Also on the FOT FB page is a link, http://ottertooth.com/Temagami/newsbriefs.htm, to Ottertooth’s Temagami News Briefs….and especially the update on Daniel Trask, January 25, 2012: Trask’s whereabouts a mystery after 12 weeks….still missing after 3 months….if you’re like me, you may have been following this on Ottertooth and other online forums….my thoughts and prayers still go out to the Trask family….and I hope that Daniel is found soon….

Paddles up until later then….

From Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Romance_of_the_Far_Fur_Country:

The Romance of the Far Fur Country, is an historical documentary film portraying Arctic fur trappers filmed in 1919 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Hudson Bay Company in 1920. This documentary is being regarding as one of the earliest documentaries depicting the lives of the arctic fur trappers in 1919.

To commemorate 250th anniversary of Hudson Bay Company (HBC) in 1920, founded in 1670 and then an undisputed leader of the international fur trade, the company decided to bookmark and document it’s 250 years of journey as part of written history, gramophone recording, and as a feature film. To make the promotional feature film, advertising company’s working history and commercial land holdings in Canada’s North, HBC hired two cameramen fromNew Yorkand sent them on board of HBC’s ice-breaker. This promotional ‘silent’ film has later come to be known as ‘The Romance of the Far Fur Country’.

The filmcrew sailed on board from Montreal to Arctic circle. As reported in BBC article, in the next course of their nine months, they captured extraordinary footage never done before of their times. It seems, they captured more than 75000 feet of film equivalent to 8 hours of viewing time. It’s also reported that the crew filmed the documentary by walking laboriously by foot on land, across the ice, and travelling by dogsled over a frozen river. The crew also filmed from canoes on the Abitibi river and had to portage canoes over their shoulders for filming.

The film was finally premiered in Allen theatre at Winnipeg on May 23, 1920. The film was later released across western Canada and in London.

As reported in BBC, the documentary portrays some of the scenes never shown before by then. In one scene, an Inuit man with name ‘Inqmilayuk’ talking with captain of the RMS Nascopie which carried supplies bound for Arctic fur trade posts, Edmund Mack, with titles read on silent documentary as: “I was but a youth when I learned to hunt, as my fathers did before me.” In another scene, Inqmilayuk’s romantic partner with name ‘Innotseak’ is introduced with titles: “She told me that she loved me.” And in the final scene, both Inqmilayuk and Innotseak were shown as walking into the horizon as lovebirds.

In words of Peter Geller, a Canadian visual historian, these scenes places the ‘Romance of the Far Fur Country’ in the context of the history of documentary films. These narrative and filmic techniques used in HBC’s film were infact later employed by Ribert J. Flaherty, who made commercially successful Nanook of the North and also hailed as father of documentary films by John Grierson.

Further online search found the website, The Return of the Far Fur Country, http://returnfarfurcountry.ca/about_the_film.html:

Summary

The Return of the Far Fur Country is a collaborative project to resurrect a lost silent film called The Romance of the Far Fur Country. Produced by theHudson’s Bay Company in 1920, the silent feature film has been shelved, stored in pieces and largely unseen in a British archive for the last half-century. This is a project to bring the 8 hours of film footage back to Canada, to reconstruct the original film, then to return these archival moving images to the communities of origin. Collaborating on the project are archivists, academics, filmmakers and community groups.

The goal of this project is to explore the contemporary meanings of these images through consultations with various stakeholders. This process includes the preservation of the nitrate film elements, the re-release of this historic film, and a revisiting of the route taken by the filmmakers in 1920 to host town-hall screenings for communities to contribute names and knowledge to this unique archival collection.

The end result of the project is the distribution of these images and stories to the public through a documentary film, web site, and traditional print publications; contributing to the ongoing discourse of Canada’s regional and national identity.

Background to The Romance of the Far Fur Country

In 1919, the Hudson’s Bay Company was approaching its 250th year in business. What began in a coffee house inLondon, in 1670, had now grown to become the undisputed leader of the international fur trade.

For their landmark 250th birthday, the HBC spared no cost. A written history of the company was released, with a gramophone recording of that history. They commissioned The Beaver magazine, to actively chronicle the company’s workings in the North—The Beaver would become the oldest and most important history magazine in the country, only recently changing its name to Canada’s History. As well as publications, celebrations were planned across Canada, and in London.

The biggest gathering was slated for Winnipeg, the company’s Canadian headquarters. The main ticket item would be the release of a feature film that depicted the Hudson’s Bay Company history, as well as its current activities across Canada’s North. To accomplish the task of filming the North, the Company bought a film company in New York, and made plans for a crew to head to Canada. The film would be called The Romance of the Far Fur Country.   

Filming The Romance of the Far Fur Country

In spring of 1919, two cameramen from New York City set out to film Canada’s northern wilderness. They first boarded Canada’s most famous icebreaker, the HMS Nascopie, and headed from Montreal toward the Arctic Circle. For the next nine months, the film crew lugged their crates of gear by foot, canoe, dogsled and icebreaker, trudging through theArctic, the boreal forest and up some of the fiercest rivers in the world.

The filmmakers perched their cameras in places never before filmed. By the time they completed filming at the end of December, they’d gathered 75,000 feet of film, some eight hours of viewing time. The footage was rushed to New York where editing began. By mid-April, a first draft was complete, and clocked in at four hours. A month later it was cut in half. 

Film Premiere

The Romance of the Far Fur Country premiered onMay 23, 1920, at Winnipeg’s illustrious Allen Theatre. Advertisements boasted that the viewer could “travel over 2,000 miles through the North, sitting in the Allen Theatre.”

The audience in Winnipeg was a mix of HBC store clerks, shoppers, and a hundred First Nations people, all dressed in traditional clothing. The latter sat in reserved seats close to the classical orchestra brought in for the event. Unfamiliar with European theatre-going etiquette, the First Nations community interacted with the motion pictures, calling to “get your gun,” or “shoot him,” when animals appeared on screen.

The film was then released across Western Canada, and was eventually re-cut for a British version and screened inLondon. The British version included new footage of women wearing expensive furs, spliced between scenes of Inuit hunters and fur trade posts—it was a not so subtle reminder of the film’s intent to chronicle the HBC fur trade.

A Lost Film…

By the end of the 1920s, audiences were turning their attention to the talkies, wanting more than just moving pictures. Soon after the Great Depression hit in the 1930s, barely a decade after The Romance of the Far Fur Country was filmed, the footage from the epic Hudson’s Bay Company film disappeared from public view, the canisters of nitrate film stock were packed away by the HBC in an archive in London for safe keeping— but lost to the world.

The Re-Discovery

Though continually on the minds of the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives, it would be over half a century before the nitrate would find its way back to a projector’s light. In the 1990s, visual historian Peter Geller revisited the HBC footage held in the vaults of the British Film Institute. After spending days looking at the footage on a Steinbeck reel-to-reel viewing station in the basement of the BFI, Geller returned to Canada in order to examine his research notes.

Recognizing immediately the importance of the HBC footage, Geller began writing what would become an important book about northern images and moving pictures: Northern Exposures: Photographing and Filming the Canadian North, 1920-45, devoting an entire chapter to The Romance of the Far Fur Country.

The Return

No complete print of The Romance of the Far Fur Country exists. But thankfully, there exists fragments that make up the whole, which have been stored securely for over half a century at the British Film Institute Archive.

What is more, the diaries kept by the film crewmembers have also been preserved, albeit on the other side of the Atlantic, in the HBC archives in Winnipeg. With the footage, and the notes, it is possible to resurrect the film to its original two hour run time, returning The Romance of the Far Fur Country to its former glory.

From London to Winnipeg

The Hudson’s Bay Company Archives’ interest to add this cache of 1920s HBC footage to its collections in Winnipeg has gained momentum in recent years. For the last two years, Five Door Films and the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives have been collaborating in order to bring this footage back to Canada. What started as a distant idea grew into reality when the British Film Institute agreed that the important HBC film collection should be relocated, brought back to its rightful home in the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives in Winnipeg.

Transferring the tens of thousands of feet of highly flammable nitrate film across an ocean is no easy task. After lengthy discussions, a plan was established to preserve and transfer the film to HD video for future use. The film elements from 1920 were transferred first to the BFI preservation centre, then to a film lab in London to scan each frame to a digital format, then packed carefully for the trip back to the country where it was shot some 90 years earlier.

Northern Re-Release: Return of the Far Fur Country

Return of the Far Fur Country is all about putting what is perhaps the most important record of northern Canadian life, back on the screen.

Unbeknownst to the filmmakers in 1919, their footage has become an extraordinary time-capsule, a moving history of how Canada has developed as a nation. That is why the goal of the project is not only to bring the film back to Canada, but to bring it back to the very communities where it was shot.

This return to local communities will be held in town-hall screenings to provide a place for local people to view their ancestors on film, tell stories of how the country has changed, and help name the people and places that appear in the film.

This very unique tour will go not only to cities like Montreal, Winnipeg and Victoria—places that feature in the HBC film—it’s also going back to some of the most remote locations in Canada. The tour includes Northern Alberta, Nunuvut, Alert Bay off Vancouver Island, and Northern Ontario.

A Collaborative Effort

This project would not be possible without the cooperation of Hudson’s Bay Company Archives, the British Film Institute / National Film and Television Archives in London, England and funders such as the Manitoba Arts Council.

I also found a link to the CBC Radio program, As It Happens, http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/episode/2012/01/25/the-wednesday-edition-12/:

FUR TRADE DOC RESTORED

There’s a road show touring Northern Alberta this week – giving communities a rare look at a piece of their history.

In 1919 the Hudson Bay Company commissioned a documentary for its two-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary. The topic: Canadian Arctic fur trade posts.

The doc was long-forgotten but now it’s being painstakingly restored by aWinnipegfilm company. And this week the company is screening parts of the restored film in the communities originally featured in it. Kevin Nikkel is the founder of Five Door Films, the company doing the restoration. We reached him in Fort McMurray, on his mobile phone.

This was the CBC Radio show that I was listening to….and I’m very glad I did….this is a fascinating story….and an important film that is a valuable record of our history….if you get a chance to see this film, do so….here is a clip of this film, The Romance of the Far Fur Country, from YouTube:

I thought of my future visit next month to Fort Severn….a very important fur trading post in its time….and also the work we will be doing to restore Freighter canoes….

Also I thought it was an interesting add-on to the last post on voyageurs….and past ones on the Hudson’s Bay Company….and the fur trade….

And I really hope I get a chance to see this film soon….

Paddles up until later then….

Canada Vignettes – Voyageurs

The Voyageurs

Paddles up until later then….as did the voyageurs…..

First an old standby….frequently played at camps:

Little Canoe Song

Another version:

Boy and a Girl in a Little Canoe

And yet another….a very interesting one:

VERANDA MUSIC – Boy, Girl, Canoe

Then this tune entitled ‘Little Canoe’ (sung by Jim McLean)….with a much different slant….check out lyrics included in video:

Little Canoe - Jim McLean

An old tune first sung by Paul Robeson (of ‘Showboat’ fame):

Paul Robeson Sings “The Canoe Song” from “Sanders of the River”

Or this version of the same song:

The Canoe Song – The Karl Denver Trio

Then there were a few about old canoes:

The Old Canoe, Original Music Video, 2001

Then this song version of George Marsh’s poem ‘The Old Canoe’, sung by Dave Bain:

The Old Canoe

Then there was several tunes based on ‘blue canoes:

This instrumental by Hairy Larry (watch the video you’ll understand the moniker):

Blue Canoe

Then this song by Blue Mountain:

Blue Mountain – “Blue Canoe”

Then this bend on a blue canoe:

“Blue Canoe” by Glen Roethel with Penny Nichols

Then there is this take on blue and canoe….with an interesting old canoe related cartoon included in the video:

“Blue Canoe” Live,  Written and Performed by Jim Chevalier

Of course I’m always interested in music that makes your canoe dance….so I found this video clip interesting from the standpoint of history….this version of a Passamaquoddy canoe/paddle dance:

The Grand Design Canoe Dance

Or take a ride in a voyageur canoe….to a tune by one of my favourite canoeing/paddling songsters Ian Tamblyn:

A Musical Journey by Voyageur Canoe

Paddles up until later then….and enjoy the song of the paddle….

Manitoba-Ontario UNESCO bid heads to Paris

Paddles up until later then….

All is peaceful….but my thoughts on on another peaceful tranquil time:

Time spent out on the water in a canoe….meandering around small creeks or rivers in the backcountry….the lush fresh greenery of spring surrounding our journey. 

Or out on the water of a lake in the summer, with the sun shining down from above, forming intricate light patterns in the barely rippling water.

Later sitting by a campfire in the twilight of the day….next to the lake….waters reflecting the end of day….while watching the sun set.

Early the next morning setting out through a misty shroud….again out on the water as the day comes to life….the early dawn peeking through the mist….then a loon suddenly appearing off to the side….its haunting call announcing the waking day.

The day finally fully awake….blue skies and puffy white clouds above….following the course of the waterway….silently passing through lush greenery….once again meandering along what others might consider a ‘backwater’….finally coming to a part of the river you’ve been following too shallow and swift to continue on….so you portage.

But suddenly you have entered into yet another season….leaving the green of summer behind….finding the vivid colours of autumn….colours reflected in the water….caught in the slightly rippling waves….even in the wake of your canoe….undulating colours on the watery surface….fallen leaves floating serenely by.

Out on a lake, the surrounding hills forming a panorama alive with colours….out on the water passing by a rocky island with majestic pine trees….the haunting call of the loon somewhere far off in the distance….coloured leaves caught in the breeze along the shore….further on our trip, the colours of autumn continue along the banks of a rushing river….the cascade of colour offset by the cascading waters, rushing over rocks.  

Leaving the canoe behind, we fast forward to a wintery scene….the force of a waterfall in a white wonderland….snowy banks meeting icy outcrops….roaring waters meeting ice covered rocks….frozen islands in time….the ice covered river below the waterfall showing cracks from the pressure of the current….or the promise of the spring soon to come….but before leaving this winter postcard, we see the rushing waters mingling with the frozen rock, layered in ice….powerful, sublime in the snowy vastness. 

These are segments of a trip, mostly by canoe, you can take anytime on YouTube….as seen on Dan Gibson’s Solitudes 25 Natural Beauty:

Paddles up until later then….check out this video….and take a trip some winter day yourself….through the seasons in canoe country….maybe even today….

There is an ice road – also known as winter road – to Fort Severn from Manitoba….open mid-February….and the only way they can get most supplies into Fort Severn….this map better ilustrates the route, from http://arcticmini.com/fortsevern.htm: 

The plan is to work with the band members to show them how to restore these ‘workhorses’….we’ll be up there for a month this winter….and another month later on….it will be an adventure….pretty cold in the winter….Fort Severn is the most northern community in Ontario….on Hudson’s Bay….and as I’ve already pointed we have to have supplies and materials brought in by truck over the ice road from Winnipeg (like they show on Ice Road Truckers)….but I’m really looking forward to going….

One of the canoes we’ll be working on in Fort Severn; photo by Ian Devenney

But Fort Severn has no wood working shop at the moment….little or no tools….certainly not the proper materials….including the wood needed to restore these canoes….so we have spent the past few months figuring out exactly what we need….what Fort Severn needs. So we have been compiling lists and getting quotes on power & hand tools….figuring out how much canvas….which and how much epoxy filler (we’ll be using that instead of the traditional oil based filler used in typical recreational wood canvas canoes)….and how much wood we need (such as how many board feet of white cedar or ash etc.)….plus other materials such as paint, varnish, nails, tacks, etc….and finding the best prices we can. It has been a long process….started several months ago. As reported here previously, two members of the group, Pam Wedd (of Bearwood Canoes) and Ian Devenney (my partner in the B.I.L.D. youth program) went up to Fort Severn in November to check out the canoes there….as well as the facilities we will be working out of. 

We will setting up a shop….all of the equipment….and then teaching band members to restore these canoes….providing the skills to continue on their own. Fort Severn has 20 to 25 canoes in their own community….and neighbouring communities have more….so the hope is that a canoe shop in Fort Severn will be kept busy with not only repairs and restoration to their own canoes but also those of the nearby communities.

The shop will also be used for other wood working projects that the band may need done….including making furniture or even paddles.  

From Nor-West Canoe website, http://www.nor-west.ca/html/canoe/canot_norwest_en.htm, comes this description of the canoes we’ll be working on:

Norwest 20′

• Length: 20 feet
• Beam: 52 inches
• Depth: 20 inches
• Weight: 325 pounds
• Capacity: 2540 pounds
• Recommended motor: 15 to 30HP
• Persons: 5

So on this Friday, nearing the end of January, we are working on facts and figures….mostly figuring out the final logistics for what promises to be an incredible project. I will post frequent updates of the progress of this here….as well as the Canadian Canoe Museum has kindly offered to post reports as well. The local youth will be videoing the restoration of the Freighters and that will be included.

We hope to complete 2 to 3 canoes while up in Fort Severn for the first month….and have up to 10 canoes completed by the end of the year.  This will prove to be a very worth while experience for all involved….one I am certainly looking forward to….and look forward to sharing. I have really enoyed the whole process of  seeing the Fort Severn project moving forward….and really am looking forward to getting up there to do the actual work.

Being as involved in canoeing as I’ve become (it seems I literally eat, drink, and sleep ‘canoes’  these days LOL LOL), I have chosen to pursue a ‘career’ of sorts in paddling. Whether actually on the water in my favourite green wood canvas canoe….or in life itself….I am learning – and realizing - the importance of ‘paddling your own canoe’. Others have spoken of this far better than I can:

Voyage upon life`s sea, To yourself be true, And, whatever your lot may be, Paddle your own canoe. - Sarah Bolton

. . . as one goes through life one learns that if you don’t paddle your own canoe, you don’t move. - Katherine Hepburn

This isn`t exactly a stable business. It`s like trying to stand up in a canoe with your pants down. – Cliff Robertson

Paddle solo, sleep tandem. - Caroline Owen

Love many, trust a few, and always paddle your own canoe. – Anonymous

The quote from Katherine Hepburn really sums up a lot of this for me personally….it is posted on the wall of Pam Wedd’s shop (where we are working out many of the details for the Fort Severn project)….and I do know that as one goes through life one learns that if you don’t paddle your own canoe, you don’t move. 

So here’s to moving ahead….to find your own passion in life….to ‘paddling your own canoe’….

Paddles up until later then….

One topic they discussed was ‘less is more’ . From http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/226400.html comes this:

Less is more

Meaning

The notion that simplicity and clarity lead to good design.

Origin

This is a 19th century proverbial phrase. It is first found in print in Andrea del Sarto, 1855, a poem by Robert Browning:

Who strive – you don’t know how the others strive
To paint a little thing like that you smeared
Carelessly passing with your robes afloat,-
Yet do much less, so much less, Someone says,
(I know his name, no matter) – so much less!
Well, less is more, Lucrezia.

The phrase is often associated with the architect and furniture designer Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe (1886-1969), one of the founders of modern architecture and a proponent of simplicity of style.

The CBC panel gave an example of T. E. Larwrence (Lawrence of Arabia) keeping a small book shelf that he limited to only 100 books….whenever he added a new book, he got rid of one of his books….thus always restricting himself to 100 books. This sounds a bit eccentric….but maybe a way to keep only those books currently relevant to himself….or to allow Lawrence more opportunity to digest the words and thoughts contained within. Of course it could be that he travelled around a lot and merely didn’t want to keep boxes and boxes of books following him around. Whatever his motivation or reasons for this, it is an example of simplicity in practice.

Less is more is a concept that has even has found its way into the environmental movement….Green Trends Unleashed: Consumption: Why Less Is More, http://www.gtrendsunleashed.com/environment/consumption-why-less-is-more/ states:

It is hard to deny that the world we live in right is a high-consumption society. From the moment we wake up to the time we go to sleep at night, our daily lives are ruled by the things we consume. This is the reason why we as a race collectively consume billions of tons of products that will eventually end up as waste. Our culture of consumption has brought to light many issues, among them which is sustainability as at the rate we are going, we may not be able to have enough resources in a few decades.

Recently, there has been a wave of the minimalist movement sweeping across the public consciousness. The Internet has been a great platform for some of the most popular blogs advocating living with less which includes such minimalist blogs like 365 Less Things, Art of Minimalism, A Walk to Simplicity, Be More With Less, Guy Named Dave and Simple Life Prattle. Now for someone who has been so used to the trappings of modern life, the allure of minimalist living may be perplexing. But people who have been consciously choosing to live with less consumption actually say that they feel more connected to their lives than they did before in their fast-paced and consumerist lifestyles.

There have been people who have willingly uprooted themselves for their cosmopolitan city life and moved to the countryside with only a few of their most essential possessions in tow. Some have even chosen to live outside the local grid connect without electricity and running water, only depending on solar power and water from natural sources for their everyday activities.

Admittedly, our modern lifestyles have us focusing on getting the latest “it” thing, whether it be new clothes, the hottest car, a brand-new house, and whatever something that big companies are paying their marketing geniuses to peddle to consumers as the next must-have. But when you really look at how you live, we don’t really need that much to get by. Focusing on enriching experiences and relationships instead of just material possessions can sometimes actually let us live fuller lives instead of amassing things that we don’t really need.

Our planet is weighed down by our endless needs and wants, and it may not have enough to give for all of us much more the future generations to come. We cannot reverse what we have already done, but we can definitely slow down its effects. You can start in your own home, consider installing a home solar power system for your home to save on energy bills. Try starting to buy only the things that you need. Not only does it help save the planet’s resources, it also helps put savings in your own bank account as well.

Of course I’ve always believed that the K.I.S.S. principle is often the best tact to take….keeping it simple (whether stupid or not) is usually the best route to take….maybe not the easiest….but certainly practical for most of us. Whether in the way we are taught or learn….or the way we choose to live our lives….it just makes sense.

This applies to paddling too….as I’ve written before:

I believe we have an inherent part of us that is in tune with water….the human body is largely water….so we are all part water….and consequently, water is part of us….add in a canoe that is so well suited to being on the water, being part of the water, and you have an interesting equation….and there is a very real “flow” to it. Maybe something as simple as:

YOU + CANOE + WATER = FREEDOM

Of course when it comes to canoes that keep it simple and basic, I think of wood canvas canoes first. And my personal bias is shared by others:

My two old canoes are works of art, embodying the feeling of all canoemen for rivers and lakes and the wild country they were meant to traverse. They were made in the old tradition when there was time and the love of the work itself. I have two canvas-covered canoes, both old and beautifully made. They came from the Penobscot River in Maine long ago, and I treasure them for the tradition of craftsmanship in their construction, a pride not only of form and line but of everything that went into their building. When l look at modern canoes, of metal or fiberglass stamped out like so many identical coins. l cherish mine even more …Sixteen feet in length, it has graceful lines with a tumble home or curve from the gunwales inward …No other canoe I’ve ever used paddles as easily … The gunwales and decks are of mahogany, the ribs and planking of carefully selected spruce and cedar… - Sigurd Olson, Tradition

The canoes rode well, not too high in the bows, but just enough. Peterborough Prospectors were made for the bush and for roaring rapids and waves. They embodies the best features of all canoes in the north. They were wide of beam with sufficient depth to take rough water, and their lines gave them maneuverability and grace. In them was the lore of centuries, of Indian craftsman who had dreamed and perfected the beauty of the birchbark, and of French voyageurs who also loved the feel of the paddle and the smooth glide of the canoe through the water. All this was taken by modern craftsman who – with glues , waterproof fillers and canvas, together with the accuracy of machine tooled ribs and thwarts , planking and gunwales – made a canoe of which Northmen might be well proud. – Sigurd Olson

Although in later life Bill vehemently defended the virtues of his beloved Chestnut – his personal fleet included three, a 16′ Pal, a 16′ Prospector and a 17′ Cruiser – he could have been paddling any number of canvas-covered canoes built in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. In fact, there were on the market, for all intents and purposes, dozens of nearly identical models, made by various manufacturers in the United States and Canada, many of which had the model name “Prospector.” But, even as a class or type of canvas-covered canoe, the Prospector that became his favourite was entirely consistent with Bill and his view of the world. It was mostly made of natural materials – steamed white cedar ribs and planking; brass tacks and screws; cotton-canvas skin; and white ash or oak seats, thwarts and gunwales. It was solid; it was durable; it could be repaired in the field; and it moved quietly and responsively in all types of water. – James Raffan, Fire In The Bones

Wood and canvas canoes are strong, seaworthy, exceptionally responsive to the paddle and soothing to the human spirit – Hugh Stewart, master canoe builder, Headwater Canoes

The concept and the magic of a canvas-covered canoe is that it can have two, three, or even four new outer skins in its lifetime… These canoes are exceptionally recyclable and ultimately, except for screws, tacks and brass, biodegradable. — Hugh Stewart, wood-canvas canoe-builder and owner of Wakefield, Quebec’s Headwater Canoes

Going down a river or crossing a lake in anything but wood-canvas is like floating on a linoleum rug. That’s just how it looks when you glance inside one of those types of canoes and watch the bottom flex and shimmer with the water. Whereas, in any wood-canvas canoe you have all these beautiful rich colors of the cedar planking and ribs, hardwood gunwales and decks, and caned seats. Even the smells are nice and directly relate to the environment you are traveling through. - Jack Hurley, canoebuilder

I suppose there would always be an argument for the different types of materials and canoe designs, but the wood-canvas canoe is one generation away from the birchbark canoe and was made for working and transporting people through the wilderness. It was designed and made out of materials that would stand up to miles and miles of flatwater and whitewater and portaging through very rugged and unexplored terrain. As a trip leader with kids and adults, I have safely traveled across many lakes in a wood-canvas canoe in conditions where other experienced paddlers in the new-design boats were either windbound or took on water during the crossings. - Jim Spencer, canoebuilder.

A Recipe For Success:

STEAMED CEDAR WITH CANVAS

An elegant accompaniment to fish.

Make ahead of time for relaxed visit with friends.

51 board feet of peeled and deveined eastern white cedar

10 board feet of combined ash, black cherry, and maple

2600 brass tacks

18 feet of 10 weight canvas

¾ gallon of oil base filler

3 quarts of varnish

2 quarts of paint

Assortment of beer to taste (chilled if possible)

Using a large shop, prepare all ingredients the night before. Early the next day preheat element to high heat. Bring an adequate quantity of water in a large pot to a tumbling boil. Steam ribs until al dente (flexible) and bend immediately while still tender. Let stand at room temperature to blend flavors until cool. Chop cleaned white parts of planking into long thin slices, (smaller pieces will fall to ground). Add bulk of brass tacks and planks at random until ribs disappear (careful not to tenderize planking with pounding of tacks). When ingredients become solid remove from mold and set aside. Prepare gunwales and decks by chopping fresh hardwoods. Snip to length and desired shape, introducing slowly for best results. Wrap with canvas skin; skewer with tacks along edges, leave middle open. Add both caned seats and center thwart until balanced. Inlay decks for garnish.

Use the same basic recipe for fifteen and seventeen footers. Quantities will vary including concentration of beer.

Well before serving time, press filler firmly onto bottom side of prepared carcass to seal in natural juices and let marinate. Heat entire hull at medium to high sun for about three weeks, covering occasionally, until fully baked.  From a separate pot, baste inside with all-purpose varnish to glaze ribs, careful not to drip, and let harden. Repeat occasionally. Meanwhile, whisk and and gently combine, until mixed but not runny, an assortment of fresh paint to color, stirring occasionally as you serve, and dressing the outside lightly from end to end. The condiments blend even better if allowed to stand for several hours until sticky topping hardens. (Careful not to undercook, but do not let baking temperature bubble surface.) Repeat spreading of additional layers on outer crust and again set aside and let stand until hard. Cover and store in a safe spot until needed. Present whole at room temperature, arranged attractively on an adequate bed of water. If desired, garnish with cherry paddles as a starter. Bon voyage. Serves 2 to 3. (Note: Depending on degree of festivities, presentation may be turned into a dip.)  – Don Standfield, from Stories From The Bow Seat: The Wisdom & Waggery of Canoe Tripping by Don Standfield and Liz Lundell.

A canoe must fill many unusual requirements: it must be light and portable, yet strong and seaworthy, and it must embody practical qualities for paddle, pole, and sail. It must reject every superfluity of design and construction, yet satisfy the tastes of its owner and safely carry heavy dunnage through unpredictable conditions. These demands will be met by a builder both meticulous and clever – one who, through resourcefulness and dedicated craftsmanship, can build a canoe that will be an everlasting source of joy. It will provide pleasures that continue throughout the four seasons: loving labors that extend from spring refit through a summer and autumn of hard work and play, and on through the winter layup period of redesigning, building, and improving the canoe and its auxiliary gear.

I hope the author’s text….will impart….a proper understanding of of the creation of simple, graceful canoes. It is sad that the practical knowledge and technical skill necessary to build them has remained virtually uncommunicated. One can only hope that revealing a part of this information will result in a clearer understanding of the special bond between the traditionalist canoeist and the wood-canvas canoe. For indeed, a canoe reflects the spirit of its builder and user that develops a character more akin to a living thing than to a mere object of possession…. - Clint Tuttle (canoe builder and instructor of wooden boatbuilding), from the Foreword of Building The Maine Guide Canoe by Jerry Stelmok.

Time spent in a wooden canoe of fine lines and able handling qualities is intoxicating. Restoring vintage canoes or building such craft from scratch can be consuming. It will ruin a man or a woman for any other work. This is not to dismiss all canoe builders as rapscallions, curmudgeons, or reprobates. But in the majority of cases there are the symptoms of an addiction, or at least a suspension of common sense where canoes are concerned. We are kin to the hard-bitten trout fisherman who stands out in the wind and rain breaking ice from the guides of his fly rod for a chance at an early season rainbow, or the railbird unable to resist the summons of the bugle, knowing it will be followed by the starting gun which will launch the thoroughbreds from the gates. We all know better, yet we simply can’t help ourselves. Why else would we devote our most productive years attempting to revive an industry that has not known real prosperity since before the Great Depression? Today, at long last, wooden canoes and their construction are enjoying a quiet renaissance, and this only encourages us, adding fuel to our dreams. - From the Introduction to The Wood and Canvas Canoe: A Complete Guide To Its History, Construction, Restoration, And Maintenance by Jerry Stelmok and Rollin Thurlow.

Beautiful things made by hand carry within them the seeds of their survival. They generate a spark of affection. For some it’s sentimental, for some it’s the art of the craftsmanship, for some the beauty of the finished boat. People love these things and try hard to ensure they endure.

The survival of the wood-canvas canoe (to paraphrase John McPhee) is certainly a matter of the heart; a romantic affair. The economics are unfavorable. In fact, the wood-canvas canoe’s most conspicuous asset and advantage is that it’s a beautiful piece of art. It’s the Shaker rocking chair of outdoor sport – handcrafted, simple, clean, and functional. There’s nothing in it that doesn’t have to be there, but all of the pieces add up to more than the parts. It works well and looks wonderful doing it. - From Honeymoon With A Prospector by Lawrence Meyer

Nothing feels like a cedar-strip canvas canoe - Omer Stringer, a confirmed traditionalist

I think wood canvas canoes certainly are examples of simplicity in design….and in my opinion still a good form of construction even in this day and age….as I wrote here in Sunday Saunters: Wood Canvas Canoes….As Green As They Come, http://reflectionsoutdoors.wordpress.com/2010/12/05/sunday-saunters-wood-canvas-canoes-as-green-as-they-come/:

….I think that in this day and age the wood canvas canoe, new or old (and restored) is more than just a viable alternative….on the website for Timberline Canoes, the home page has the following:

Wood Canvas Canoes: Eco-friendly watercraft constructed of renewable, natural resources

Benefits of Ownership

• Gentle on the environment
• No fossil fuels required
• No water pollution
• Quiet – no noise pollution
• Easy to maneuver
• Easy to transport
• Renewable construction
• Good for your body
• Great for your soul

Now I have expounded on this blog at great length on wood canvas canoes….on why wood canvas canoes should be used….why folks trip with them….why wood canvas canoes are not just “museum pieces”….even about youth canoe building programs involving wood canvas canoes….obviously I love wood canvas canoes….but not just their history or tradition….I even think there’s a future for wood canvas canoes….and maybe even a real need….

….Wood canvas canoes, to reiterate the Timberline Canoe home page, are eco-friendly watercraft constructed of renewable, natural resources….despite the fact that certain chemicals might be used in their construction….such as in the filler, paint, or even varnish….but personally I believe that the “carbon footprint” involved in the construction of wood canvas canoes is much less than that involved in building fiberglas or Kevlar canoes. So I think it’s safe to say that are more “eco-friendly” than other types of canoes on the market….not only are they constructed from renewable and natural resources….but they instill a closeness to the natural environment….especially in a spiritual sense….just check out the quotes from various folks at the outset of this post, especially from the canoe builders.

On her website for Bourquin Boats (Bourquin Boats), Jeanne Bourquin answers Why Wood? :

Almost everyone interested in a wood canoe at some point asks me “Why wood?” “Why paddle something so beautiful?” “It should be on a wall somewhere.” “They’re so heavy… they require so much upkeep and work…”

The camp where I learned to travel by canoe uses wood canoes because they believe that by learning to respect and care for one’s equipment, we learn to take care of the environment, and we learn to take care of and respect each other. The material, the care required, the natural beauty of a wood canoe all fit into the experience of wilderness travel. A wood canoe is more of a friend (or a pet) than a piece of recreational equipment (most people name their canoes), and the purchase of a wood canoe should be approached the same way. “Am I willing to take the extra care loading and unloading?” “Will I want to get my feet wet?” “Where am I going to store my canoe?” “Will I enjoy the cleaning and sanding and touchups required each fall?”

Asked why we use wood/canvas canoes, those of us who have paddled them for years can mostly only shrug and smile. Maybe its love… cupid’s arrow… pure foolishness. Maybe its all appearance… maybe its how quiet they are on the water… maybe its how you can forget the mosquitoes as you admire for the 10,000 time the graceful curve of rib and plank disappear into the bow. Or, maybe its the history and memories we see reflected in each dent and scratch – while imagining our children and grandchildren off on some adventure of their own in the same canoe. For most people the love for wooden canoes starts the first time they actually get in one and paddle. They are beautiful to look at – but they are much more beautiful on the water – clear skies and Fall leaves, or grey skies and pouring rain, another friend to share it all with.

As John Hupfield states on his Lost In The Woods Boatworks website:

Why wood? Besides being beautiful, wood is a renewable resource that we think is more in keeping with our enjoyment of the environment, and is a non-toxic alternative to the increasing use of toxic chemicals in recreational watercraft. It’s warmer and stiffer than synthetics, smells nice, is pleasant to work with, and is quieter on the water too. And by using modern building methods, hulls are extremely light, durable and easy to care for. It’s a myth that wooden boats are high maintenance!

Or as Paul Roddick states on his website for Roddick Canoes:

Canadian adventure canoes and rowboats, built the traditional way with wood and canvas, and a whole lot of Canadian know how. Our great country of lakes, rivers and ancient waterways is the birthplace of the canoe. Long before the white man ever set foot on this land the great native people built the canoe to travel and explore the wilderness. Today we build these great canoes in the same way,ready to take you on a wilderness adventure, or an eary morning paddle on your favourite lake, with the mist rising off the water as your quiet wooden canoe glides effortlessly with hardly a ripple, as they have done for thousands of years and will continue to, as long as individual craftsmen, dedicated to preseving this great Canadian tradition, culture and life style, persevere.

I am not defending the wood canvas canoe, because they need no defense, they speak for themselves, they whisper “Canada, wilderness,water, adventure, lakes , streams, rivers, sun on the rocks, wind on the water, trout in the clear crystal pools, an early morning moose feeding at the the waters edge, or you and your companion, pushing off your loaded canoe, into another day of being one with with nature.

Our models never change from year to year, they are the same today as they were a hundred years ago. It’s hard to improve on perfection, we don’t worry about the newest tecnology, or the competition. Why?, because we don’t have any, all we have is our timeless wooden canoes and boats, each one hand built, one at a time, slowly, carefully, soulfully, each one a bit of Canada, each one cherished for what they are, a thing of timeless beauty, function and grace, the wood canvas canoe. forever.

Maine Canoe Journeys adds:

Wood/Canvas canoes have enjoyed a remarkable revival since the early 1980s for more than nostalgic reasons. A fine wood/canvas canoe offers not just aesthetic beauty, but also superior handling in the water, craftsmanlike construction of largely organic materials, and infinite repairability.

Finally as Pam Wedd  says on the Bearwood Canoes website:

The experience of paddling a traditional wood and canvas canoe is like no other in this high-tech world of ours. Being a part of our surroundings in a watercraft built from natural materials returns us to our roots. It is a link to our past and our soul.

I don’t think I can add much more to any of that….certainly nothing I haven’t added before here….so next time you’re thinking of buying a new canoe (or even an “old” new canoe), think of a wood canvas canoe….and if you are worried about the weight then remember it’s really not too heavy….and even if it is more than that featherweight Kevlar, it will let you know you’re still alive….as for maintenance that’s part of the charm too. And nothing like taking a wood canvas canoe on a northern lake, especially in traditional canoe country like Algonquin, Killarney or Temagami.

Paddles up until later then….and may you have a green canoe (if you don’t already have one)….a green wood canvas canoe….truly “green”.

But then any canoe is a thing of simplicity….as well as something of perfection….as I once wrote:

The perfect canoe is the one we’re in at the moment because the time we’re in the canoe is a perfect moment.

But this is not true for canoes. Kayaks or any self propelled craft should be included in this sense of simplicity. The act of paddling (or even rowing….or sailing for that matter) take you to different places than any motorized form of watercraft can. Whether in a canoe or kayak, we get a look at our environment from a different view….a view that is closer to Mother Nature. Just look at paintings such as those of Tom Thomson’s.

While few Thomson paintings actually have canoes in them. When he did depict a canoe, it seemed to be just part of the scenery. One such painting, entitled The Canoe, shows a grey canoe on the shore of a lake. But by looking at most of Tom’s smaller sketches, it is apparent that these were created from a canoeist’s perspective. Thomson often painted while he was in a canoe.

Image of Tom Thomson’s ‘Canoe and Lake, Algonquin Park’ courtesy Joyner Waddington, http://www.joyner.ca/pages/joyner-auctions/viewlot.php?id=1000696. Title: Canoe And Lake, Algonquin Park, oil on canvas, laid down on panel, signed Creator: Tom Thomson  7 ins x 10 ins; 17.5 cms x 25 cms  EST. $80,000 / 100,000  PRICE: $377,100.00  Painted circa 1912-13.  Provenance: Private Collection, Toronto  Literature: Dennis Reid and Charles C. Hill, Tom Thomson, Art Gallery of Ontario and National Gallery of Canada, Toronto and Ottawa, 2002, pages 157-169, colour plates 5-17 for related Algonquin works from the same period and of similar size and medium, in particular, for a painting entitled The Canoe (plate 6).  This work was included in Joan Murray’s catalogue raisonne of the artist’s work.

Image from Group of Seven Art.com, a fine arts reproduction company, http://www.groupofsevenart.com/Thomson/Images/Tom_Thomson_The_Canoe_1912_GS.jpg.  Note: This image incorrectly identifies this painting as from 1912.

Title: Canoe Lake, Algonquin Park Creator: Tom Thomson Archive or Repository: Macdonald Stewart Art Centre Collection or Fond: University of Guelph Collection Reference Number: MSAC-UG989.097 Notes: Oil on canvas. Gift of Stewart and Letty Bennett, donated by the Ontario Heritage Foundation to the University of Guelph, 1988.

Title: Chill November Creator: Tom Thomson Archive or Repository: Gallery Lambton Collection or Fond: Gallery Lambton Notes: Oil on canvas, 36″ x 42″/91.4 cm x 106.7 cm. Gift of the Sarnia Women’s Conservation Art Association, 1956.

As I reported here in Thursday Thoughts: Finding The Simple Pleasure In A Paddle Stroke….The Small Pleasures To Treasure In A Canoe, http://reflectionsoutdoors.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/thursday-thoughts-finding-the-simple-pleasure-in-a-paddle-stroke-the-small-pleasures-to-treasure-in-a-canoe/:

Now I have often rambled on about paddling….about canoeing….in this blog. I don’t write trip reports….certainly not a day to day review of campsites and portages. I think others do that better than I can. But I have talked about the freedom that one can find….about how one can get closer to Nature….just about the sheer joy of paddling. I won’t bore you by rehashing all of that again….or even attempt to put fancy words down to try to better describe such experiences. Actually the simpler the words or the thoughts around canoes & canoeing….about paddling….maybe the better. After all paddling a canoe really is quite a simple thing to do….very basic….so maybe getting too ‘fancy’ about it gets away from the essentials of just paddling a canoe. True you can get ‘fancy’ in your paddling….or pi-daddling as some might call it….you can make your canoe literally dance, especially with some of the fancy moves that form Canadian Style paddling….but you can also ‘dance’ your canoe in a river, ferrying across the current, slipping into an eddy, or running a set of rapids….or just getting out for a tour of a local lake or wetlands. But the K.I.S.S. principle is never more evident in my opinion than in paddling a canoe. So keeping it simple is far from stupid.

I spend time online looking over other sites on canoes and canoeing….looking for other thoughts on paddling (often because I think others can describe the joy of paddling better than I ever could). One such site is The Canoe Camper, which has a great section of Stories and Articles. One story I thought I’d share a few passages from is Small Pleasures by Keith Bridgman:

Small Pleasures by Keith Bridgman

While the cool air of morning hovers over the quiet hours, is when I feel most at home, most in tune with where I am, while fatigue continues to invade my eyes. Before the rays of daylight evaporate the darkness, while the last remnants of the pre-dawn cling to life, how important are the moments spent drifting alone on the currents are then realized. It is the last calm before the day and the last silence of the morning that awakens me. More often than they should, the moment’s slip away unnoticed, until I look back and reflect on the experience. It is then my heart is warmed by what my eyes witnessed, and my thoughts drift affectionately to what was there, to the emotion of the moment, suspended on the glide of my canoe toward that rendezvous of time and place. It is good for the soul to do such things, for it is during those times, the gift of the small pleasures of life become real.

The sweet tone of the paddle keeping time with the swirls and eddies as the wooden blade presses against the water and propels the canoe silently over the surface is what I enjoy the most, and least, as muscles not recently used are again called into service. The perfected motion as the paddle is carefully raised at the end of each stroke, and caressed into place for the next, the obedient turn of the bow as a gentle brace is applied are such things from which I seldom tire. That first stroke of the morning, during the stillness, when the only sound is the muffled gurgling of the paddle, and when anticipation is highest, create the most enduring images. As each stroke blends with the next, their collective action becomes a special memory harboring its own significance, its own connection to that gift.

The solitude and calmness of spirit is what I seek while canoeing and few things offer a better blend of events to fulfill those ideals. I’ve grown to appreciate that concept more with age. The slow and simple method of drifting down a backcountry stream or across a secluded cove embraces the essence of those words. Often, the trials of making a living create a delinquency from the pursuit of those desires, but in retrospect, because of the gaps created by that delinquency, the experience generates even more pleasure on the few occasions I do get away….

Paddles up until later then….and may you find the small pleasures in paddling….well at least the simple pleasure that dipping a paddle can bring.

The simplicity of the canoe….of canoeing….of paddling….keeps me centred….that smooths out my life….

Again borrowing from past blog writings, let me revisit One Last Thought For A Sunday: Smoothing Out Our Paddling….And Our Lives, http://reflectionsoutdoors.wordpress.com/2011/06/12/one-last-thought-for-a-sunday-smoothing-out-our-paddling-and-our-lives/:

Michael Caine is quoted as once saying: “Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath.” Now for many of us that is that is how we lead our lives….getting caught up in the hectic everday craziness that today’s world can so often create. Then again it might even describe my paddling style LOL LOL….well at least when I first was working on my technique (back in my Kandalore days).

I worked hard at first to try to paddle ‘perfectly’, trying to copy the effortless style of more experienced Kandalore staff like Mike Ketemer, George Anderson, Andy Wickens, Terry Thomas, Wendy Grater, and Fred Loosemore (to name but a few….and certainly not to forget Kirk Wipper)….luckily I was taken under the wing of Sandy MacDougall who was the canoe instructor at Kandalore. Sandy taught me the proper strokes….got me to practice each day….for a couple of hours each day. Eventually my technique improved (then again I couldn’t do anything but improve LOL LOL)….I went from a Goon stroke to a proper J-stroke….and continued to add to my paddling skills….Kandalore certainly had a tradition based in canoeing back then….and even someone as initially pathetic as I was couldn’t help but soak up proper paddling, by osmosis if nothing else. I did practice as often as possible….usually getting out on the water several hours a day. So I guess it was largely through practice that I improved….but I think the standard set by other Kandalore staff certainly didn’t hurt any….neither did seeing the likes of Omer Stringer….or watching Bill Mason’s Path of the Paddle film series when it first came out (I even got a chance to see Path of the Paddle before it was finished…..Bill dropped by Kandalore to show to show his film in progress). No question practice makes perfect….or at least gets you closer. But it’s important to have a ‘standard’ to shoot for too.

These days I’m working on my Canadian Style paddling a lot….getting ready for possible canoe demos and maybe even a canoe ballet (as I mentioned in the last blog post, one such demo is planned for the National Canoe Day celebration in Peterbourough). Often now I can make my canoe look pretty smooth out on the water….the canoe dancing whichever way I choose….silently sliding across the water. Freeing me from whatever might be bothering me at that particular moment….maybe something at work….problems in my personal life….all seem to float away as my canoe floats along….gliding along….quietly getting close to the natural world all around….getting close to nature….close to the birds and other animals that are part of Mother Nature….even becoming part of that very natural world. Becoming more natural….taking the time to be natural.

Photos by yours truly.

I watch certain videos, like those on YouTube by Rolf Kraiker…or of Kim Gass or Becky Mason….certainly referring to Becky’s great DVD Classic Solo Canoeing….and her Dad’s Path of the Paddle (still one of the best videos out there). These references are very much a ‘standard’ I can aim to eventually attain….or at least hope to. Kind of like knowing where you can go if you just knew how to get there.

Canoe tripping is another example….getting away on a trip gets you in touch with the natural world in a way that many of us don’t get a chance very often these days. Whether it’s just for a couple of days….or even a few weeks….just getting out for a paddle frees you….allows you to unwind….to truly ‘get away’ from it all. When I was involved in front line social services work in Toronto, mostly dealing with the homeless and/or those with substance abuse or mental health issues, getting away on a canoe trip was a great way to ‘renergize’ myself….to ‘recharge’ my batteries. I learned that if you didn’t take care of yourself….to help yourself….then you couldn’t take care of anyone else…..to help somebody else.

There is a lot of great information on canoe tripping….on various canoe routes….Kevin Callan has an incredible series of guides….as does Hap Wilson….great online resources like Algonquin Adventures, Canadian Canoe Routes, Solo Tripping or Ottertooth….even outfitters like Algonquin Outfitters if you don’t have your own equipment. Trip reports and guidebooks can describe what you’ll see….give you a sense of the routes….even provide background like local history and natural environment (the local flora and fauna). There are courses in canoe tripping too (such as offered by ORCKA). But actually getting out on a canoe trip gives you the real flavour for what’s out there….provides a chance to actually ‘get away’.

You can have a ‘standard’ to shoot for….but to really get something out of any experience, you need to do it. So get out there and ‘practice’ your canoeing and your canoe tripping soon. You’ll thank yourself for taking the time to do so.

As with anything if you set a goal….have a standard to shoot for….take instruction as needed….but more than anything just get out there and practice….put all of those things you’ve learned (or picture as attaining) into practice….make them a natural part of your life….these things can become a habit….just naturally happening….

Eventually you reach a point in your paddling where you don’t even think about what you’re doing….it’s almost instinctive….you just know what to do….you don’t even think about what stroke to use….the paddle blade just seems to know what to do all on its own….call it being ‘in the groove’….’in sync’….it just seems to be the ‘natural’ thing to do….and in many ways that is true….your paddling has become a part of you….’natural paddling’….your paddling just naturally becomes smooth….you smooth out your paddling.

Taking a canoe trip can help smooth out your life. The more you make tripping (or even just paddling) a part of your life, the smoother your life can become. It can take away a lot of the stress….the worries….the pressure….just the everyday grind….that is so much a part of life today….especially in the city….paddling a canoe can truly free you. And the more you do it, the more natural a part of your life it becomes….a more natural way to deal with everyday hectic life.

Whether it’s just paddling….or taking a canoe trip….make these things a natural part of your life….get into the right habit….certainly learning how to do things correctly (whether it is a particular paddle stroke or a way to set up a campsite….no trace camping or doing a Canadian stroke….a proper J-stroke or how to pack for a canoe trip….etc.) is important….putting those things to practice is key too….developing good habits….having things just become the natural way of doing it.

So I’ve noticed that if you don’t think about it, and only concentrate on where you want the canoe to go, the strokes seem to just come…..become almost instinctual. And the canoe just seems to go. But I really like to get to the point where I don’t even think where the canoe is going….certainly not thinking about whatever stroke I might be attempting….I like those moments best where I just ‘go with the flow’….not thinking about what I’m doing or where I’m going….just drifting along….no thinking of what’s being done or where it may end up; yet at the same time, despite ‘no thinking’ being involved, you and the canoe seem to be of the ‘same mind’….together in all….yet totally free at the same time.

Of course that is not so much when I’m trying to get from point A to point B on a canoe trip….although I like to allow time for just ‘taking my time’….I think it’s more that in a canoe you just become a part of that whole much bigger world – the world of Mother Nature – that whatever you’re doing or wherever you’re going really seems almost insignificant to everything else around you….especially if you’re trying to do things in a specific way….or trying to get somewhere in a hurry….those things really don’t seem to matter so much.

I could go on and on….even about the benefits of canoeing and canoe tripping….instead I thought I’d share some thoughts of others….with a couple of mine are thrown in for good measure at the end:

It is certainly not my intention to convince everybody they should grab a canoe and take to the wilderness. We are all different, and our interests vary. That is how it should be. Some people are content to enjoy the land from the edge of the road or campground. Others are only happy when isolated from the synthetic world by many portages and miles of trackless wilderness. I used to think it was a major tragedy if anyone went through life never having owned a canoe. Now I believe it is just a minor tragedy. – Bill Mason, Path of the Paddle

On wilderness: I like being out here. I like looking around. Listening. Seeing how the wilderness fits together. It’s like a puzzle. When we go in and change things, it upsets the balance. And what a great puzzle our world is. It’s beautiful, powerful, and mysterious. – Becky Mason

On her passion for the canoe: Sometimes when I’m hiking I feel like I’m crushing things under foot. But when I’m in a canoe I glide with the currents, feeling the tug of the water underneath. And that’s why it’s special to me. – Becky Mason

On why she paddles: Paddling is sensual. It touches my emotional side. Often I notice that my feelings change when I paddle. If I’m angry, upset or worried, these emotions just seem to slip away and a sense of peace settles over me. – Becky Mason

Becky Mason’s essay Reflections, which I felt was worth repeating:

I have often thought about the connections that paddlers experience when canoeing. Peace, reflection and wonder come to mind. I suppose it’s a desire to seek a form of quiet meditation. I find it natural to turn to paddling as a meditation point. I’m not sure that the canoe is the real catalyst for me though. It’s the natural environment that really elevates my awareness and feeling of heightened spiritually and belonging. For instance, I would not feel at one with my surroundings if I was paddling indoors in a chlorinated pool, where as I might feel totally different if I had hiked into a remote waterfall.

But canoeing is in my blood. I have found that it is not a separate entity in my life but part of my psyche and personal make up. My Dad, by example, showed me that this balance was possible. He was always so busy and active, working and going non-stop for months at a time. Nevertheless, he recognised that he really needed the quiet solitude of a wilderness journey to nourish his soul and rekindle his spirit.

As far back as I can remember, I have been spending a part of my summer canoeing and camping in the wilderness. These have been memorable and rewarding trips but equally important for me is the hour or two of paddling I can squeeze into the middle of a busy week. I like to jump in my canoe and head out with no real destination or purpose, just letting the wind and my whims lead me where they may. Upon returning to my desk and slogging through the pile of stuff that needs attending I enjoy thinking of the adventures I will be able to continue on my next paddle.

It’s fun to fantasize about paddling. To imagine exploring further that tiny trickle of a headwater, that slowly builds and turns into a lively river with rapids I dance in, and chutes and falls I portage around, and mirror-like pools I spin and play upon. However, nothing can substitute for the real thing. So I do get out there. And when I do, that feeling of being at one with the land and water and air slowly surrounds and envelops me, it feels very calming and Zen like. And I know that in my dreams and in my life I will eagerly continue on, going just a little further down that creek to see what is there and what new wonders the wilderness will have to teach me. – Becky Mason

Canoeing gets you back close to nature, using a method of travel that does not even call for roads or paths. You are following nature’s roads; you are choosing the road less travelled, as Robert Frost once wrote in another context, and that makes all the difference. You discover a sort of simplifying of your values, a distinction between those artificially created and those that are necessary to your spiritual and human development. – Pierre Elliott Trudeau

I think a lot of people want to go back to basics sometimes, to get their bearings. For me a good way to do that is to get into nature by canoe – to take myself as far away as possible from everday life, from its complications and from the artificial wants created by civilization. Canoeing forces you to make a distinction between your needs and your wants. – Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Memoirs

The movement of a canoe is like a reed in the wind. Silence is part of it, and the sounds of lapping water, bird songs, and wind in the trees. It is part of the medium through which it floats, the sky, the water, the shores….There is magic in the feel of a paddle and the movement of a canoe, a magic compounded of distance, adventure, solitude, and peace. The way of a canoe is the way of the wilderness, and of a freedom almost forgotten. It is an antidote to insecurity, the open door to waterways of ages past, and a way of life with profound and abiding satisfactions. When a man is part of his canoe, he is part of all that canoes have ever known. – Sigurd Olson from  The Singing Wilderness

In travelling great rivers and lakes, there are times when islands fade, hills and headlands recede, the water merges with the sky in a distant mirage of shimmery blue. These are the open horizons of the far north.

If it is calm, the canoes drifting through reflections with nothing to break the vast silence but the hypnotic swish of paddles, there are moments when one seems suspended between heaven and earth. If it is stormy and the lakes alive, with whitecaps and blowing spume, each instant is full of battle and excitement. When, after hours and sometimes days, the misty outlines of the lake take form again, islands slowly emerge and float upon the surface, headlands become real, one passes through a door into the beyond itself and the mystery is no more.

Life is a series of open horizons, with one no sooner completed than another looms ahead. Some are traversed swiftly, while others extend so far into the future one cannot predict their end. Penetrations into the unknown, all give meaning to what has gone before, and courage for what is to come. More than physical features, they are horizons of mind and spirit, and when one looks backward, we find they have blended into the whole panorama of our lives. - Sigurd Olson, from Open Horizons, 1969.

The canoe was drifting off the islands, and the time had come for the calling, that moment of magic in the north when all is quiet and the water still iridescent with the fading glow of sunset. Even the shores seemed hushed and waiting for the first lone call, and when it came, a single long-drawn mournful note, the quiet was deeper than before. - Sigurd Olson, The Singing Wilderness

I would paddle out swiftly onto the open lake if the moon was shining down its path. It never failed to come to me when going down that brilliant shining highway into space. Most completely of all would I be taken when lying on my back looking at the stars. The gentle motion of the canoe softly swaying, the sense of space and infinity given by the stars, gave me the sense of being suspended in the ether. My body had no weight, my soul was detached and I careened freely through a delightfullness of infinite distance…. Sometimes the night cry of the loon would enhance the illusion. For long periods I would lie, having lost track of time and location. A slap of a wavelet would jerk me back into the present and I would paddle back to the glowing coals of the deserted camp fire, trying to fathom the depths of the experience I had been through. - Sigurd Olson, in his Journal, Jan. 20, 1930

Mind over matter, canoe over water. - Kevin Quischan

To canoe is to be moved. - Doug E. Bell

We do not go into the green woods and crystal waters to rough it; we go to smooth it. We get it rough enough at home…. – Nessmuk, 1884

I went along to iron out the wrinkles in my soul. - Omond Solandt

Doing what you like is FREEDOM, liking what you do is HAPPINESS. - Unknown

Happiness is paddling a canoe on the river of life. – Unknown

The paddling rhythm allows us to focus on the here-and-now. Senses are tuned and aware, but not focusing on anything in particular. I’m aware of bodies falling easily into the monotony of the motion. The magic of paddling for hours in the efficiency of the action. For every action there is a resting phase – the yin (sic) of exertion, the yang (sic) of rest. For every expenditure of energy, there is renewal of breath and power from the motion of the boat. Resting phase: hands fall forward, shoulders tilt, the blade drops into the water and every part of the body evenly flexes to the task. Exertion: I look down and see my bare toes flex against the sand in the bottom of the boat as the stroke begins. The thigh follows, left more than on the right. The demand of the right side of my torso is smooth and even. The demand on the left side – the side I’m paddling on – is wave-like. I look down as the power of the stroke peaks: chest and upper arm flex together as the paddle swings forward again. Gail’s back shows the other side of the effort. Sheets of muscle in her back are a series of delicately shadowed triangles that focus their force towards her spine. Her shoulders glisten in the light and drop slightly as she tips forward and begins a new stroke. Watching the sequence of motion played out through the smooth muscles in Gail’s back makes me aware of a high-frequency tingling in the nape of my neck. I daren’t tip forward for fear of springing a wire. It seems odd that the paddle is the object being powered and the spine is the place from which the power is being dispatched. Our paddles enter the water on opposite sides of the boat, but I’m conscious right now that the power is centralized. It comes from the core. It’s motion derived of the soul and of the land whose energy flows through in every sense. - James Raffan

We need quiet places, and we need quiet ways to travel in them. We never quite realize how valuable they are until we’ve been paddling, camping, and fishing in them for a few days. Once cleansed of the residue of daily living, it’s possible to find what my son once called ‘a calm spot’ in your heart. It’s a good thing to find. – Jerry Dennis, From a Wooden Canoe

I have always had a desire to explore out-of-way places. Together, the canoe and this country’s many waterways provide the ideal combination. When travelling by canoe you seem to blend in rather than being an intrusion on your surroundings. – John B. Hughes

Ultimately, a paddling trip simplifies life. – Wendy Grater

It’s pretty hard for me to go more than a few days without getting a paddle wet somewhere. For me, that stepping into the canoe and pushing off is a very special spiritual and physical experience. Bill Mason had it right: it’s like walking on water. It transports you to another way of being, another way of feeling – it restores my soul. – David Finch

I like to encourage people to paddle because it gives them a different way to experience the river, the landscape and…life. – David Finch

It is such a great way to take in a wide range of experiences. When we paddle, the experience of place moves from the brain to the heart, making it a life-forming experience. – Kevin Redmond

Nothing like paddling a canoe to restore the spirit and reconnect with this gorgeous planet that sustains us. - Dalton McGuinty, Ontario premier in twitter to Badger Paddles folks.

I paddle a canoe as a past-time. Beyond the simple mechanics of paddling is the actual dance of the canoe. We create the sheer poetry of motion by making a rhythm or even music with the canoe; literally making the canoe dance. Just as there are no wrong notes in making music (at least in the purest sense), even if we don’t know the exact correct paddle strokes, we can move that canoe, creating our own poetry or dance. As we become more proficient in paddling we can create a more intricate dance. But when we come to add emotion to our paddling, we create a vision. Then that canoe dance almost seems to takes on a life of its own. It is more than just mere paddling…almost as if that canoe becomes an extension of ourselves. Freeing ourselves. And the canoe is the vehicle or instrument to such freedom. The freedom found in making beautiful music together with my canoe. – Mike Ormsby

When we come to add emotion to our paddling, we create a vision. Then our canoe can dance and almost seem to take on a life of its own. It is more than just mere paddling…almost as if that canoe becomes an extension of ourselves. Freeing ourselves. – Mike Ormsby

Perhaps it would be better to look at this whole process in terms of a canoe trip….you start out on a route that you’ve planned and mapped out….along the way you might find something of special interest that causes you to linger longer than at another…..perhaps you even decide to take a side trip or to stay out a bit longer, even go off in a new direction ….but if you’re travelling in a group, you are part of a team….hopefully cooperating to make the trip enjoyable for all….everybody has their role….some carrying packs across a portage, others the canoes….setting up camp…..cooking meals….even having a say in where they’re going…..there may be a trip leader, sometimes more than one….But when I think of leadership, I am reminded of watching a V-formation of geese in flight….the lead goose is sticking its neck out to break the air currents for the rest of the flock, thereby making it easier for the others to fly (as they “draft” in behind)…but if you watch that V-formation long enough, you’ll see that the lead goose will eventually fall back and another one will come up to take its place….so a good leader will stick its neck out for whover is following, setting a good example for the others; but also a good leader knows when to let another lead, when to let others have a chance….These geese work together….to a common goal of getting where they need to be….like we do on a canoe trip….working towards a common goal…. – Mike Ormsby

A canoe is a very good way to get close to nature. While it is possible to make a canoe go pretty fast, it is the thrill of slowing down that appeals to most canoeists. Even when canoes do go fast, when they rocket rapidly through whitewater, they are still canoes. Still close to nature and its environs. It is not the canoe that provides the power, it is the water. The canoe rides the water and its occupants humbly steer.

In a canoe you can’t help but feel the body of the country, notice the shape of islands or hills, hear the cries of birds and the sound of the wind, yet still respond fervently to the hundreds of small things that make up the world about you. Take a canoe onto a lake at night and enjoy what it can do, acting as a launching pad to distant worlds, opening up a vista of stars in the sky. The canoe seems to float up to these very stars and far away planets, as the night sky becomes one with the dark silent waters, twinking stars reflected in murky depths until water and sky all seem to blend together in one great expanse.

Canoes can sneak up on loons or beavers or herons, even a mighty moose, silently getting you closer than you can imagine. The canoe becomes part of its surroundings, becoming part of the natural world, and so completely that even once discovered it doesn’t scare such creatures. The canoe is just part of their world, accepted as always being there. It might be that the canoe has been such a familiar sight for so long, for so many years in the north country. In no particular hurry, the loon or the beaver slip quietly under the water if at all bothered by any such intrusion. Usually the moose will just stand there, holding its ground, patiently out waiting the canoe and its paddlers, unless it tires and lumbers off to the safety of the nearby bush.  The heron takes flight with its dignity intact, probably thinking: “It’s only a canoe, but I’ll just move away a bit anyway.” – Mike Ormsby

If I get out and paddle my canoe, I feel freedom. That much I’ve stated here before. But freedom from what????? Certainly freedom from stress. Possibly freedom of expression in that I am able to express myself in a way that is definitely free….not only in cost, but in freedom of spirit and emotion. Canoeing is physically freeing too.

Something about gliding on water….going with the flow….having a way to get into spots on the water that no other water craft can so easily….sometimes just drifting along….others moving with purpose and direction (such as when paddling from point A to point B and even in a certain time frame). But no matter how you travel in a canoe, there is part of you that just naturally slows down….finds a natural “groove” at least….a rhythm….and as has been pointed out often (here and otherwise), eventually you become one with your canoe. It might take some practice….learning how to paddle your canoe efficiently and properly….but with time, you do become in “sync” with your canoe….just as it becomes one with the surroundings….blending in so to speak.

So that’s part of this freedom….travelling under your own power in a water craft….that is so well suited to such travel. And you don’t even need music to make your canoe dance. Maybe just the song of your paddle. But the harmony that you and your canoe can form is truly beautiful music. If you’re fortunate enough to become as proficient as a Becky Mason or Karen Knight, your paddling seems almost effortless….too easy in fact. But even for those of us without such skill, we can still paddle our own canoe very freely….still find a way to free ourselves….just being on the water is a way to feel free.

I believe we have an inherent part of us that is in tune with water….the human body is largely water….so we are all part water….and consequently, water is part of us….add in a canoe that is so well suited to being on the water, being part of the water, and you have an interesting equation….and there is a very real “flow” to it. Maybe something as simple as:

YOU + CANOE + WATER = FREEDOM – Mike Ormsby

So maybe if we try, we can turn that quote of Michael Caine’s:

“Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath” 

…..to something more like:

“Be like a canoe. Calm on the surface, and always paddling forward in smooth easy strokes. Just add water and a canoe….you will find freedom.” 

Paddles up until later then….let your paddling and canoe tripping become things that are just natural to do….maybe we should just to learn to go with the flow’….let me close by repeating the words of two paddlers:

We do not go into the green woods and crystal waters to rough it; we go to smooth it. We get it rough enough at home…. – Nessmuk, 1884

I went along to iron out the wrinkles in my soul. - Omond Solandt

Can I add much more to that….probably not….but I’m sure it’s a subject that I’ll come back to again in these pages. Maybe others view less is more and even simplicity in different ways, as Kelly Grammer as Dr. Frasier Crane was quoted: “If less is more, then think just how much more more could be” (cited in Frasier Quotes, http://www.tvloop.com/frasier/show/quotes/dr-frasier-crane-if-less-is-more-then-think-just-257364). But to me, simply dipping a paddle in water is often much more than I ever need. Maybe it isn’t that paddling is any less….but simply more.

Paddles up until later then….

Friday the 13th occurs when the thirteenth day of a month falls on a Friday, which superstition holds to be a day of bad luck. In the Gregorian calendar, this day occurs at least once, but at most three times a year. Any month’s 13th day will fall on a Friday if the month starts on a Sunday.

….The fear of Friday the 13th is called “friggatriskaidekaphobia” (“Frigga” being the name of the Norse goddess for whom “Friday” is named and “triskaidekaphobia” meaning fear of the number thirteen)….

But there are things that don’t have to be feared about Friday the 13th….some fun things. I mean any Friday is the day before the weekend….and when the better weather is here, we can get out more often and paddle. TGIF….get out and enjoy. So many find a way to celebrate Friday the 13th. There is even a gathering of motorcyclists every Friday the 13th in Port Dover, Ontario.

Maybe we should start up something similar for paddlers….maybe something tied in with the need to paddle safely….especially this time of year.

There have been several studies about the risks of accidents on Friday the 13th….according to Wikipedia: Friday The 13th:

There are conflicting studies about the risk of accidents on Friday the 13th. The Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics (CVS) on June 12, 2008, stated that “fewer accidents and reports of fire and theft occur when the 13th of the month falls on a Friday than on other Fridays, because people are preventatively more careful or just stay home. Statistically speaking, driving is slightly safer on Friday the 13th, at least in the Netherlands; in the last two years, Dutch insurers received reports of an average 7,800 traffic accidents each Friday; but the average figure when the 13th fell on a Friday was just 7,500. However, a 1993 study in the British Medical Journal that compared the ratio of traffic accidents between Friday the 6th and Friday the 13th stated that there is a significant increase in traffic-related accidents on Friday the 13th. There are indications that there are more accidents on Fridays than average weekdays (irrespective of the date) probably because of alcohol consumption. Therefore it is less relevant for this purpose to compare Friday the 13th with any other 13th day of another month.

Whether it’s Friday the 13th….or any other day of the year….accidents can happen….but we can be prepared for many of these accidents….even prevent them….and that is true in paddling as in anything we do.

Hopefully this is something that families will think about when they go camping. Especially as they start start off on a canoe trip in Algonquin. Killarney, Temagami or any of the many wonderful areas to paddle that Ontario has to offer. Maybe before  they get out on a fishing trip. Or even when they just open up the cottage.

A few years ago, I attended the CANOE 10 and Sea Kayaking Symposium held at Palmer Rapids….I was there as part of the ORCKA booth. I was amazed at the number of folks who discussed going out on a canoe trip without the basic knowledge….no first aid training or even first aid kits…..not even knowing simple basic strokes and safety techniques such as canoe over canoe rescues. These topics came up regularly especially around the dinner table or the campfire as well as at the ORCKA booth. This is where organizations like ORCKA or Paddle Canada can really make a difference…..by getting out the message of responsible and safe paddling.

I have written before that maybe the paddling industry or others can find a way to fund something like the old Paddlecade or the old Ontario Safety League’s canoeing demonstrations….so that safe paddling practices are reinforced (or even just introduced) to the general public. I really think there is a big need for this….a need for awareness of paddling safely.

An example of the need for safe paddling practices is how few folks know that any canoe (or kayak) should have the following items when on the water (as outlined in the Transport Canada: Safe Boating Guide):

Canoes, kayaks, rowboats and rowing shells less than 6 m (19’8”) in length

Personal protection equipment

1. One (1) Canadian-approved personal flotation device or lifejacket of appropriate size for each person on board

2. One (1) buoyant heaving line no less than 15 m (49’3”) in length (such as a throw bag)

Boat safety equipment

3. One (1) manual propelling device (preferably even an extra paddle)

OR

An anchor with no less than 15 m (49’3”) of cable, rope or chain in any combination

4. One (1) bailer 

OR

One (1) manual water pump fitted with or accompanied by sufficient hose to enable a person using the pump to discharge water from the bilge of the vessel over the side of the vessel

Navigation equipment

5. A sound-signaling device or a sound signaling appliance (such as a whistle)

6. Navigation lights that meet the applicable standards set out in the Collision Regulations if the pleasure craft is operated after sunset and before sunrise or in periods of restricted visibility (such as a waterproof flashlight for night travel)

Note: Radar reflectors are required under certain conditions. Pleasure craft propelled by oars and pleasure craft 8 m (26’3”) or less in length within sight of navigational marks do not require a compass.

So every canoe (or kayak) should carry a PFD properly fitted and worn by each person onboard, carry a 15 metre floating throw rope, have a paddle, a bailer, a whistle or other device to alert to emergency, and if on the water at night a light.

From the same Safe Boating Guide, here is some advice for kayakers:

Kayakers

Make sure you are seen on the water. Even in bright, calm conditions a kayak can be nearly invisible. It is especially difficult for power-driven vessel and large vessel operators riding high in the water to see kayaks. Choose bright colours such as red, yellow or orange for your flotation device and kayak. Also, remember to keep signaling devices within hand’s reach in case of emergency.

Sea kayakers should be aware of their environment (water temperatures, tides, currents, wind and maritime traffic).

Most weekends up north will find a healthy influx of winged pests (such as blackflies and mosquitoes) out in full force. But of even greater concern should be the water temperature. The daytime air temperatures could hit the 20 degrees C. range….but the water temperatures are still quite cold. Here is some of the advice given in the Safe Boating Guide:

Surviving in cold water

It is a warm day — you are on your boat and get up to grab something. Suddenly you lose your balance and teeter off the side, falling into water that is less than 15°C. Your muscles are instantly paralyzed and there is no one around to help you. You are experiencing cold shock. There is no time to figure things out.

Cold water shock likely causes more deaths than hypothermia. Canada’s typically cold waters are especially dangerous if you are unexpectedly immersed in them. For three to five minutes after sudden immersion you will gasp for breath. You could also experience muscle spasms or a rise in your heart rate and blood pressure. Worse yet, you could choke on water or suffer a heart attack or a stroke.

Even strong swimmers can succumb to the effects of cold water shock. Cold water can paralyze your muscles instantly. Trying to get a hold of a device while in the water, let alone putting one on, will be nearly impossible because of the physiological changes your body will be experiencing. A lifejacket or personal flotation device (PFD) will keep you afloat while you gain control of breathing and prevent drowning from loss of muscle control. Sadly, many people do not understand this danger and how to avoid it. If you have survived the shock of cold water, hypothermia is the next danger. Hypothermia is a drop in core body temperature below the normal level that occurs from a prolonged exposure to cold weather, particularly in water soaked clothing or from direct immersion. At this lower temperature a person’s muscle and mental functions are affected. Someone who is exposed to cold water, and becoming hypothermic, can exhibit progressive signs and symptoms such as:

• Shivering, slurred speech and semi consciousness

• Slow and weak pulse, slow respiration, lack of coordination, irrational, confused and sleepy behaviour

• Weak, irregular or absent pulse or respiration

• Loss of consciousness

If you end up in the water, do everything you can to conserve energy and body heat. Swim only if you can join others or reach a safe haven. Do not swim to keep warm.

Extend your survival time by:

• Wearing a Canadian-approved lifejacket or PFD. Valuable energy will be lost keeping your head above water if you are not wearing one.

• Climbing onto a nearby floating object to get as much of your body out of or above the water as possible.

• If possible, adopt a heat escape lessening position: cross your arms tightly against your chest and draw your knees up close to them.

• Huddle with others and make sure the sides of everyone’s chest are close together, with arms around mid to lower back and legs intertwined. Protect yourself by wearing a lifejacket or PFD, multiple light layers of dry clothing and a water or wind-proof outer layer. Other equipment that comes in a variety of styles and names, and provides additional protection from hypothermia include:

• Floater or survival suits: a full nose-to-toes PFD

• Anti-exposure worksuits: a PFD with a thermal protection rating

• Dry suits: to be used with a flotation device and a thermal liner

• Wet suits: to be used with a flotation device, traps and heats water against the body

• Immersion suits: to be used in extreme conditions when abandoning a vessel (usually for off-shore use)

Knowing how your safety equipment works, especially in water, is a good idea. Test it in a warm swimming pool or in calm water before you may have to use it in an emergency. If there is warning your boat may be sinking, put on as much clothing as possible beneath your lifejacket or PFD.

So next season, do get out and paddle. But do so safely.

Paddles up until later….and be safe out there….whether out on Friday the 13th (at least those of you lucky enough be on the water today)….or any time on the water.