The solo mystique

[stripperguy]

You folks are killing me!! I mean that in a good way. I have always enjoyed alternate perspectives, from a mountain top, in a canoe, through the perception of someone else...
I read the article and save for the dated vernacular, it actually brought out quite the nostalgia trip for me. Around the time of that article's release, I had a subscription to Wilderness Camping, in fact, I can clearly recall reading that very article. I was young and strong, and likely more opinionated than Mr. Galt!
My Darling Bride and I would paddle regularly on the Mohawk, trying in vain to catch Harry (Roberts) in his fancy, elitist Sawyers. We would load up the canoe and camping gear and think nothing of paddling in to St Regis Pond at midnight, carrying in the moonlight.
No internet, no virtual communities, just a great magazine with an opinionated editor... And it couldn't have been better!! Yeah, it was a good time.

So now I sit here with my lifetime of experience, my enormous wisdom (right!) and my shriveling biceps, and my head full of sugar plums past.
Would I trade all this to be back there, reading that article, so long ago?? Chasing after Harry? Paddling, carrying, camping at the drop of a hat?
Maybe for a day or two...

 

[Robin]

To be lumped with Murat and OM to me is a good thing. YC and I have been friends for quiet a while, so what she says is fine by me.
I have never had a lesson nor been really instructed in the correct way to handle a paddle, but in the times I have spent cruising Canadian or Adirondack lakes next to her while solo she never corrected me, for that I am grateful.
I read what some say about paddling a canoe solo and I try to learn, but in the end, I do what fits me. Some mornings I wake up and a wrist might have a little twist to it from age, a shoulder might not have the push it had yesterday, so I adjust, try to make some miles and be happy I'm still out there.
I liked this thread.

 

[Waterdog]

....good manners and basic civility dictate that a person ought not piss in the other fellows canoe.

Thanks OM, one of many eloquently stated phrases that can only come from this board.

Cheers,

Barry

 

[yellowcanoe]

Thanks OM, one of many eloquently stated phrases that can only come from this board.

Cheers,

Barry

That"s another Moldyism.. He is quite elite with words! ( is Moldyism a new word?)

 

[Robin]

One more thought...

When people start referring to another person by their initials, there is a sort of elitist sound there. I see that alot on the web, and in some of those old magazines. (I'm not talking about Oldie Moldy or OM as he is sometimes refereed to)
I'm not going to name names (or I should say name initials), but it happens and I guess if folks refer to you by your initials in a post or story before your full name is even mentioned, hey, your pretty much elite to me.

Not a bad thing, you paid your dues, got er done, walked the walk, enjoy the recognition and respect.

Me, I just like some old stuff, don't give a hoot how fast I go nor do I really care if others go fast. I go alone, avoid others and prefer to watch the sun set by myself. I don't consider that elite, just a little different than some others.

Which reminds me of the time I was fishing out of my canoe near the locks on Saranac Lake in NY's ADK's.
A group of paddlers in fast solo boats went by and one of them mentioned that I looked "right out of LL Bean". Funny guy, it drew some snickers, but you know the type. I'll bet every Chestnut Canoe I have in the barn that he or any of his brightly colored friends would have been silent and maybe even given me a friendly nod had they been alone.

OK, I was in a wood canvas canoe, black lab up front, wearing a wool shirt with suspenders, whipping a fly rod around popping for bass, I might have looked the look to them.

It takes all types to be an elitist.

 

[Tim in Wa.]

I've been considering building a solo cedar strip canoe,I'm 6'-1" and 200 lbs.any suggestions on a good design?
Tim

 

[yellowcanoe]

Tim maybe that deserves its own thread. Do you want to paddle a tandem solo or a dedicated solo?

 

[Guest]

Solo canoes are nice and I even considered buying one. I did own a Radisson at one time but after I purchased my first yak I was hooked! On my way back from Rock Pond through Little Tupper Lake we paddled into 40 mph gusts of wind. I noticed stranded canoes all along the shore line! I was happy to have my yak as I had a long ride back to Rochester!

 

[yellowcanoe]

Solo canoes are nice and I even considered buying one. I did own a Radisson at one time but after I purchased my first yak I was hooked! On my way back from Rock Pond through Little Tupper Lake we paddled into 40 mph gusts of wind. I noticed stranded canoes all along the shore line! I was happy to have my yak as I had a long ride back to Rochester!

I have a kayak for the ocean but my solo canoes do fine in a high wind.. They are much different from a Radisson and as they are narrower and not much shorter quite a bit quicker than your average tandem, horsepower to horsepower.

Its fine to use a kayak though as you age you might like the versatility of a canoe. One of my peeves is people making kayaks fit a paddling ecosystem that they are not prepared to make adaptations for.

Such as dragging kayaks across Algonquin portages. If you have to portage you have to have a decent way of carrying the kayak.

 

[oldie moldy]

Hi Yellow Canoe, I'm not sure I understand about your peeve; is it that they (the person and dragging kayak) get underfoot on maybe a congested carry? I was trying to visualize it and it almost seemed that the crime and punishment (pulling the thing) were combined in one act.

Or maybe the dragging beats up the trail more; or maybe various fragments of kayak found along the path look unsightly? Now, that's something the LNT guys can get on like the duck on a june bug.

Now, I'm stuck doing foolish things pretty much on a regular basis, but I do really try not to do them out in public. I'd think that after a little bit the puller would realize the figure he's cutting and amend his ways. Probably the echo of canoer's giggles in his passage ought to help him in the maturation process.

Best Wishes, Rob

PS: I seem to remember my girls had some kind of toy duck on a string, they'd pull it and it would quack, maybe those kayaks should have a quacker attached, that way everyone could get ready to be amused as it passes.

 

[Guest]

My definitions
Elitist: does something well that relatively few can do well.

Quibble: An elitist is someone who thinks he (sometimes she) is better than you because of some real or imagined quality. It could be skill or money or just insecurity.

An expert is someone who meets your definition of elitist. Some might even think of you that way. Take it as intended - as a compliment.

A mentor is an expert with a small, dense ego (rather than the big gas-bag type) who's willing to share expertise and wants only your growth for compensation.

 

[sweeper]

And a "Paddler" is someone who wouldn't go to the woods with an 'Elitist' (more then once).

 

[Steve in Idaho]

I just re-read the Galt article - and while it is a good read, it just occurred to me that it does lean heavily on the assumption that all tandem canoes are pigs compared to a decent solo. I was much more concerned with motorcycles than paddlecraft in 1978, so I don't know - but I get the impression that perhaps this was indeed the case up to about that time. IIRC, I have read that the MR Malecite came along right about then. Was there anything comparable previous to that? Anyway - I don't think the whole "sports-car vs pickup" comparison works anymore between tandems and solos as groups. We have (or have had) some pretty sporty tandems available to us now, at least. My Malecite is often described that way by other paddlers, and I have been in the company of faster tandems still. Perhaps the article is dated, but it was still fun to read. Most of the other stuff in it still rings true - or at least "true enough".

 

[pblanc]

There may have been open canoes prior to 1975 (apart from Henry Rushton boats and other rather ancient designs) that were designed specifically to be paddled solo, but if there were, I am not aware of them.

The earliest dedicated solo canoes that I know about were designed to compete in whitewater slalom and downriver racing. Prior to that time, river racers and whitewater paddlers were solo paddling tandem boats such as the original Royalex Warsaw Rockets (sold by many makers including Blue Hole, Old Town, Mad River, Perception, and others), Blue Hole OCAs, Mad River Explorers, Old Town Trippers, and 15 and 17 foot aluminum Grummans, often special ordered with shoe keels and additional reinforcing ribs.

Jim Henry's Malecite was brought to market in 1974 and Jim raced it solo but it is really more a small tandem. Jim Henry's Screamer was designed in 1975 and was a dedicated solo downriver racer, later modified and renamed the Mad River Traveler. Also in 1975 John Berry took an 80 cm Czech slalom C-1, made a mold out of the bottom, built up the sides to make a 13' OC-1 and called it the Flasher and raced it in whitewater slalom. The subsequent modification, named the Flashback, was produced by Mad River for around 5 years. In 1978 Berry designed the 15' ME, which was paddled both tandem and solo, also produced by MRC for many years. In 1977 Mad River came out with a downsized version of the Jim Henry Explorer designed for dedicated solo use, the Courier.

In 1977 Bill Masters of Perception took a mold from the bottom of a Hahn C-1, built up the sides making it into a 13+ ft OC-1, and called it the HD 1. It was originally made in fiberglass, subsequently in Royalex. I believe that Mike Galt designed the Dandy around this same time in the late 1970s. By the 1980s the concept of solo paddling was gaining traction and high quality flat water solo boats like the MRC Ladyslipper came to market along with an explosion of other solo models. Other solo Royalex whitewater boats came into being around the same time including the Blue Hole Sunburst and the Whitesell Piranha.