John

-FVS-

You live about an hour north of San Francisco, near the canoeing sites on the Russian River? Stay home in October, because I coming out to see you. I’ll have the LongBoat on my car and we’ll dip it a creek somewhere. I would love to get back into that tidal thing again. I had a flat bottomed lake kayak in Florida and I would ride the outgoing tide up the inland waterway from Lake Worth to Palm Beach Island at night and then ride the incoming tide back down the waterway the next morning. I miss the tidal flows. Everything in Michigan is one-way current. We should start a new forum on this stuff. Maybe other people are into it. Things are back to normal now with the water level around here so I’m back to playing tennis and lifting weights but the canoe is hanging in the garage, and I’m never more than twenty minutes from launching if something comes up, so there will be more occasions soon for canoeing videos and more stories to tell. Here is a photo I took on my birthday in 2007 (Thanksgiving Day) from my canoe on Mill Creek.
http://twitpic.com/8diph

I’ll start a River Sports Forum now.

–FVS–

Now you know why I like coastal living so much: I can do it all solo (if I so choose) and with just 1 car because the tidal flow at sea level provides assistance in either direction eventually. Plus, we have salt marshes full of interesting wildlife and and endless beautiful scenery. But don’t get lost in one and let the tide go out before you find your way back. :lol: It’s all in the timing.

But even where I’m miles and miles upriver, away from the tidal influence, I’ve often found that I can pick my way quite a distance upstream if I avoid the main current channels and stick to the quieter pools and eddies around the banks, sometimes crossing over to the opposite side to access a calm area when necessary.

If you find the right spot on a river (a section that’s not as steep) or wait until the flow is suitable for such an activity, you’ll see that it’s often possible to go several miles in the canoe without having to use 2 cars. But never assume you can paddle back upstream after you’ve allowed the river to take you down a ways. I always paddle upstream first, going as far as I’m able, then I clunk back down to the car. Heck, I already feel guilty using the car just to haul my boat to the put-in. :|

You’re so right that it’s hard to control the boat when the current is going faster than you are. In fact, it’s impossible to accomplish much else besides limping over toward the bank. Unless I’m facing upstream, I prefer to move faster than the current because otherwise I just can’t steer, and that means I’m at the stream’s mercy and can’t control which part to use when the stream makes a bend.

I never want to be too close to the outside of the turn and be run up against the bank, nor is it preferable to stray too close to the inside of the turn because it’s shallow there, so you run into snags, bars, and shoals. You’ll get the nose entangled in an underwater snag or sandbar, and the next thing you know the current’s pushing your tail out into the deep, fast part. Then you’re going sideways or backwards downstream before you can even blink. Hate when that happens! :shock:

“Sweeper” branches and inundated trees are another matter entirely. If you see them coming in time (from far enough upstream) to reposition yourself so they can be avoided, you’re golden.

But the faster the current, the less calculation time you get for this critical analysis because you need to be moving faster than the current in order to steer at all.

If the current is swift, you must paddle hard to get ahead of it AND reposition your boat laterally in the stream (change lanes, so to speak) so they’re no longer directly in your way. And you have to do it enough ahead of time to get ready for whatever’s coming up next. While it might get you past the dreaded sweeper, this may result in going a little too fast to successfully negotiate any hairpins or rocks, sills, or other boaters (Goddess forbid!) below the difficulty, however.

A sill is an obstruction (like a log) running roughly perpendicular to the current just below the surface. Because the keel of a canoe is linear like an arrow (as opposed to a wide, square, flat-bottom boat, raft, etc.) it will always roll to one side or the other when going over a sill because the tail hangs up on it, the boat teeters, and then into the soup you go.

Sometimes this can be avoided by trying to bring the keel parallel to the sill and “hopping” off to one side over the sill while bracing with the paddle on the upstream side (rarely works, trust me) but I found it faster, easier and safer to bite the bullet and go ashore so I can lower the boat over logs, low spillways, etc. using a strong line instead.

The Russian River is fairly close to me, and you’d be amazed at the number of people out on that water who rent canoes and haven’t the slightest idea which way is up. I’ve seen people trying to steer the boat from the front seat (as if it were a car), and putting their five-year-old in the back seat. Then they wonder why they keep crashing. :roll:

http://twitvid.io/abV2

All good things to those who canoe.

— FVS –

Areas that rarely flood can be way hazardous sometimes. That looked cool, though. Thanks for posting the links, I enjoyed them both.

I love creekin’ in my canoe! We have some real nice high tides around the full and new moon in midwinter and midsummer that raise the levels in all the creeks here on the west coast by several feet.

I like to use an incoming tide to help push me upstream for quite a distance, then hang for awhile and use an outgoing tide to get back. Makes for fun camping and day-tripping. And, although there is always some degree of risk in any boating experience it follows a nice predictable pattern. That’s something every captain can appreciate. Creekin’ SO rules.

On Father’s Day I shared an old canoe voyage DVD with my pop (taped in 2001). We watched it simultaneously while talking together on the phone since he’s pretty far away.

Make sure you keep a spare paddle in the boat, FVS. If you don’t have one, get one. If you can’t get one, you may have one of mine. Others are depending on you. :cool:

Peace.

-p9

Father’s Day for me was a canoe trip.
Here’s how it started:
http://twitvid.io/abTF

And here’s some Father’s Day morning music from Beck:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNgA38SZ3js

How did you spend Father’s Day?