Comments on: Your Partner Deserves a Good Paddling: Advice on Canoeing

By: sadie

sadie — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 19:23:48 +0000

NE, that’s funny, because one of my teachers, who often took me canoeing, went to great lengths upon hearing of my engagement to get in touch with me, so that she could tell me that I MUST go canoeing with my fiance before I married him. I laughed, because I had already made sure to do so (I had to make sure he would be okay with me in the stern!). We went canoeing on our honeymoon and seven years later, still laugh about getting rained out and hitchhiking to a cabin because we couldn’t stand to be soaking wet for another day!

One woman in my canoe class told me that she and her husband had resorted to a “canoe truce” in which, as she said, “His paddle is for steering. My paddle is for handing him his sandwich and his beer.” My aunt simply recommended that my husband and I never be shy about needing separate kayaks from time to time. :)

By: NE

NE — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 20:55:23 +0000

As a therapist and a paddler I think couples would be well advised to commit to one hour of paddling together before commiting a lifetime together in marriage. Your ability to work together and communicate is quickly challenged in a canoe. You will also know your partners priorities as soon as you tip. Did she scramble to high ground leaving you, your supplies, and your vessle to sink? What do you think she’ll do in emergency situations later?
Don’t lose hope if the first trip is a little rough. My beloved and I set out on a four day canoe race the first time we crawled into a canoe together. Within the first half hour we had our first major fight and were incredibly cruel to one another but we both recognized we had hundreds of miles to go and had to work together to get there. It might seem easier to throw in the paddle but we found the canoe a great training ground for the rest of our life and have genuinely enjoyed the adventure ever since.

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 17:28:38 +0000

One of my fondest memories of my youth involved a canoe. Mom and Dad took the youngest seven kids to an amusement park. We rented three canoes and paddled off into the “lake” (actually a pond with delusions of grandeur). Well, my youngest brother, a toddler, got away from Mom and Mom lunged for him. The canoe capsized. Two sisters and I saw this and paddled over to help. My youngest brother was scared so he grabbed on to Mom’s legs – underwater. Mom brought him to the surface, then handed him off to us. She waded to shore.

Dad, on the other hand, was stuck. He’d lost a leg in WWII and he couldn’t pull the wooden leg out of the mud at the bottom of the lake. Park employees had to help.

This memory is still crystal clear four decades later.

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 17:17:35 +0000

And let’s not forget the joys of canoe CAMPING. I spent years as a backpacker before I found out about canoe camping. All those tortured decisions about how much things weigh… one ply vs. two ply toilet paper, aluminum cookware vs cast iron, zippo lighter vs. plastic bic… now I just throw the 20 lb dutch oven in the canoe and don’t worry about it, along with lawn chairs, coolers full of frosty beverages, and even my old beater guitar. Heaven!!!

We try to make a 3-4 day trip to the Buffalo River in NW Arkansas every few years. The upper river gets all the attention because of the white water, but I love the placid and calm lower river, where we have gone a full day before without seeing another living soul. I haven’t canoed in a ton of places, but if you are into multi-day trips it is hard for me to imagine a better playground than the Buffalo.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 14:51:56 +0000

I banged around in canoes as a kid and then didn’t canoe for maybe ten years in favor of kayaks. Now I’m back to canoes. I love the way canoes sit on the water and their movement is so different and, IMO, more refined than kayaks.

I had a great adventure once off the coast of Maine in an open deck canoe when a buddy and I, young and foolish, couldn’t con our friends with boats to take us fishing. Bluefishing in Penobscot Bay out of a canoe was an experience! I’m amazed that the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy tribes, the Indians of coastal Maine, used to take their canoes way off shore to harpoon swordfish and hunt seals. That’ some kind of manliness.

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 14:03:32 +0000

Canoeing seems like a lost art with the popularity of kayaking. I went canoeing last summer and had a great time. They’re fun to navigate down a nice calm river.

By: Indiana Thomas

Indiana Thomas — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 05:51:58 +0000

One of the most rewarding and defining moments of my early manhood was canoeing the Allagash in northern Maine. It allowed me to push my personal boundaries and grew my leadership abilities. Canoeing has been a life long pursuit and really appreciate the article.

The camp I went to is called Darrow Wilderness Camp. I would recommend anyone with kids in the age ranges they accept to go. http://www.darrowcamp.org

By: Shlotzsky

Shlotzsky — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 22:47:32 +0000

Make sure to never tip a canoe if you’re in the southern US (especially Florida.) You don’t want to end up as gator bait.

By: Bill

Bill — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 17:28:43 +0000

I have loved canoeing since I bought my first Watson Fibreglass ‘second’ for $150 in 1972. I cottage on the Ottawa River, and spend many hours exploring the back waters, snyes, and channels around Calumet Island. I avoid the rapids further downstream like the plague… leave them for the kayakers and rafters. I was recently at the Toronto Boat Show and saw a Swift carbon fibre solo canoe, 10 ft. long, weighing remarkable 12 pounds!! The salesman offered me to pick it up and I did… almost threw it over my head it was so much lighter than I expected. Now that I’m approaching 60 it might be worth the investment.

BTW – wasn’t it Pierre Burton who said the definition of a Canadian was someone who could make love in a canoe?

By: Darren

Darren — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 15:12:55 +0000

Chris,

Becky is a fine paddler in her own right. Good correction of an oversight. Thanks. I don’t have an autographed book (SCORE!) but I do own one of his paintings… a great story on how Canadians play nice in the sandbox.

And Bill…yes, it is not gentlemanly to poke fun at someone just because they know less. I wasn’t poking fun at them at the time…there was no need to, They were ashamed of themselves for putting themselves and their partners in a bad situation through ego and the inability to admit they were over their heads. Abandoning your wife stuck in the crotch of a tree and waiting downstream for her to extricate herself doesn’t strike me as particularly manly. That said, I promise to be kinder in the future, Seriously, I appreciate the reminder.

Justin…thank you. I have this great cartoon from an old strip called Pardon My Planet. It shows a minister standing before a couple and he says “Before I pronounce you man and wife, you need to paddle this canoe to the other side of this pond and back.” The couple both look terrified.

It is all about communication. My experience is that if a couple has a good marriage, they’ll be good paddling partners with only a little coaching. If it’s a non-communicative marriage, then it’s paddling upstream.

Paddle on,