WoodNCanvas
LOVES Wooden Canoes
Proper instruction is important if one is going to be a better paddler….courses through organizations like the Ontario Recreational Canoe and Kayak Association or Paddle Canada can teach you the proper technique. But like anything, you become better with practise. Especially if you put into practise what you’ve learned. The more time you get out on the water the better you become. Or at least in the water if you can’t get on the water.
In Roy MacGregor’s book, Northern Light:The Enduring Mystery of Tom Thomson and the Woman Who Loved Him, comes the following description of the lengths that Tom Thomson went to be a better paddler:
Thomson had caught the bug of the North. He soon showed up at work carrying a new paddle, which he immediately tested out by filling one of the photoengraver tanks with water, then placing the tank beside his chair so he could sit down and practise paddling.
“At each stroke he gave a real canoeman’s twist,” recalled J.E.H. MacDonald, “and his eye had a quiet gleam, as if he saw the hills and shores of Canoe Lake.” (p. 28)
Paddles up until later then….unless you’re fortunate enough to still be out on the water….or at least have a really big bucket of water.
In Roy MacGregor’s book, Northern Light:The Enduring Mystery of Tom Thomson and the Woman Who Loved Him, comes the following description of the lengths that Tom Thomson went to be a better paddler:
Thomson had caught the bug of the North. He soon showed up at work carrying a new paddle, which he immediately tested out by filling one of the photoengraver tanks with water, then placing the tank beside his chair so he could sit down and practise paddling.
“At each stroke he gave a real canoeman’s twist,” recalled J.E.H. MacDonald, “and his eye had a quiet gleam, as if he saw the hills and shores of Canoe Lake.” (p. 28)
Paddles up until later then….unless you’re fortunate enough to still be out on the water….or at least have a really big bucket of water.