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Telling a Good Canoe and Kayak Adventure Story
Years ago, I took time to analyze the story structure of different types of canoe and kayak adventures that were published in various magazines. I wanted to be able to pitch the types of stories that the editors were buying, and I wanted to be able to do it in the formats they were accepting. I ended up identify three different types of stories: Trip Reports, Autobiographical Trip Reports Focusing on a Global Issue, and a Biography. There were more types of stories, but these three were the most interesting to me. I outlined each of the different scenes that were used to tell the story. I’ve used these outlines…
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Sanborn Canoe’s New Minnesota State Flag Paddle
If you haven’t heard, Minnesota recently finished the process of redesigning its state flag. The old flag was of the “state seal on a bedsheet” type. It also redesigned the state seal — and decided on an epic canoe country inspired design. THE BEST STATE SEAL IN THE NATION. You can learn about the redesign at the Minnesota Historical Society’s website. Even though some polls might say that the new state flag looks like “Sky Camouflage,” the new flag looks great when put on merch. I expect this will become a profitable market to be in over the next couple of years. You should expect it to see it on…
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How the Siskiwit LV Happened
Recently I was looking through old photos and came across a few of my old kayak building photos. I’ve pretty much given up building canoes and kayaks for the moment, but I do have a few that I would like to build in the future. It’s interesting looking back from a perspective of 18 years after I built my first kayak. The first kayak that I built was a SOF using Cunningham’s Building the Greenland Kayak book. I really liked the kayak, but it had way too much rocker to be practical at tripping, which is what I wanted it for. In retrospect, I should have just added an external…
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2021 Paddling Recap
Looking back at the spring and summer and early fall of 2021, leaves me wanting for more paddling. While I did do a few trips, including a big one, the Boundary Waters and surrounding areas were closed for much of the summer. Wildfires in the BWCAW closed the wilderness while I had time off and had planned on doing a lot of canoe camping with my kid. We’re hoping to get one more paddling trip in, but it’s looking like snow might come. Here’s a quick recap of my paddling in 2021. The year started off with a trip I’m calling Following Winchell. In 1879, Minnesota State Geologist Newton Horace…
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New Siskiwit SOF Kayak Hits the Water
Tibor Berki from Sweden, the person behind RUGD clothing, completed an unique build of a Siskiwit SOF kayak. He used fiberglass-reinforced foam for the frames, added sealed bulkheads, used an ocean cockpit instead of a whitewater-style cockpit, and he added hatches. His builder’s log is detailed and fun to read. His build ended up at 13kg (28.6 pounds) with all the extras. He is debating on adding a skeg. In his building log, he mentions that he had problems with the dye he used, but I think it looks fantastic! I don’t own a SOF kayak anymore, but now I want one again because his looks so good. Check out…
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What do you use for bears?
Before they closed the entire Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness due to fires, the US Forest Service issued a bear advisory. With the extreme drought and limited food, bears were coming into camps. There was concern that bears were searching for low-hanging fruit, so to speak. The USFS issued the advice that the preferred method of food storage was a bear-resistant container, but included advice on how to bear bag, and the preferred methods to use in Superior National Forest. That got me thinking about how much I hate bear bagging and bear-resistant containers. If the BWCAW reopens this fall, I’d like to try a container. Single Tree and Pulley…
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Sea Kayaking on the Decline and Canoeing Bounces
The Outdoor Foundation’s 2021 Outdoor Participation Report Trends Report is out, and it has some interesting findings, including a some good new for paddling. First off 2020 was the biggest year for outdoor participation, but… Research from Outdoor Industry Association indicated that about one-quarter of new participants say they don’t want to continue their new outdoor activities, a number that may grow sharply as consumers return to pre-pandemic habits Another interesting piece of data from the report shows that although there were record numbers of outdoor outings in 2020, individuals continue to participate in fewer outdoor outings. The average number of annual outings per participant continued a steady, long-term decline,…
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PaddlingLight Mid-Year Update
At the beginning of this year, I decided to watch PaddlingLight more closely to see how it was doing in comparison with the time that I’m putting into it. Over the last couple of years, I’ve watched PaddlingLight’s income decrease. I wanted to track if increasing the time spent on the website and doing some design changes would increase revenue. Unfortunately, it hasn’t. Here’s PaddlingLight’s YTD gross revenue: Gross Type of income $1790 Affiliate links and ads (Google Adsense, various stores, Advertising Sponsors and Amazon Links) $719.12 Canoe and Kayak Drawing Sales ($4.12 of taxes collected) $2,509.12 Total There’s still about $150 worth of affiliate income out there that hasn’t…
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Rant: Dear PaddlingLight, You Suck!
Dear PaddlingLight, This site is a joke, NOTHING is free, and the designer cannot show a completed boat, not one single boat! This is the weakest “bait and switch” I have ever come across! Sincerely, Exploration Dude that Wants Everything for Nothing I get tired of unconstructive comments like your comment on this. It’s funny to me that you actually thought it was going to get posted without become a rant, especially since it has been a long time since my last rant. Well, here it is. I posted it, Mr. Exploration. You can download for free the drawings of every historic kayak or canoe on the website. FOR FREE!…
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The Writing is on the Wall for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
We just spent a week in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, which currently faces the threat of copper-sulfide mining on its border. The BWCA is one of America’s greatest treasures and to think that people would want to build a type of mine with 100% track record of polluting right next to it for 20 years of jobs shows the writing on the wall for this special place. The only thing protecting the BWCA is a law, and it wouldn’t take much for the law to be repealed. Recently, we saw this with the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), the largest national wildlife refuge in the country, which was…
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An Ode to Beaver Dams
We paddlers don’t give beavers enough credit. When we come to a beaver dam that blocks our way, we know it’s going to be a haul over. Often in remote canoe locations, paddlers will have tried to break the dam to make it easier to paddle through. But, we don’t give beavers enough credit. Despite the slight inconvenience of maybe getting your feet wet as you pull your canoe over a beaver dam, beavers, a keystone species that important for the health of environment, create these wonders of the world and create helpful habitat for all sorts of species. They create wetlands by engineering a dam and raising the water…
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Free Boundary Waters Guidebook
Stuck inside somewhere waiting to be released, dreaming of adventures on the 1000s of lakes in northern Minnesota after they thaw or just someone who loves paddling? Then there’s a new free Boundary Waters guidebook for you. The Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness released The Friends’ Guide to the BWCA. The new guidebook is a free ebook available for download on The Friends’ website. If you don’t know the Boundary Waters, then you’re in for a treat. It’s a great treat, because these types of books usually run much more. For example, Exploring the Boundary Waters: A Trip Planner and Guide to the BWCAW runs $16. You can get…
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Photography and Paddling Mix in My New Video
The other morning, I paddled out to a location that I’ve wanted to photograph at sunrise for a couple of years. I paddled about 20 to 30 minutes in the dark and landed under cloudy skies. I thought it was going to be a big bust. In the end, the clouds broke up and the sunrise was amazing! Pictures below. The video I made from the morning is a mix of paddling and photography. Most of my photography is landscape photography, but if I’m traveling by canoe or kayak I’ll put a canoe or kayak into the landscape. It’s a combination of the two activities that I love most. I…
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Siskiwit LV Launched
Ralph M. recently completed a Siskiwit LV build. Here’s what he wrote: I put my just completed Siskiwit in the water (Puget Sound) for the first time on Thursday evening. It is a wonderful boat; stability and handling exactly as you said. Excellent response to leaned turns, a bit of skeg as needed. With skeg all the way down it obediently heads downwind. I had whitecaps building up, modest chop, a good first test for an old guy with back problems. Weight is a bit under 40 pounds. Thank you for a really good design. Here are a few photos that he took of his kayak. It’s a…
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Crackpot Kayak Dude
Every now and then some crackpot contacts me, and it irritates me enough to post the conversation. I get a ton of these types of emails and sometimes share them on my private FB profile, because they are humorous. But a few deserve to see the light of day. Here’s one of them. I have to wonder if it is because I give away drawings of kayaks for free on this website. Maybe I need to raise the price to $5 or $10 minimum for any drawings. Crackpot Kayaker: Hello !! I just tried to answer your questions about why you do not receive more pictures , answers or contacts…