Re: [Paddlewise] In Praise of Tandem Kayaks

I haven't been a big fan of doubles since I spent a couple of years with one
while married to my first wife (I wish I could remember her name) more than
35 years ago. Her idea of brisk paddling was to occasionally dab the tip of
the paddle into the water if I started to sound cranky.  In 1972 we took
that boat around the Bowron Lakes; portages with that boat (and her) became
a torture test of the highest magnitude. By 1974 both she and the double
were gone; replaced (both of them) by a Grumman 15-foot "light" aluminum
canoe. I say "light" because Grumman, back in those days, did produce a very
lightweight version of their 15-foot canoe.

That light weight aluminum canoe was useful both as a double and as a
single. It would carry quite a load yet be relatively easy to paddle. It
carried me, my dog, my gear and eventually my wife (Sue) and our kids on
lakes, ponds, rivers and even salt water now and then. Someone stole it from
our front yard (facing a lake north of Everett, WA) and by then Grumman no
longer offered the lightweight version; but we got another 15-footer anyway.

There is a paddler in B.C. who posts on the West Coast Paddler site who
undertakes (hmm.... perhaps the wrong word choice... oh, well) expeditions
in a double canoe. Occasionally being let off the ferry in mid-channel and
picked up by the same ferry mid-channel (but another channel) a week or two
later. His trip reports (look for "Monster") are wonderful to read and his
photos are beautiful.

Sue and I can paddle a canoe pretty quickly without much spray off the
paddles only changing sides when we get tired of whatever side we've been
paddling on. The stern paddle makes a fine rudder; a technique most canoists
don't seem to have grasped.

The canoe tradition runs culturally deep in my family (my wife and kids are
members of the Chinook tribe) and all along the northwest coast of North
America. And it's a wonderful cultural tradition across Canada and the
northern USA. World wide, in fact; I've paddled native canoes in Brazil on
the Amazon and the Rio Negro rivers (where you traditionally paddle from the
front).

Loaded properly and paddled skillfully you can take a canoe anywhere you can
take a kayak and carry a lot more gear, too.

So I'd like to add my words of praise for a well-designed canoe.

Craig Jungers
Moses Lake, WA
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