Winter Solstice Poling Cruise

I don’t get out poling as much as I’d like to, but I was able to get out for a (day early) Winter Solstice Poling Cruise on the Nashua River. We did the section on the North Branch of the Nashua River from Leominster to Lancaster (MA). The river was about 2.5 feet on the Leominster gage - a perfect poling level. Its mostly a down river run that twists and turns through conservation land and two state forests. As we stopped for lunch the snow started, and we poled the last section in the snow. Video of the trip here thanks to Bob.


Snow made the drive home long and slow, but it was still worth it.

I've always wanted to try poling but never got around to it, looks like a lot of fun. Watching those pictures makes me wonder if anyone is going to grab one of those stand up paddle board paddles and paddle a canoe mostly standing up.

You should try it - its a lot of fun. Wood poles are pretty easy to make.

Lots of people paddle standing with the long paddle. Folks interested in that will also probably also have a pole in case they need to push upstreams or snub downstream.

That looked like a great trip. It must be nice to have some like minded paddlers near by.

memaquay said:

I've always wanted to try poling but never got around to it, looks like a lot of fun. Watching those pictures makes me wonder if anyone is going to grab one of those stand up paddle board paddles and paddle a canoe mostly standing up.

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Just carve yourself a six foot paddle and give it a try. I was introduced to it by an ex Maine Guide up in Ak. back in 91' and have been at it ever since. I always have a six footer with me as a second paddle. It works well for me in conjunction with a pole too, and I wear a Tilley hat.

The Tilley is important.

Were you fellas wearing dry suits? Do they keep you warm enough? Nice trip, I enjoyed the video, Thanks.

Everyone was wearing a drysuit - need it this time of year.

I forgot how cold it is poling with a metal pole. Between the metal and the water dripping off the pole my hands got cold. Fortunately, one of the guys had an extra set of globes that I could use after lunch. When I paddle hydroskin gloves are fine. Not for poling - the heaver the better, and bring a couple of pairs.

Very nice video and it encourages me to try poling, once the local river thaws out. The Nashua looks very much like my home stream the Root River just north of Racine WI.

memaquay said:

I've always wanted to try poling but never got around to it, looks like a lot of fun. Watching those pictures makes me wonder if anyone is going to grab one of those stand up paddle board paddles and paddle a canoe mostly standing up.

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I tried poling back in the mid 1970s, but didn't like it because we did a lot of deep-water paddling and a pole didn't seem of much use to me in deep water. That and I knew how to brace and there isn't one with a pole in deep water, or at least for me. I bought a 6-foot paddle and did a lot of standup paddling from the later '70s clear through the later twenty-teens, not sure when I stopped, but I was losing my equalibrium and no longer as comfortable with standing. It was likely a slow decline after 2015 and gone before 2020. It takes a paddle (for me at least) with a fairly burly bottom edge to the blade for those shallow spots when poling and pushing is required. And I had a brace when the water was deep. I think I went through about three or four paddles in that 40+ year standing phase and never broke one, just wore out blades. Certainly not all paddling was standing but it was a fair share, just a little bit solo, most tandem. Paddling solo in a boat with a pedestal seat is difficult, at least was for me.

Used to love paddling in the snow or on a morning with a fresh snowfall overnight. Silence. Ice on the paddle. Everything looked untouched. Magic.

Very idyllic and Robert Frost-ian, Erik. Thanks for posting this.

Nick Pending said:

I tried poling back in the mid 1970s, but didn't like it because we did a lot of deep-water paddling and a pole didn't seem of much use to me in deep water.

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When you come to deep water there is nothing wrong with kneeling or sitting (or even standing) and switching to a paddle. You also might be surprised how fast you can go in deep water standing and using the pole in a modified double blade/kayak stroke. (Don't worry, Harry Rock said it is OK. ) I sometimes hear it called the windmill stroke. My poling boat is an old Mohawk Whitewater 16 - fun to paddle tandem, but a bit of a barge to paddle solo. When everyone else switches to a paddle I tend to stay standing doing the windmill stroke, and I can easily keep up with them. The pole is a little over an inch wide, but put 3-4 feet of it in the water and you get pretty good leverage for the stroke, and you can do the stroke with a pretty fast cadence. You wouldn't do a lake crossing with it, but for those intermittent sections of deep water it works great.

eckilson said:

When you come to deep water there is nothing wrong with kneeling or sitting (or even standing) and switching to a paddle. You also might be surprised how fast you can go in deep water standing and using the pole in a modified double blade/kayak stroke. (Don't worry, Harry Rock said it is OK. ) I sometimes hear it called the windmill stroke. My poling boat is an old Mohawk Whitewater 16 - fun to paddle tandem, but a bit of a barge to paddle solo. When everyone else switches to a paddle I tend to stay standing doing the windmill stroke, and I can easily keep up with them. The pole is a little over an inch wide, but put 3-4 feet of it in the water and you get pretty good leverage for the stroke, and you can do the stroke with a pretty fast cadence. You wouldn't do a lake crossing with it, but for those intermittent sections of deep water it works great.

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Days on the water for me are likely over so this is all a virtual lesson for me now. If I'm standing with a paddle, I don't have to drop to a seat or kneel as I already have the paddle like I might have to do with a pole. And if I have a pole, that Harry Rock windmill stroke is too similar to a double blade for me, even if it doesn't have blades. Thinking about it makes me itch. Admitting to doing it is likely to get me kicked off the site. (That's a joke) And there still isn't a brace with a pole in deep water. That always bothered me in the deep water standing waves below a drop. Not saying it can't be done. I was just uncomfortable with it. That's me.

With a standup paddle I don't remember ever having to snub going downstream as you mentioned in an earlier note. I just eddied out instead, even if it's just into the slower water near shore. It's not as quick as a snub I do admit, but it seems to have worked for me when watching far enough ahead to give me room to do maneuvers (and might be easier on joints?). I likely did very occasionally snub with the paddle blade in shallow enough water, but not often enough to remember actually having done it. It was mostly the shallow water paddling that was hard on blade tips. It is a wonder I never broke a standing paddle. I don't remember breaking very many paddles in my career, except for some experimental types.

I haven't watched much SUP action vids, but have seen a few, and I understand they're doing a lot of whitewater now, even reasonably successfully. If you don't swim once in a while, you're not learning your limits -- yours and that of the craft you're in/on. There are two types of paddlers: those who have done a swim or two, and those who are going to.

Again, the above is all me. The mileage for others can and will vary. Different strokes for different folks.

Nick, I hope you still get some time on the water.

I use my six foot paddle quite a bit when poling. I don't do the windmill technique either. My poles are wood with a shoe on one end only, so that's the only end I get wet. If I come to a short deep stretch I may stick with the pole, using it like a single blade. If it's a longer deep stretch or I want maximum speed in a deep pool below a beaver dam I'll use my long paddle. In a long pool or slow moving water I'll sit with a regular length paddle to conserve energy. You can get a good brace with the pole, but they are short lived because I can't get much sculling action. If you're moving fast with the current you can get enough weight on the pole for an effective brace.

Snubbing is very effective. With proper trim and a good boat angle you can stop your boat dead in a pretty stiff flow.

lowangle al said:

I use my six foot paddle quite a bit when poling. I don't do the windmill technique either. My poles are wood with a shoe on one end only, so that's the only end I get wet. If I come to a short deep stretch I may stick with the pole, using it like a single blade. If it's a longer deep stretch or I want maximum speed in a deep pool below a beaver dam I'll use my long paddle. In a long pool or slow moving water I'll sit with a regular length paddle to conserve energy. You can get a good brace with the pole, but they are short lived because I can't get much sculling action. If you're moving fast with the current you can get enough weight on the pole for an effective brace.

Snubbing is very effective. With proper trim and a good boat angle you can stop your boat dead in a pretty stiff flow.

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Thanks, Al.

The poles I started out with were I think 10-foot wooden poles with a steel pointy shoe on one end, sold by Old Town that I bought from the canoe retailer I worked for at the time. I think maybe an inch and a half diameter? Sitka spruce sticks in my mind as the source wood, but not sure now. I don't remember what I ended up doing with them, likely gave them away long before I left the Chicago area. I've just recently (within the last few months) first seen the old Canadian log rafting vid that showed the guys riding the logs in the water with their pikes and slapping the water with them to stay upright. Talk about "round bottom" hulls! It shows in the film as always working, but I'm sure it didn't at times and guys got really wet and cold.

I don't remember doing any snubbing with or without a pole. I likely did it a few times with a paddle but don't remember it. Might have tried it with a pole, but it was way too long ago, mid '70s at the latest, likely earlier. With a paddle, the eddy turn is easy if there's sufficient room to spin the boat. I know sometimes there's not. Just a matter of watching ahead far enough for a route. Sometimes the route picked is wrong, or it's certainly happened to me.

For the record, @eckilson , I have crossed a lake, standing and kayak stroking with the pole.

I was surprised to find, quite by accident - or reflex - that I can do a brace with the pole. Seems natural to me now. What I can't do in deep water is a pry or a draw. I compensate for that with backferries, which fortunately are easy.

One thing that doesn't get talked about as much as it should IMO is the physical benefits of poling. Besides the full body workout one gets, the core strengthening and balance improvement are an advantage for overall health. And I believe there is an element of spinal alignment in play when done regularly - at least in my case. It has kept me out of the chiropractor's office, where I used to be too familiar.

Steve in Idaho said:

One thing that doesn't get talked about as much as it should IMO is the physical benefits of poling. Besides the full body workout one gets, the core strengthening and balance improvement are an advantage for overall health.

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It is a full body work-out - my body has been reminding me of that ever since the trip!