4 things a Canoeist Needs to Know

4 things a Canoeist Needs to Know

1. How to tie a canoe down on a car or trailer
1. Quick-release trucker cinch knot for tying canoes to vehicles
2. Quick-release bow-line knot for tying canoes to shore
3. Tie-down straps (if you have enough money and won’t learn to tie a knot)
4. Inverted “V” with a knot on the canoe bow will keep wind from jerking canoe around on the highway

2. How to make a canoe stable (Tim McGuire says: “People are tippy, not canoes”)
1. Add weight on the bottom of the canoe with gear, rocks, or garbage bags of sand or water
2. Keep your paddle blade in or on the water ALL the time
3. Learn how to paddle without leaning from side to side
4. Always brace your paddle on the surface when you are sitting still

3. How to steer a canoe
1. Switching sides more often keeps the canoe going straighter with more efficiency than using “J” or “C” strokes which add a rudder at the end which is like riding the breaks on your car
2. Learn how to rudder from both bow and stern
3. Stern paddler handles major steering
4. Bow paddler makes fine tuning adjustments in course to miss obstacles

4. How to canoe safely
1. Know how to swim all the way to shore
2. Always bring Personal Flotation Devices
3. Bring an extra paddle on every trip
4. Back paddling slows the canoe down in a fast river
5. Keep canoe parallel to river current
6. Be extra careful upstream from obstacles in rivers
7. Never grab anything outside the canoe to steady the canoe