Turkeygirl Posted July 16, 2011 Report Share Posted July 16, 2011 :turned: A week ago this past Thursday I went out on a canoe scouting trip with a couple of the counselors from the camp I worked at the last 6 summers and now am volunteering. We actually spent 7 hours on the Genesee river....a little bit more than what the camp director expected. We were looking for a camp site they'd used last year, she thought it wasn't as far down as it was. Had an awesome day, we were split in a canoe and kayak. Had 5 Bald Eagle sightings. Well into the last 2 hours of the trip, we were exhausted and just wanted to get to the car,lol. A small section of rapids showed up, higher than what we'd been through but looked manageable. Kayak went first and did ok, then the 2 of us went in the canoe. The trick is to keep your canoe pointed downstream. Well we did and somehow the waves caught us and got us turned sideways between the rapids and a boulder. We lean to keep the canoe upright, it stays then the rapids push us, tips and as soon as water got again, we turned right over, fell out. We were ok, just floated right out, dragged the canoe to shore but despite having stuff in bags, everything got wet, such as my cell phone, wallet, Kodak camera, first aid kit, you name it,lol. I also ended up with 2 good bruises on my right hip from getting hit by a rock in the water. We were resourceful and dried our electronics with gauze from the FA kits and set them on shore while we emptied the canoe. Then continued on our merry way but we were burned after that and any questionable rapids we came to we just portaged around. Will post some pics of the Eagles, they were awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texan_Til_I_Die Posted July 19, 2011 Report Share Posted July 19, 2011 I've done quite a bit of whitewater stuff in both kayaks and open deck canoes. My best advice for a tandem canoe is to have the person in the front put down their paddle, get off the seat and kneel down in the bottom of the boat and lock their arms on the sides to keep their weight exactly centered. Then the person in the back does all of the maneuvering. That way there's no indecision or fighting between the front and the back about which way to go. And yep, I've been under a few rivers. Just keep your feet pointed downstream and don't let go of your paddle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddyboman Posted July 19, 2011 Report Share Posted July 19, 2011 My best advice for a tandem canoe is to have the person in the front put down their paddle, COULDN'T AGREE MORE.....while I haven't done a lot of canoeing it seems like every time I do the person in the front wants to try and do all the driving/steering from the front and makes me the guy in the back pull double the work to keep us up right.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbHunterNY Posted July 20, 2011 Report Share Posted July 20, 2011 yea i've dumped it too in a tandem canoe. i agree with what has been said. also those water-tight gear boxes that look like plano tackle boxes are tough and work great. tie them off to the canoe and they stay with it. i also use bags too though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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