Whether you’re thinking about replacing that old faithful boat, that’s seen one season to many or taking the plunge and purchasing your first canoe, the choice available to the recreational canoeist can be bewildering. To give you a better idea of what’s available we’ve put a dozen of the most popular boats on the market through the Paddler Test Team wringer and combined what we found with some useful buying tips and a little technical info to get you started on quest to find the right boat for you. Venture Canoes Ranger 14 Length: 450cm Width: 90cm Weight: 32kg Material: […]
Open Canoeing
A- Z Open Canoeing Terms
Open Canoeing is a great fun but there’s an awful lot of jargon that goes on. So the Canoe and Kayak team have put together an Open Canoeing jargon Buster. So if you’re out canoeing on open water or in the whitewater; whether it’s poling or lining you will find the answer here.A B C D E F G I J K L P R S T W A Air bags In an open canoe, airbags like in a kayak become very handy indeed. Because the canoe can cope with a variety of conditions having air bags in the boat allow […]
An Interview with Open Canoeist Ray Goodwin
“The canoe was seen as the unskilled cousin of the sport, something you paddled if you couldn’t paddle a kayak. Most canoe articles in magazines were about kayakers that had gone off to do a wilderness canoe trip. There were exceptions, but they didn’t seem to break the perception. Nearly all the kayakers we met on the Wales trip, were very dismissive of us because we were in a canoe. So we had one lot doing the theme from Hawaii Five-O but not acknowledging us otherwise and another enquired if we were having a nice afternoon out ‘boys’. Our Circumnavigation […]
10 Great UK Open Canoe Trip Destinations
Ullswater The result of work by no less than three glaciers, Ullswater is the second largest lake in the Lake District, and considered by many to be the most scenic; it is certainly the most varied. The exact origin of the name is uncertain: there have been many notable Norse people – mortal and divine – affiliated with the lake with names such as Ulf, Ulphus and Ullr who could all be its namesake. Being the combined work of multiple glaciers is what gives Ullswater its ‘Z’ shape, and leads to the views it offers being so varied. The three […]
10 Great UK Winter Canoeing & Kayaking Trips
There’s a lot to be said for canoeing or kayaking in the middle of summer, floating down the river as beams of sunlight burst through leafy green trees to dance off the water; those seemingly endless days where you can drag your boat up a sandy beach just as the sun sets on a long day on the sea, giving way to a warm evening. In comparison winter paddling can seem like an uninviting prospect: days can be bitter, are always short and the water is often so cold it burns. Get the perfect, crisp day, though, when there’s no cloud […]
Weekend Canoe & Kayak Touring Trips on the River Thames
Flowing through England’s capital city has done a lot for the profile of the River Thames. It is celebrated in a wealth of literature, to say it has played some important roles in English history would be an understatement and is the longest-serving character in the BBC’s Eastenders. For kayakers and canoeists, though, the main appeal of England’s longest river is possibly not that which flows past through the centre of Europe’s most populous city! From Gloucestershire, where it begins its 218km journey to its non-tidal reach, passing through Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Surrey – where it passes through […]
Whitewater Tandem Canoe Skills
Gearing Up Before venturing out onto the rapids of the world in your Canadian canoe some basic prerequisites are required. A suitable amount of practice on flat water to ensure a solid basic skill level, forwards, backwards, turning and support strokes should all be quick, easy and reliable. A basic knowledge of what to do when your canoe, or a friend’s canoe, capsizes is also recommended and advantageous to a having a successful and enjoyable day on the river. The whitewater open boat paddler also requires more personal equipment; a correctly fitting buoyancy aid is essential, as is a correctly […]