Boats: Canoe Reviews

Canoe Reviews

1)To prevent paddlers from being pulled into retentive hydraulics, whitewater rescue expert Jim Coffey recommends the downstream live-bait hole rescue. In this method, the rescuer swims to the aid of the boater while tethered to another member of the team or a secure anchor point on shore. This technique can prevent paddlers from being sucked back into a hole. Live-bait rescues are advanced skills, requiring the proper equipment (Check out the December issue and stay tuned to CanoeKayak.com for our exclusive rescue PFD test review), knowledge and practice to perform them in challenging whitewater. Coffey’s video-based R3: Rescue for River Runners series on CanoeKayak.com covers rescue PFD basics, and explains this and other rescue techniques in detail. The key to the live-bait method, like any river-rescue technique, is using it safely, at the appropriate time, and having the skills to mitigate the inherent dangers. Practice, take the time to do the technique right to avoid injury for both parties involved, and keep these five steps in mind.

2)I test paddled a Superior Expedition canoe 2-10-09 in Portland, MI on the Grand River one day after the ice went out. A little background is needed. The Expedition is a high volume tripping boat following the concept of the Kruger Sea Wind. It’s a canoe you can bet your life on in the most extreme and adventurist trips. The builder, Scott Smith, worked for Verlen Kruger for 7 years and has built over 100 Kruger boats with Verlen. Scott put together all the strengths of the Sea Wind design and improved all the weaknesses in a larger package.

We did an upstream and back paddle on the Grand River which was high and flowing at a rate of 3 to 5 mph. At first sight my first impression of the Expedition was, “It’s huge”. After a few strokes my next impression was, “How could a boat this big be this fast”. Then I thought, “I can’t believe how nimble this thing is”. I couldn’t believe how responsive the boat was for such a large volume boat. It just took off like a racing hull up stream hopping from eddy to eddy with ease. In the fast water I had no problem scooting up the shoreline at will.

The other surprise was the stability. Since the hull shape, I believe, is modeled after a racing hull, I expected it to be tippy. An inexperienced paddler might think so but to me it felt rock solid and the secondary stability was superb. I was even able to lean steer the Expedition in a difficult eddy hop. I even stood up in the boat along the shore while Scott changed the seat height for me. I bet I could even stand and Pole this canoe!

This canoe has a rudder system that is designed to handle a shallow stream unlike anything I’ve ever used before. This rudder bounced over rocks and logs as we eddy hopped up the shoreline effortlessly. It has a design that is intended to keep sand from hanging up the rudder so easily, that’s pretty cool.