Coming up: First Canoe Lesson

This weekend we will load the Dagger Reflection and drive to Oak Hollow Marina in High Point for a two-hour private lesson with Will, who owns Get Outdoors in Greensboro. We met with him at the store one day to discuss the upcoming lesson and he followed up with a detailed email.

This will be our third time on a lake in the canoe. The first was Salem Lake. The second was Belews Lake. This weekend is the first time someone who actually teaches this will watch us do it and give us our first real lesson. Yay! Fingers crossed that the lesson goes well for everyone involved. I’m a little nervous about some of the skills Will is planning to cover with us.

The good news: Marty and I have not harmed each other over our lack of canoeing skills. That feels worth noting as we have paddled two different lakes together, a total of eight miles, and we managed to get around — awkwardly at first, but we got around. It was a little frustrating not being able to turn the canoe as quickly or as easily as we do our kayaks, but we know that practice makes perfect. Hopefully this lesson will make us both feel more confident in the canoe.

Will’s email laid out the lesson in plain terms.

What to wear/bring:

• Canoe, paddles, PFDs.
• Sponge or Bail bucket (bleach bottle or milk jug with the bottom cut off)
• Wear quick-drying clothes, no cotton. (Swim trunks, a sun shirt, or hiking clothes are typically fine)
• Closed-toe shoes. (Tennis shoes, water shoes or equivalent, your shoes will get wet)
• Reusable, attachable, water bottle and a snack
• Sunscreen and a sun hat
• Bring a towel and dry clothes/ shoes for after the class.

Skills & Techniques we’ll cover:

• Launching/ Landing
• Sitting vs kneeling
• J-lean
• Strokes:
  • Forward
  • Reverse
  • Sweeps
  • Draws
  • Corrective strokes
  • Combination Strokes
  • Working together to control the boat
• Capsize Recovery

That last one is the one I keep coming back to….Capsize recovery . It makes me a wee bit nervous. BUT….Ten days from Quiet Lake to Carmacks is a long way to discover you don’t know how to get back in the boat. We need to know how to handle an accidental flip on the lakes and rivers of the Yukon before we get there.

Salem Lake taught us that two people can paddle hard and still not go where they meant to. Belews was a little better, or at least more familiar. We have lots of enthusiasm. What we don’t have yet is a shared language for the boat — when to correct, when to just keep paddling, how to make quick adjustments. We both get around in a kayak quite well. The canoe is a different story, but we are determined to learn!

I’m packing the way I pack for a day hike: dry layer in a dry bag, a snack that will survive the afternoon, water that stays attached to the boat. Closed-toe shoes instead of sandals. Quick-dry shirt, hat, sunscreen. I wear wool day in and day out — rarely cotton – so it will be wool and an adventure skirt for me. The towel and change of clothes stay in the Jeep.

On trail we already split the work. On water we’ll have to do the same. Two hours with Will won’t make us ready for the Yukon, but it might keep us from spending the next year teaching ourselves the same mistakes!

If the lesson goes well, we’ll keep putting the Reflection on whatever local water we can find until the strokes feel less like thinking. First Oak Hollow with Will. Then the next lake. Then a short river trip when the boat starts listening. We’ve got plans to get several canoe camping trips in before hitting the waters of the Yukon in summer 2027!