I too have a Winona Sundowner and it is about the best all around tandem canoe I have paddled. The tractor seats let you paddle long distances without back pain and it's usually the lightest thing on a portage - 18' and 42# in kevelar. But my all time favorite canoe is a Blackhawk Zephyr. It was billed as a freestyle tourer and has the sliding seat option. It paddles like a dream and hauls a bunch of stuff. I have had it in the Quitico for an 8 day solo trip, in the Atachafalaya swamp where the water often moved both ways on the same stream, on Caddo Lake, on the Texas, Louisiana line way back in the swampy areas where I had to navigate between closely growing cypress trees, on little white sand creek in the Florida panhandle, and on the Buffalo River in Arkansas, where I was canoe camping and paddling over standing waves on a 4.5 mile and hour current. I have had it on 2 to 3 foot waves in lakes as well. I once catered a trip and took all the food, dishes and pots and pans for 10 people for a weekend plus all my personal gear. I even paddled it at Caya Costa State Park, in the Gulf of Mexico, albeit with doubleblades. And speaking of double blades. I take them on trips so I can escort people back to the beginning if they find they can't paddle into the amount of wind we have that day and then can easily catch the group back up. I did 45 miles in a day and a half on the Texas Colorado river with a full load but with double blades. (The river may have been doing a half mile an hour on that trip. Also, before I got my sea kayak, I would paddle it with sea kayaks and easily keep up with them. Because the seat slides out completely, I can take it out and lay in the canoe and take a nap or birdwatch or, as I did on Buffalo Bayou in Houston on July 4th, watch the fireworks. Unfortunately this boat is no longer being made. I understand someone in St. Louis has the last. But I would like to buy the boat in a kevelar lay-up when I get too old and feeble to load this boat. So I hope it goes back into production. I particularly like it because it is asymmetrical and has a large buoyant bow and then narrows where I paddle so I can do a really straight stroke - actually I can angle it under the hull so it is much easier on my body to paddle. And finally, the sliding seat option allows the seat to be at either at two levels - the lower one to sit and the upper one to kneel/sit. I can't imagine a boat more functional and fun than this. And finally, it is fun to fish from and troll as you paddle. Marilyn Kircus *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Jul 10 2000 - 20:06:51 PDT
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