Bryan Hansel and Steve Hauptli find adventure in the 30,000 Island area of Georgian Bay. On a four day trip, they're pounded by gale force winds in an attempt to make it to the Bustard Rock Lighthouses. This is the tale of their 50 mile trip.
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IN THE WILDS OF PATAGONIA
Eager to protect the dramatic landscapes of western Patagonia, Cristian Donoso will lead a 5-month expedition by kayak to this region, one of the most inhospitable places on earth, in 2007. With its labyrinth of rocky islands, serpentine channels and icy fjords, western Patagonia, in southern Chile, is one of the least-explored areas on earth, with annual rainfall reaching up to eight metres and winds frequently rising to hurricane force. Nestled among glaciers that hug the slopes of steep Andean peaks and drenched by storms that blow out of the southern Pacific, the harsh region deters all but the hardiest explorers. That has not stopped Cristian Donoso, a young Chilean…
