Scottish Canoe Classics

Guides:
* Matt at Wilderness Canoe
* Russell at Kushi Adventures

Information:
* Graham at Scottish Canoe Routes
* UK Rivers Guidebook

Ein großes Fest mit guten Freunden - für jeden von mir genießen Sie Ihr Spiel und sagen hallo - aber ich muss Canoefest 2015 organisieren :(

Bitte entschuldigen Sie mich für das Schreiben in Englisch, aber diese Geschichte ist zu kompliziert für mein Deutsch. Das ist mein Verständnis von der Geschichte der Keewaydin 14.

Dave Curtis of Hemlock Canoe Works was one of the original solo guys, along with Jim Henry, Mike Galt, David Yost, Pat Moore, Dave Kruger and so on. His earlier venture was "Curtis Canoes", and his "team" included Harold Deal and David Yost.

Around 1977, Dave Curtis started producing what would become the legendary Curtis Solo Tripper:



Years later, Dave Curtis built an updated SoloTripper called the Peregrine, but we can read his own version of the story...

Zitat

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the Peregrine concept goes back to about 1977 when Dave Yost and I set out to create a solo traveling canoe that could stay with decent tandems on lake country trips, paddling and portaging. I don't remember how many strippers we built (DY would do the hulls and I would play around with different trim setups) but there were several, some are still around. We couldn't find anyone interested in building the boats for us so we starting building ourselves. This model was originally named the Solo Tripper, first under the Canoe Specialists label and then as a Curtis canoe.

The Solo Tripper then became the Nomad in the mid 80's after lots of input from experience trippers who offered there varied suggestions relative to the performance of the boat. The shouldered sides were the main improvement which was actually Harold Deal's idea, since he had been conceptualizing the model which became the Dragonfly. After we did the Dragonfly we re-did the Solo Tripper to include the shoulders as well as some bottom changes.

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Dave Curtis started producing the Peregrine much later, under the Hemlock Canoe Works name:

Zitat

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After the demise of Curtis Canoe, which we had sold shortly after the Nomad upgrade, the designs remained pretty much status quo for 10+ years. In the mid 90's Harold had been working on his new ideas for a solo combined boat (whitewater/flatwater) and sent me the strip plug for the boat which became the SRT, which I believe has proven to be an exceptional solo wilderness tripper.

We then incorporated some of the SRT bottom ideas into the Nomad style boat and that became the Peregrine. At that point we also layed out the stems which I personally prefer to plumb stems.

So; at this point in time the Peregrine is simply my best idea on what a solo lake county tripper should be. Fast enough so that a reasonably skilled solo paddler can keep up with a group of tandems on a trip; on the water and on the portages. Enough load capacity for at least 7-10 days, stable and maneuverable enough for whatever one might encounter and above all seaworthy enough for the toughest conditions. In my experience the Peregrine with an experienced paddler will actually lead the group of tandems.

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The Solotripper was also the precursor of the (~1990) Loonworks Mistral, the (~1992) Swift Heron, grand-daddy of Bell's (~1995) Merlin II and Swift's (2011) Keewaydin 15 (reportedly "A little wider and more stable, a little more maneuverable, softened shoulders but significant, 2" side, tumblehome, and 26 lbs in the top drawer laminate" - see source): designed for average sized, male, paddlers and to respond to kneeling technique with a straight paddle and to sitting technique with a bent...

Fortunately, Dave Curtis was serious about getting boats to fit canoeists, so this wasn't the end of the story... which continues with the Curtis Vagabond - first produced ~1983:



This was a downsized Solo Tripper: narrower and shorter to fit smaller folk. Descendants include the (~1992) Swift Loon, Hemlock Kestrel and Placid Boatworks Rapidfire.

In discussing the Solo-Tripper descendants on Paddling.Net, Charlie Wilson notes: "The smaller amongst us could argue that the Vagabond was the best designed of the bunch as it had more rocker, particularly stern rocker".

THIS is the lineage of the Swift Keewayden 14... and the ONLY association with Pack canoes has come via Joe at Placid Boatworks... who worked out that these touring canoes, which had always been designed to work with a high seat, could be adapted (extremely successfully) to the "Pack Canoe" market.

Ps. See also a more recent discussion on Paddling.Net.

Zitat von Frank Moerke

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Unser 14. Canadiertreffen wird im kommenden Jahr vom 11. Bis 14. September (Donnerstag bis Sonntag) stattfinden. Weitere Infos zu Ort und Programm werden noch folgen. Infos dazu dann unter www.open-canoe-journal.de

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Ich habe einige Änderungen im Kalender gemacht :)

Sehr schön: Sehr geeignet für den Winter Wildwasser.

Verspätete besten Wünsche zum Geburtstag :)

As some will have noted, Gavin Millar launched his canoe from his back garden in Southampton on 6th June... and set off to see how far around Britain he could get before his scheduled return to work in September... having downsized from yachts to a 16' sailing canoe :)



That's my favourite photo to date: Gavin nonchalantly chattering away.... quite possibly moments before this :o

Zitat von Gavin

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As we approached Dover I radioed Dover Port Control to let them know we’d be crossing the busy harbour entrance. As we past the harbour there were no ships in sight until suddenly four ferries appeared from different directions, either heading toward or out of the harbour entrance. A couple of large course changes were needed to keep out of their way and we were glad when we left Dover behind and passed the white cliffs of South Foreland.

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That passage was arguably the highlight of what would become a challenging slog (in singularly unhelpful conditions) around the south coast... but things started more brightly, with a memorable first day saying goodbye to colleagues:



The next day, Gavin headed across the Solent before being stormed in for a day (an inauspicious start). That was followed by an exhilarating downwind sail past Cowes (and on to Hayling Island Sailing Club)... and then a great session with the Spot Messenger suggesting Gavin was heading to France...

Zitat von Gavin

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I set off the next morning sailing against a NE wind for a rough upwind sail round Selsey Bill. Banks and rocks extend 4 miles offshore from the bill and cause dangerous conditions with wind against tide. I’d previously contemplated threading through the middle via a channel called the Looe but this could have been hazardous and I saw a yacht heading for the Looe make a rapid change of direction when the skipper saw an almost uninterupted line of breakers ahead.

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Gavin wrote that up in Hayling Island to Newhaven... not forgetting to mention that the day ended with a night of endless rain (and for others, flooding). After another rest day, though, things did pick up... and the blog records that he then had a memorable day going past Beachy Head:



Of course, no day is uneventful... and that day ended with a desperate search for somewhere to shelter overnight: Gavin would write of long stretches of "steeply sloping shingle with fairly large breaking waves dumping on the beach"... but not for the first time, he struck lucky - spotting dinghy sailors in the distance, he set off in pursuit... and was able to arrange assistance ashore at Hastings Sailing Club :)

Zitat von Gavin

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St Leonards and Hastings sailing club members are Olympic class dinghy launch and recovery experts. The beach in front of their clubhouse slopes steeply down to the sea and is exposed to the South, so they have huge experience of challenging launches and landings. The method for landing is to point the boat at the beach, keep full power on, at the last second lift the centreboard and rudder and, with weight well back in the boat, simply sail up the beach on the crest of a wave to a welcoming committee of members willing to bodily haul the boat out the water. I watched the last sailing dinghy execute the manoeuvre with style and waited my turn. However, being chicken and a bit precious about Stacey’s bottom, I furled the sail before landing under paddle. Fortunately, there were enough bodies to manhandle her out the water before the next wave dumped on the beach and Stacey was none the worse for wear, apart from a few minor scratches.

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The sailing club talked that evening of a "narrow channel dynamited through a reef", and suggested launching near high tide... when the tidal stream would be setting the wrong way (back towards Southampton). Aspirations to reach Folkestone were foiled as Gavin slogged his way up to Rye... meaning he'd completed ~100 nautical miles in a week - frustrating progress given that he'd aspirations for doing twice that distance most weeks!

Anyway, after being pinned in by yet more storms for a couple of days... Gavin and Ian flew past Dover, from where Gavin pottered around to Whitstable and the Isle of Sheppey - bringing to an end the first of the arbitrarily chosen "legs" of his trip.

On 2nd July, Gavin completed the second leg, which started with the Thames Crossing and ended (last night) with a challenging crossing of the Wash to Wainfleet Haven (blog to follow).

The rough weather that had pinned Gavin in Hunstanton gave him a chance to catch up with some writing... and a couple of the entries turned out to be quite notable. Shotley to Lowestoft, for instance, turned out to be way tougher than expected, with a squalls from the south and a large following seas...

Zitat von Gavin

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Glancing behind revealed occasional breaking waves above head height rearing up towards me. This didn’t help so I gave up looking and concentrated on steering a straight course downwind and down the waves. Progressively reefing the sail down to less than half its full size helped to avoid the danger of slewing to one side and capsizing when flying down the face of a wave. The sailing was physically and mentally demanding...

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Although we'd studied forecasts from a range of sources, and had been prepared for the day to be difficult, we hadn't anticipated conditions being that challenging, and Gavin's keen to avoid encountering such conditions again!

Anyway, Gavin then set of northward from Lowestoft:



That was a good day, but concluded in undignified fashion with a mishap whilst attempting to land through dumping surf at Winterton Ness :o

The next day saw a mammoth: 38 nautical miles in a 13 hour day... with some inhospitable looking surf discouraging any approach to the shore:



That got Gavin to the one quiet stretch of the trip: A day in Wells Next the Sea and then on to Hunstanton…. That's where I last met up with him, as he settled in to see out some very strong winds last weekend... waiting for yesterday's opportunity to cross the Wash...



Over the last two days, Gavin has gone on even further: right to the top of that map!

From here, we're hoping progress will be more rapid: ideally a quick blast up to Sunderland and then on to St Andrews (if you say it quickly, that sounds easy enough), then a pootle round the corner, through the Caledonian Canal (which can, of course, be a challenge in its own right) and down to Stranraer (which currently looks an awfully long way off) before there's some prospect of Gavin heading back south of the border and homeward via St Davids, St Ives and Salcombe.

For the next week or two, the focus is very much on getting up this east coast. If you see him sailing/paddling (or paddle-sailing) up that way this next week or two, please give him a wave... and if you see he's coming past a patch you know well and would be willing to offer some local advice... please get in touch :)

For the record... apart from the day by day blog at CanoeSailor.com... there's also a Photo Gallery on Facebook. The best tracking is via Spot Messenger: click here. For the most detailed updates, see the Open Canoe Sailing Group chatter!

Ps. The point of all of this is personal adventure... though some of us are also hoping Gavin will raise the profile of canoe sailing... but I should also mention the fundraising side of things: Gavin's close to hitting £1,000 for Hospitality Action on his Just Giving page - and his employer, Agri Energy, has committed to donating up to a further £10,000 by matching every £1 raised on the round-Britain challenge :)

The design of solo and tandem canoes should be very different...

In a tandem, the weight is carried near the bow and stern. This means the canoe goes through waves instead of over waves. The designer should add more depth and width (volume) in the bows and stern, and more depth in the centre.

The bow paddler also needs room to kneel, so the tandem needs to be wider at the front paddling station.

Also, because the tandem is controlled from the ends, the canoe may be designed to work best with a displacement of 7.5cm to 12.5cm.

Of course, a solo canoe should be able to keep up with tandems (and move OK against the current)... but has only one "engine". The waterline shape should be more efficient.

The solo canoe will rise over waves because the weight is in the middle, so we do not need so much depth. We don't need to have room for our knees near the bow, so the waterline shape can be faster. Unfortunately, we cannot control the canoe so easily as we are a long way from the ends, so our canoe shape should work best with a displacement of only 5cm-10cm.

Last but not least, a solo canoe should allow us to fit a knee into each chine, and the maximum width should allow us to paddle with a vertical strokes on the onside and off-side. Tumblehome in the centre section is not needed in a tandem, but in a solo it can make a big difference (especially when we get tired).

All canoes should be sized to fit the paddlers... but in a tandem we can move our seats forward or backwards to get this better. In a solo, the whole canoe should fit the paddler. Small adults may want ~70cm width (children might want ~50cm). Larger adults may prefer ~75cm (and the "supersized" may like ~80cm).

Ps. As no-one designs tandems for children and smaller adults, using a solo as a tandem is sometimes the best option. I do this with my daughter in our Flashfire, and have seen photos of a Wenonah Encounter set up in this way :)

Meine Tochter bekommt eine neue Schule. Wir müssen für spezielle Zeit, um Kringelfieber teilnehmen zu fragen.

Ich mag die Idee von Andreas: Kringelfieber Mittwoch, den 1. Mai bis Sonntag, 5. Mai, als Montag 6. Mai ist ein Feiertag in Großbritannien!

Auch ein Kringel Freunden Tour (vielleicht an der Lahn bei Marburg) von Samstag, 26. April, bis Dienstag 30. April? Eine perfekte Woche.