Open canoeing – The basics.

This article is going to give you a basic checklist for what you need to start off in the sport of canoeing, and I will try to give you a few rules of thumbs to follow when making decisions on bits of kit. Following articles will go into more depth regarding what paddle to buy and how to get the right size paddle, this one is all about the overview of what you need.

Firstly though I need to defend myself a little and say that I cant give you all the answers here, you will have to have a little trial and error as with anything in life.

So what are you going to need:
1. Boat
2. Paddle
3. Clothing
4. Safety Gear

1. Boat:-
The choices are massive, the varieties even more so, and to be honest the only way to get the right boat for yourself is to try as many as you can get your hands on. Perhaps the best way to do that is to go to one of the open canoe symposiums that are held annually around the country, fairly cheap to go to and the number of boats there to try are in the hundreds. If that isn’t your thing then here are a few pointers.
· Length, The longer the boat the more people and more gear that you can get into it, and usually the faster it is when covering flat water, BUT, the longer the boat is the less manoeuvrable it tends to be.
· Width, wider the canoe, the more gear you can get into it, but the slower it is for moving forward, and also can feel awkward when paddling solo.
· Hull shape, not an easy topic to cover in a few lines. A future article will look at hull shapes in more detail, but try as many as you can, and decide what you want, a shallow V hull like mad river is great for moving water and solo paddling, but can feel a little tippy tandem paddling on flat water. The rounded hulls of prospectors can feel tippy most of the time, but are very fast and nimble when you get used to them, the flat bottom hulls of rangers feel initially totally stable, but on wavey water and feel tippy. Try loads and then try some more!!
· Material, Depends totally on what you want to do with them. Heavy weight plastics can last longer and take more abuse, but are heavy to lift and carry and can crack and be harder to repair. Lightweight royalex is far easier to carry and throw around, but not a abrasion resistant, but so much easier to repair.

2. Clothing:-
As the two pictures show, you can wear anything, but mainly dependant on where you are paddling. Realistically normal walking clothing with waterproof trousers and coats will suffice for most wilderness paddling, specialist canoeing clothing is only going to benefit you when you start to go river paddling or winter paddling
3. Paddle:-
· See next few articles for much more detailed information, but your choice of paddle will depend on the locations that you will be paddling on most. Flat water needs long thin paddles, white water needs short wider paddles
4. Safety gear:-
· You need a buoyancy aid, not a life jacket as this restricts the paddling, but you definitely need a buoyancy aid. Not only does it keep you afloat if you fall in the water, but it also acts as another insulating layer in the colder months. You will see a lot of people, especially on wilderness trips not wearing their buoyancy aids, that is their choice, but I would always stress that you should.
· Helmets, well in an open canoe the need to wear a helmet is a debated point, I personally don’t wear one unless I think I might fall in, such as running rapids or poling etc. the rest of the time I don’t wear one. But I do always have it with me.
· First Aid kit, is I feel essential as with any activity that takes you into the wilds, you need to be able to patch yourself up if anything goes wrong.
· Repair kit, you would be wise to take a small repair kit with you to fix any bolts that may come loose or break in your canoe, nothing expensive, but a screw driver, spanner and a few spare nuts and bolts suitable for your canoe.
· Airbags, These are addition floatation buoyancy for your canoe and go in either end, essential for any wilderness trips, saves a load of hassle if your canoe tips over or gets swamped by waves
None of the above needs to be expensive, yes obviously the boat isn’t going to be cheap, but second hands ones are available, and ask your local canoe club, as they tend to have ones you can use cheaply is you’re a member.

Skills you need to learn:-
1. Forwards
2. Backwards
3. Turning round
4. Trim.
Those four skills will get you happily about on flat sheltered waters. When I mean sheltered I mean somewhere that doesn’t get to much wind and that you are never too far away from the bank if you fall in.

The ability to make the canoe move in a direction is in itself fairly easy, if we assume that there are two people in the canoe, then one person paddles on each side. Both paddle at the same time and the canoe should move in a straight line. Loads of factors can effect the outcome, be it, wind, strength, paddle postions etc etc. but with a few tries you should be able to get to where you want to go. The aim of the paddler when trying to go forwards or backwards is to get the paddle vertical, close to the canoe and the blade in the water nice and deeply

Forwards paddling checklist:-
· Opposite sides to each other
· At same time
· Reach infront
· Pull gently
· Paddle vertical
· Blade deep
· Follow centreline of canoe

Backwards is similar to forwards, just moving the paddles in the opposite direct to forwards.


To turn the canoe, as the diagrams show, you need to reach as far away from the canoe as possible and move the paddles in opposite directions to each other, the further the blades are away from the canoe the better the turning effect on the canoe.
Turning checklist for tandem:-
· Wide out from the canoe
· In an arc
· Quarter Circle only
· No bubbles from blade

Trim
Trim is possibly the most important word an open canoeist can learn about. This is the weight distribution within the canoe, whether the bow or stern is deeper in the water. This effects the canoes ability to go straight and how the wind effects the canoe.

For most conditions you want the back end (stern) of the canoe to be a little heavier than the front end (bow) of the canoe. This gets the stern of the canoe to act as a mini Keel and helps the canoe to track in a straight line.

If the bow is too heavy the bow digs in and the lighter back end can tend to skid out and the canoe tries to turn around. Packing your gear afloat and then checking it, can help you get the trim easily right.

Trim Check list for lightwinds:-
· Stern to be slightly heavier than the bow
· Stern to be slightly deeper in the water than the bow
· Get someone to look at you when your afloat to check this
· Move gear round in the boat to achieve this trim

Now the above is totally the basics, and will get you moving about on the water, to improve and to learn how to get your canoe effortlessly, safely and enjoyably around you need to get yourself onto a course, most two day courses will teach you what you need to get out and explore. Remember, that is why we have a canoe, to enable us to get to places that we wouldn’t normally be able to get to.

Richard Witheridge
Chief instructor
ProAdventure Ltd
Copyright 2007 ProAdventure Ltd

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