Cheers to Sean Bloomfield and Colton Witte for taking on an ambitious and promising journey. The two high school grads have embarked on a nearly 3 month canoe journey from the Minnesota River to the Hudson Bay. The two were inspired after reading Eric Sevareid's book about going from Fort Snelling in Minneapolis to the Hudson Bay in a canoe in 1930.
I too was inspired by reading that book, as well as the book, Distant Fires, in which the author did a Duluth to Hudson Bay canoe journey in 1987. Unlike Bloomfield and Witte, I have not turned that inspiration to action in the form of an 1800 mile canoe journey. As a teenager, I did 10 days in the Boundary Waters. I recall doing about fifty portages, but less than 100 miles over that week and a half. Not nearly the same scale.
So, I really want to praise these two for undertaking this adventure and having the foresight of doing it while they still can. (Before college.) Still, one tiny thing nags at me. That is the picture of them heading off that accompanied Nick Coleman's column in the Star Tribune.
I know they are just pushing off and are probably just starting to place their paddles in the water. But canoeists in the know don't paddle on the same side of the canoe. It's a very inefficient way to canoe.
I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. They're pushing off. It is probably early in the morning. Who knows what rocks or logs lay submerged on the other side of the canoe. And if they don't know much about proper canoeing despite several years of experience, I'm sure they will end this trip much stronger and smarter canoeists than a lot of us. So props to them!
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3 comments:
Actually canoeists in the know paddle on the same side quite frequently. going up river especially but almost always, the only way to turn without losing a lot of speed is for the back person to switch to the same side as the front person and take a few paddle strokes that way. steering (putting your paddle in the water and turning the boat) is actually a far more inefficient way of paddling.
That's true if you need to turn sharply/quickly (like around a river bend). But in calm waters, even upstream, the J stroke is more efficient than switching back and forth in the stern, where your paddle is out of the water a lot.
The picture doesn't give enough context to judge their canoeing.
They're to Lake Winnipeg now, so they must be doing something right!
Actually, looking at the picture, they do appear to be turning right fairly sharply, which would make the paddling on the same side method appropriate here.
They're two guys who have been canoing summers for a few years and are now going a thousand miles or two to the Hudson Bay.
I should perhaps trust that they know what they are doing!
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