A Book For the Canoe and Kayak Builders

Fuselage Frame Boats: A guide to building skin kayaks and canoes by Jeff Horton was the only book that I caught during 2011 for canoe and kayak builders. It’s somewhat flawed (see my review), but offers enough information to get the job done. If you follow the directions, you’ll end up with a Yost-style skin-on-frame kayak or canoe that costs about $300. That’s pretty cheap compared to plywood or cedar-strip kayaks.

For Learning Paddling Techniques

Canoe Camping: An Essential Guide by Mark Scriver was reissued in a new edition. While not a new book, it’s definitely worth reading and checking out, especially if you are just getting into canoe camping. He covers planning, packing, gear choices and more.

Adventure Books

Around Madagascar on my Kayak tells the story of a solo kayaking expedition around Madagascar. Talk about hardcore! His 3,100-mile adventure took 11 months to complete. He landed in heavy surf, traversed shoreline that isn’t hospitable to humans and had a hell of an adventure. Technically this was released in 2010, but the re-release was in 2011, so I’m including it. This one is on my reading list as I haven’t read it yet. The paperback is expensive unless you find it used, but the Kindle edition is reasonable.

Fearless: One Woman, One Kayak, One Continent tells the story of Freya Hoffmeister’s paddle around Australia. The 9,420-mile trip took a year, and on the trip Freya paddled through alligator-infested waters, made 300-mile crossings and generally experience everything bad-ass that can happen on a kayaking trip. I followed Freya’s journey on her blog and in Sea Kayaker Magazine. Now I’m looking forward to reading more about it when this book is released in late January 2012. In 2011, Freya started her next trip: a circumnavigation of South America.

For the Instructor

101 Games and Activities for Canoes and Kayaks provides 101 games that instructors can use to challenge students. They’re a way to have fun while learning on the water, taking the pressure off of learning and can make a boring class into something exciting that students will remember. In my experience, both kids and adults seem to get into games, and this book has 101 of them.

Do you have any books or suggestions to add to a winter reading list?

This article originally appeared on PaddlingLight.com. Leave a comment and an opinion by clicking through here: 5 Canoe and Kayak Books to Read in 2012

For long-time followers of PaddlingLight, you might remember that we included Volume 1 in our 2009 Great Gift Ideas for Paddlers.

Trailer

The trailer gets your heart pumping, but does the DVD?

Short answer: Yes.

The Journey

During Sea Kayak with Gordon Brown Volume 2, the journey takes a group of paddlers to the Islands of St. Kilda, a rocky archipelago west of Scotland. The group of paddlers ranges from intermediate to expert and the scenes of the journey range from visiting old villages, paddling into caves, holding position under stunning sea stacks, visiting a military base and more. Willis intertwines the history of the area into the narrative. He even has a segment about the first kayak journey to the islands.

During the journey sections, I found myself talking out loud about how amazing the scenery was. I’d love to kayak there.

The journey is enjoyable when watch alone or when watched with the instructional component.

The Instruction

There’s a huge volume of information in the instructional sections. In includes so much information that other instructional DVDs that I own now feel pretty thin. In fact, I wasn’t able to absorb it all in one sitting. I consider myself well-practiced, read and informed, but there was a lot on this DVD that was new to me or different enough from the way that I do it to make me think hard about making a change. The DVD covers assisted rescues starting with the fundamentals, such as the heel hook and t-rescue. For intermediate or advanced paddlers, this will be review, but for beginners, it’s a great introduction. The heel hook is a more recent introduction into rescues and it’s great to see it incorporated into the video. That makes it feel very up-to-date. After a flat water demonstration, you see the same rescues in rough water.

From assisted rescues, Brown takes you through balance exercises and self rescues, including much to the surprise of some Midwestern coaches who frown on the paddle float — you know who you are :) — the paddle float rescue with a simple variation to how it’s taught in the states. You learn about reentry and roll. After that you end up learning about tows. There’s a section on applying the skills to rough water, and that’s followed by a rough-water, technical landing segment, which is pure gold. The video finishes with a section on learning to anticipate problems in rough water.

The instructional section includes lots of tips and information that will keep you glued to the screen. I couldn’t help but want to go paddling after watching the video. Even though there’s almost an information overload that requires multiple viewings, the video doesn’t bog down. It keeps an upbeat attitude.

Overall

This is a long video and you’ll feel like  you got your money’s worth after watching it. There’s so much information that watching it just once won’t be enough. The journey to St. Kilda feels inspiring and the instructional sections will open the eyes of beginners, give intermediate and experts new techniques to try, and it includes enough tips that instructors and coaches will have new ways to challenge their students. All in all this is a must have video for all sea kayakers.

Learn more: Sea Kayak with Gordon Brown, Vol. 2

This article originally appeared on PaddlingLight.com. Leave a comment and an opinion by clicking through here: Sea Kayak with Gordon Brown Review: the Rescues, Vol. 2

Fuselage Frame Boats Review

Horton borrows the term fuselage from plane building, because this method of boat building is similar to the way that lightweight planes are built. I’d argue that this style of construction for kayaks extends back before planes, but I’m not sure that that matters. Using this style, you build a strongback, which is a straight, level and flat building form that provides structure to the kayak or canoe while you build. After you construct the strongback, you cut out frames, cross-sectional structures that define the boat’s shape at a given point from one end, from plywood and the stringers, 1- by 1-inch longitudinal boards running from the bow to stern, from a softwood, such as cedar or pine. Then you attach the frames to the strongback at predetermined locations. After you plumb the frames, you run the stringers between the frames to give the kayak its shape (See my Nikumi builder’s log to see the process). The stem and stern are attached. Once everything is screwed or glued together, you sew on a skin, paint it, and then go paddling.

The way the Horton presents the process is through a number of chapters; you don’t get an overview of what you’re going to do, so you need to read the entire book before you get a glimpse at the entire process. Horton does give you a short overview of terminology. As a kayaking instructor, I’d argue with a few of the terms such as “hard chine” and “lean turn.” A hard-chined boat is a kayak or canoe with a single chine as opposed to Horton’s definition which more accurately describes a chine: “a distinct junction as opposed to a rounded over edge.” A more correct term for the way Horton defines “lean turn” is “edging.” I also felt that a few other terms could be defined, such as strongback and frame.

After terminology, Horton gives good advice about picking a shop and he lists some tools. I’d rather see all the tools listed in one location instead of addressing some in this list and “other tools as needed.” Next is how to build a strongback. I had to reread this section a couple of times to get the gist, and I’m not sure that I could build a strongback based on his instructions. I’ve built them before and knowing what I know, I can understand how to do it, but I’m not sure a first-time builder with just these instructions would understand. Also, this is where a stylistic issue starts. An instructional book should specifically address the builder using second person pronouns, such as you. Horton sways between addressing the reader directly and stating what he does. Both are used interchangeably as instructions that you as a builder need to carry out. For example:

With the two end brackets in place you need to install the center brackets. In order to keep them aligned and not end up with a twist in the keel I stretch a string between the two brackets through the slot for the keel. Make sure that the string is touching the same side of both slots. Pull it tight and tie it off. Now you have a straight edge to work from.

Note the bold that I added; almost the entire paragraph addresses the builder, but the essential step is in first person. It’s confusing to the reader and brings to mind a question: Am I suppose to do that or is that something that Horton does that I don’t need to do? While the proofreading is well done, I can’t help but think some editing would have helped improve the book. If you ignore the change in pronouns, much of the information gets communicated.

The next chapter is about building the stringers. Horton suggests that many builders should use shorter lumber and scarf the pieces together into a longer board. That’s great advice, because it can save you money and save you from the hassle of finding long, clear lumber. The problem is that he never tells you the ratio of the scarf. I suggest a 1:7 or a 1:8 ratio, which means for every inch of width in the board your scarf should be 7 or 8 inches long.

Chapter 3 and 4 spell out how to construct the frames of your boat. Anyone building one of these boats will find some nuggets of goodness in these chapters, and the mechanical drawings are excellent. In fact, they’re so good that the concepts are instantly apparent by looking at the drawings. It’s a real strength of the book and one of the reasons that make it worth buying this book. Chapter 5 presents Horton’s boats. Either you’ll like the look of the stern or you won’t. If you don’t, see below for additional resources, but keep in mind that any chined boat can be converted to this style of building. With a few tweaks, you can build rounded hulls using this method, too. See this skin-on-frame version of the 1910 St. Francis canoe as an example of converting a rounded hull to a chined hull. Horton’s next few chapters teach you how to assemble everything.

Then the section of skinning begins. Horton’s methods are slightly different than some of the other that I’ve read about or used. He sews pockets into the ends of the skin and then pulls it over the stems and finishes with the deck. On the skin-on-frame kayaks that I’ve built, I did that opposite. I.e. pin the skin in place with push pins, sew the deck and finish by sewing the stems. Horton mentions that you may run into difficultly pulling the skin into place with his method, and from what I remember using other methods, there wasn’t any real difficulties. I recommend buying either Mark Starr’s Building a Greenland Kayak (Maritime) or Chris Cunningham’s Building the Greenland Kayak : A Manual for Its Contruction and Use for easier instructions on sewing a skin. I like Starr’s method best. Horton’s book does discuss using polyester skins instead of nylon, so that would be of interest to builder’s considering using polyester.

The last chapter of Horton’s book describes outfitting. I wish he would have went into more detail about deck lines and bungee cords. Many first-time kayak builders don’t understand the importance of full perimeter deck lines or the types of deck line arrangements, so an overview would be nice. Instead, the builder needs to look elsewhere for that info. At the end of the book, Horton writes a brief section about Greenland-style kayak paddles, but he doesn’t address canoe paddles. The omission stands out.

Overall, I think that builders interested in this style of construction should buy this book. It has faults, but it’s the only up-to-date book about the subject. There are other resources, such as Tom Yost’s website and online forums, but those lack a physical copy you can bring into the workshop with you. In the years since Yost introduced some of his designs using building methods similar to Horton’s, this style of construction has boomed and many builders have tackled “fuselage” framed (Yost-style) skin-on-frames. It’s nice to have an up-to-date book about the process. If you have the spare cash, you can buy the book on Amazon.com for around $17. Here’s the link: Fuselage Frame Boats: A guide to building skin kayaks and canoes.

Other Framed Skin-on-Frame Kayak Building Resources

There are several other instructional books available that teach similar methods. The first is Zu Freeman’s Building a Jawbone Kayak. The second is George Putz’s Wood and Canvas Kayak Building. Both of these competing books use older but similar methods to arrive at a finished skin-on-frame kayak. Putz’s book is better than Freeman’s, but both are worth owning if you plan on building a canoe or kayak using this method. Putz’s includes plans for the Walrus and the Skinny Walrus, which you can also find on this website. A third building resource is Tom Yost’s website. He includes all the information that you’d need to build a skin-on-frame kayak in this style, but you need to translate some of that info from his specific designs to the boat you’re building (Horton’s book is much more generic and geared towards any plan). I printed all the pages of Yost’s website before I built my Nikumi.

I also offer a skin-on-frame version of my British-style Siskiwit Bay. If you want a British-style skin-on-frame, it’s one of the few — if not the only — options available.

This article originally appeared on PaddlingLight.com. Leave a comment and an opinion by clicking through here: Fuselage Frame Boats: A guide to building skin kayaks and canoes — a Review

Sean Smith, aka THE Fat Paddler, wrote a book about his life and how discovering paddling (and eating sausages — well, okay, maybe not sausages but his website does reference them in the header) helped him through rough times. That’s a theme that I’ve personally seen manifest in kayaking students of mine. There’s something about paddling that connects us to a good inner core of humanity that can get hidden or lost from day-to-day. Personally, I think that learning paddling takes us back in time to our youth when everything we discovered was new to us. It takes us to that time in our youth when we dug worms, built forts in the forest, tromped up creeks and played outdoors. The motions involved in and feel generated by paddling are so foreign to our bodies that it reminds our subconscious minds and our muscles of what youth was like. I think that reminder connects us to the inner core and rejuvenates our life. And because water changes almost every time we paddle, it stays fresh. But I digress. There’s an underlying current of discovery in this book, and astute readers looking to change their own lives may infer that discovery provides motivation. Sean uses kayaking as a means of discovery, but there’s no reason why you couldn’t use biking, hiking, climbing, photography or anything else that constantly puts you into the outdoors and new environments in the same way.

Here’s what the back-cover blurb of The Fat Paddler says:

As a hard-playing, hard-living rugby forward, Sean Smith was used to putting his body on the line. However, that soon changed when two severe motor-vehicle accidents left him with devastating physical injuries, and unable to regain his past physical fitness or his zest for life. After witnessing firsthand the 2002 Bali bombing,  Sean also found himself suffering from post-traumatic shock.  Compulsively working long hours in a stressful job and battling to find time to be with his wife and two small daughters didn’t help either.  A losing battle against obesity and an ongoing struggle with depression followed.

After being told by doctors he was a prime candidate for a heart attack at just 36, Sean decided enough was enough.  He took up kayaking (a sport that could accommodate his injuries) and then decided to tackle one of the toughest paddling competitions in the world: the 111-kilometre Hawkesbury Canoe Classic.

What follows is an entertaining and inspiring account of Sean’s journey back to health and fitness.  His many hours training on the waterways of Sydney, and a trip to Alaska paddling amongst icebergs and running away from bears, fueled a new appreciation for the beauty of the outdoors and recaptured his enthusiasm for living.

Sean’s story is an uplifting experience for those looking for motivation to regain their fitness and enjoy life to the full.

The book got my attention with it’s opening by Cas and Jonesy the authors of Crossing the Ditch:

In The Fat Paddler, Sean Smith takes us on an intensely personal journey of an ordinary bloke who has more than his fair share of faults.

That felt refreshing to me, because I also have lots of faults. I’ve also had a debilitating injury that kept me from doing what I love. Also, because I’ve been reading lots of adventure stories and books lately where the adventurers may talk about their faults, but it’s secondary to the adventure. In Sean’s story, the faults are center stage. He doesn’t put up some fake adventurers facade, like in some stories when the writer just seem so super human, fueled by unlimited sources of funding and a desire to be the first at something. I’ve been there. My failed Around the Great Lakes Expedition was suppose to gain me fame and fortune by being the first, and I have a friend that has done many firsts with massive budgets. Sean’s not worried about that. He’s worried about getting better for himself and the sake of his wife and kids. That’s refreshing.

I’ve been following Sean on Twitter and via his website, Fat Paddler, for a number of years and remember some of the events described in his book, so it was fun to read about what motivated him to get to the point where I started following him. After there, I got to relive his first race, his first roll and other things that I had heard him talking about online. That was fun for me.

Overall, it’s an enjoyable book. If you like reading about paddling and about personal rediscovery, I urge you to get a copy at the FatPaddler.com.

This article originally appeared on PaddlingLight.com. Leave a comment and an opinion by clicking through here: The Fat Paddler Book Review

Cedar Strip Kayak Building Books

Most of the plans that I do are designed for cedar strip building. These are the best three books for building cedar kayaks.

• The Strip-Built Sea Kayak: Three Rugged, Beautiful Boats You Can Build: If you only buy one book, then buy this one. Nick Schade instructs you on how to build a boat step-by-step, and everything you need to know from stripping, to fiberglassing, to outfitting is included in this book. Lots of great ideas.
• Building Strip-Planked Boats: The newest book by kayak and canoe building authority, Nick Schade. I think this is a must have because it updates lots of the techniques found in The Strip-Built Sea Kayak. This book includes a couple of topics not found elsewhere in a book, including working with hybrid fabrics in cedar strip construction and the use of dyes.
• Kayakcraft: Fine Woodstrip Kayak Construction: Presents a slightly different way to build cedar strip kayaks. Lots of great ideas, but I just don’t like the finished look of the kayak. The rub rail, rubs me wrong.

Cedar Strip Canoe Building Books

• Canoecraft: An Illustrated Guide to Fine Woodstrip Construction: This book includes nice plans, like the Freedom — my favorite canoe. It also takes you through the building process step-by-step. Everything is covered that you need to know. The pictures are gorgeous and the format reflects a fine coffee-table book. I recommend this book for kayak builders too, because there are so many tips for making a good boat in this book.
• Building a Strip Canoe, Second Edition, Revised and Expanded by Gil Gilpatrick: Gil Gilpatrick seems like the type of guy that likes to get it done and get it done now. That’s reflected in this book. He uses lots of short-cuts that someone come together in a well-built canoe. His method for building stems is worth the price of this book alone. If you follow these instructions, you don’t have to worry about bending and shaping wood stems. You canoe will have a lighter swing weight, because of the stem weight reduction.
• Strip Built Canoe: How to build a beautiful, lightweight, cedar strip canoe: Well written and easy to follow. Every builder should own this as a third addition to the building library. But, it’s not mandatory.

Skin-on-Frame Kayak Building Books

• Building the Greenland Kayak : A Manual for Its Construction and Use: Christopher Cunningham, editor of Sea Kayaker Magazine, takes you step-by-step through the process of building a skin-on-frame kayak — most of the free plans on this site started as skin-on-frame boats, so maybe you should build on in the traditional way. Cunningham also covers building Greenland-style gear, like paddles.
• Building Skin-on-Frame Boats: Because it’s not in print, it’s expensive. It’s worth having for the varied types of crafts, including a canoe, covered.

Paddle Making Books

• Canoe Paddles: A Complete Guide to Making Your Own: Covers both canoe and kayak paddle building in great detail. If you just follow the step-by-step directions with the simple suggested tools, you’ll end up with a great-looking paddle.

Stitch-and-Glue Kayak Building Books

• The New Kayak Shop: More Elegant Wooden Kayaks Anyone Can Build: You can build some of the designs on this website with plywood. It’s a fast and easy way to build a boat, but I don’t enjoy the process. This book guided me through my one stitch-and-glue project. Everything I needed to know was in it.

Cedar and Canvas Canoes

• Building the Maine Guide Canoe: All these canoe plans could be built in cedar and canvas. It’s a daunting process where you essentially build two canoes and end up with one, but once you have the mold, it’s relatively easy to build a second canoe. And you end up with a classy classic. There are a couple of cedar and canvas canoe building books, but this seems the easiest to follow.

This article originally appeared on PaddlingLight.com. Leave a comment and an opinion by clicking through here: Review of Canoe and Kayak Building Books

You can use to link to Kayalu’s website to see the specifics of the camera mount. I’ll say that I found every component of the mount high quality. The only problem I had was I wanted to mount the camera in the center of my kayak, which has a ridge. Because the surface wasn’t completely flat, it made the mount slightly wobbly. I managed to fix the problem by carving out a flat foam platform for the mount to sit on. A friend of mine, who is just about to finish paddling up the Inside Passage, has been using one on the trip to shoot video. It’ll be interesting to see what he comes back with.

If you’re looking for a way to mount a camera onto your kayak, the Kayacam or Kayalu’s RAM Locking Suction Camera Mount with Toughbar are two great and inexpensive ways to do it.

Price: $49.99 | Buy It: Kayalu Kayacam® Camera Mount

This article originally appeared on PaddlingLight.com. Leave a comment and an opinion by clicking through here: Kayacam by Kayalu Review

Trails Illustrated Boundary Waters maps are printed on double-sided waterproof and tear resistant 27″ x 39″ paper. When folded, the maps reduce down in size to approximately 4 1/4″ x 9 1/4″. They weigh 3.3 ounces each. The scale of 1:70,000 (1” = 1.10 miles) provides more than enough detail to navigate and plan trips. Contour intervals equal 50 feet, so elevation is easy to discern. The colors are high contrast and easy to read. Campsites, portages, and portage lengths are shown. Like Voyageur Maps they include information that includes contact info for local regulator agencies, permit info, and BWCA regulations. They also include info on Leave No Trace outdoor ethics, Tread Lightly! info, watercraft horsepower restrictions for the few remaining lakes that motors are allowed on, and a nice conversion chart for rods. Missing are contour lines for lakes.

During a quick comparison between the Trails Illustrated maps, McKenzie and Voyageur Maps, I’ve noticed differences in portage lengths–almost no portage is listed as the same length, but the variation seems minor with most in the under 10 rods difference. Some are alarmingly different. For example, Voyageur Map 6 and McKenzie Maps #6 show the portage from Sea Gull Lake into J.A. Paulson Lake (JAP Lake) as 515 rods. On Trails Illustrated, it’s shown as 410 rods. A 105 rod difference equals just under 6 football fields. That’d be a huge surprise for unaware canoeists. An other example is the portage from Missing Link Lake to Tuscarora. Voyageur Maps shows it as 428 rods, McKenzie shows it as 366 rods, and Trails Illustrated shows it as 363 rods. For both portages, I have GPS data. The Sea Gull Lake to JAP comes in at 422 rods on the GPS, and for the Missing Link Lake to Tuscarora, my data comes in at 362 rods. You can find the data I have here: BWCA GPS Portages and Campsites. Your call on accuracy of the various maps. All the maps show campsites in similar locations–close enough to find them without issues.

What I like about the Trail Illustrated maps is the compact form and lightweight. On my longer trips into the BWCA, I’ve ended up carrying a ton of maps. Each night I like to look at the next day’s travels when using McKenzie Maps, I’ll often have to lay out multiple maps to see where I’m going the next day. Voyageur Maps ease the concern somewhat, and Trails Illustrated practically eliminates it. As an example, on one extended trip into the BWCA, I carried 16 different McKenzie Maps. For that trip, I would have carried 6 Voyageur Maps, and only 2 Trails Illustrated Maps. Looking at weights, a McKenzie weighs 2.6 ounces each. Voyageur Maps weigh 3.6 ounces each. Trails Illustrated weigh 3.3 ounces each. For that trip, in maps I carried 2.6 pounds of maps. With Voyageur Maps, I would have carried 1.35 pounds of maps. With Trails Illustrated Maps, I would have only carried 0.4 pounds of maps. The difference in weight alone is a significant Thermarest upgrade.

Then there’s the cost. A complete set of McKenzie Maps costs $165. A complete set of Voyageur Maps costs $99.50. In contrast, you’ll only pay $23.90 for Trails Illustrated Maps. The coverage is the same.

Over the years, I’ve asked via email the various Boundary Waters map makers to come up with a two map set that covers the BWCA entirely. It’s something that I’ve dreamt about for over 10 years. It’s nice to see that a company is willing to try it. I only wish it would have been one of the Minnesota companies that had tackled the project. From now on, when you see me in the Boundary Waters, you’ll see me using National Geographic’s Trails Illustrated BWCA maps.

Get yours here:

• Trails Illustrated (National Geographic) Map Of The BWCA – Eastern Half
• Trails Illustrated (National Geographic) Map Of The BWCA – Western Half

This article originally appeared on PaddlingLight.com. Leave a comment and an opinion by clicking through here: New National Geographic Maps Cover the Boundary Waters Canoe Area

Kayaking Books

Sea Kayak Rescue, 2nd: The Definitive Guide to Modern Reentry and Recovery Techniques (How to Paddle Series): First published in 2001 and updated in 2007, this guide presents the most up-to-date rescue, reentry, and recovery techniques for sea kayakers. The book is well-written, easy-to-understand, and laid out in a progression that instructors could easily follow when teaching sea kayak rescue. Photographs accompany each description, which helps you visualize the rescues. If you’re a sea kayaking guide or instructor, you should own this book. If you’re an avid sea kayaker venturing more that 20 feet away from shore or on open water, you should definately check it out.

Sea Kayaker’s Pocket Guide: This book is one of the better reference books for sea kayaking that I’ve seen. Almost every topic is covered in a quick and easy-to-understand way. It falls short in the paddle stroke areas, but covers everything else, like weather, packing, repair (including drysuit gasket field repair), and navigation perfectly. Some great tips that I got out of it include rounding the edges of duct tape used for repairs will prevent the tape from snagging and peeling off, and marking the location of your skeg’s jam loop on the kayak’s seam will help your partner to quickly find it and unjam your skeg. Something to have sitting around for a quick reference when needed.

Canoeing Books

Canoe Trip: North to Athabasca: I loved David Curran’s Canoe Trip: Alone in the Maine Wilderness, and he follows up that book with this one. The previous book focused on solo trips in the Maine wilderness and what he learned, how he failed, and what he enjoyed. He takes those themes into an adventure into the Canadian wilderness, and this time he brings a partner.

The Canoe: A Living Tradition: A history of canoes, a tome of everything canoe, the perfect canoe book. It’s hard to describe this coffee table book about canoes, other than to say, if you canoe, and you see this book, you should buy it.

Boat Building Books

Canoe and Kayak Building the Light and Easy Way: How to Build Tough, Super-Safe Boats in Kevlar, Carbon, or Fiberglass: Not only does this book include the plans for one of the ugliest canoes in existence, it also contains information on a unique way to build one-off chined fiberglass boats. I can see this building method used to quickly produce fiberglass Greenland-style kayaks, and if I was building another semi-replica of Ken Taylor’s 1959 Illorsuit kayak, I’d be temped to build it with this method.

Umiak: An Illustrated Guide: I feel a little bad linking to this book, because the lowest price for a used book in 2010 was around $200 on Amazon. I bought it on a whim at a kayak store’s going-out-of-business sale for $5! This book covers some of the history of the Umiak, a skin-on-frame rowboat, as a craft of exploration and as a work-boat. It then launches into how to build one. The book makes me want to build one.

Camping

Lightweight Backpacking and Camping: A Field Guide to Wilderness Equipment, Technique, and Style (Backpacking Light): A book of distilled wisdom from the web-pages of Backpacking Light Magazine. Paddlers will find the sections on Protection from the Elements, Eating, Drinking, and Hygiene, and First Aid enlightening. The Lightweight Solution section includes chapters on Superultralight travel, which is traveling with less than five pounds of gear, and Advanced Tarp Camping, which covers using a tarp as your only shelter. A few sections, like the Risk Management chapter, are disappointing, but overall, this is worth reading for the wealth of knowledge, experience and difference of opinions offered within.

Photography

National Geographic: The Ultimate Field Guide to Landscape Photography (National Geographic Photography Field Guides): I like this book, because it teaches the basics of landscape photography. For a paddler looking to learn how to capture the landscapes seen on a paddling trip, this book teaches you everything that you need to know. The guide itself is small in format, so it’s easy to carry along on a trip to keep you focused on capturing pictures. The digital section is rather small, so I’d ignore it, but the rest is pure gold.

David duChemin’s Craft and Vision ebooks: These inexpensive ($5) ebooks cover a range of photography subjects. The two I like the most are Drawing The Eye and Chasing the Look. Drawing the Eye introduces the concept of visual weight, which is a topic that is rarely covered elsewhere. Chasing the Look includes 10 simple concepts–some I teach in my photography classes–to use to improve your photography. I’ve seen these techniques work for the students in my photography classes. I’m interested in the new Growing The VisionMonger, so if you buy it, let me know how it is.

Just Because You Should Try It

Haiku: A Poet’s Guide: Haiku is a simple poetry form that is hard to master. It’s based on nature and almost anyone can learn it. Lee Gurga’s guide is one of the best on the market. It covers the basics of the craft. For paddlers, haiku offers you a way to increase your enjoyment of nature, and it will spice up your journal. You should just try it.

This article originally appeared on PaddlingLight.com. Leave a comment and an opinion by clicking through here: 10 Paddling Books to Read in 2010

Paddle to Seattle

What intrigues me is that they took the time to build their own kayaks, invested the extra work into filming the movie, they got sponsorships, but they come across as just a couple of guys on an adventure. They seem very humble. For me it’s a fresh change from recent paddling movies, like Jon Bowermaster Ocean 8 series–it seemed overdone and preachy to me.

Although Thomas and Kelley have fantastic filming and editing skills, they make the movie seem like it’s something that anyone could do. To me that’s much more inspiring than watching a paddling film that looks professionally produced. The film is screening in select locations, including Minneapolis on Dec 6th, 2009.

Don’t miss this film.

Pedal to the Midnight Sun

It’s not the first time the team filmed their adventures. In 2006, Thomas and Kelley completed a 1,200-mile bike ride across Alaska. They made a movie about that bike ride. Pedal to the Midnight Sun is available on Amazon.com

• The team’s website: Dudes on Media
  
• More Inside Passage Action: Check out Dave Freeman and Amy Voytilla’s North American Odyssey.

This article originally appeared on PaddlingLight.com. Leave a comment and an opinion by clicking through here: Paddle to Seattle Kayaking Film

That main problem that I have is that I find it hard to write on any piece of paper or lightweight notebook and my old favorite journals weighed 11 ounces. My compromise journals weighed four. It never felt right to me to write on detached paper, which is the lightest way to travel. So, I’m always on the lookout for the perfect notebook to take on a paddling trip. And I may have just found one.

Moleskine notebook used for tripping.

What’s All the Hype?

Moleskine notebooks and cahiers have been around for a number of years, and they trace their history (a history of Moleskine is included with each one you buy) back to small hand stitched notebooks available in stationary shops in Paris. They claim to directly descend from notebooks used by Hemingway and Van Gogh, and they’ve been catching on all over the world, so much so that they’ve been used on TV shows, they’ve been exhibited in museums, and every hipster uses one now instead of a PDA. I gotta admit, I’ve also been taken, but it didn’t happen right away.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

When I first heard all the hype, I dismissed the journals as just another fad, but when I actually saw one in a store, I just had to pick some up, despite their outrageously high asking price. They fit perfect in your hand, feel durable, and the paper just feels right. I bought a notebook and two packages of cahiers. Twenty dollars later and I was plugging them to my friends, family, and now you.

It’s Not Just a Journal; It’s a Way of Life

I don’t know if I buy into the hype (or maybe I do and they have me believing that I don’t), but I can see why there is hype. These little things are great and even more perfect for the paddler looking for a lightweight and small solution for journaling. The Moleskines come in several sizes and flavors, but the two smallest sizes are the most interesting. The Pocket Notebook has a hardcover, 192 3″ x 5″ pages, a built in rubber band to close it, a fabric bookmark, and a pocket in the back to hold stuff in. (i.e. your wilderness permit.) It weighs 4.6 ounces. The Pocket Cahiers have a soft cover, 64 3″ x 5″ pages with 16 detachable pages, and a pocket in the back to hold stuff in. It weighs 1.3 ounces. They all come with a variety of page styles, including: graph paper, lined, and plain. The lines on the lined version are slightly smaller than college paper, but still big enough to write on easily, and the graph paper version uses small squares than what I’m used to, but still plenty big. The paper itself is off white and the ink from my Pilot G2 (best pen on earth) is slightly visible through the paper.

So, Does It Work?

Oh yaaaah, it does. My journals typically take up around ten pages per day in the 3″x5″ size, so for a ten day trip, I need to carry two Cahiers, but still that’s only 2.6 ounces and saves weight over my old small journal. But more importantly, these small things feel weighty in your hand, they feel deserving of thoughts, and unlike other notebooks I’ve used, they seem to speak to you and say fill me, and fill me soon. It’s also the perfect size to carry with you everywhere. (Does this mean I’m buying the hype?)

Conclusion

It’s hard to say anything negative about these Moleskines. My ink shows through is about the only bad thing, but overall these are the best things since man figured out that a boat could float. If you like to keep a journal, you won’t be disappointed.

Date: January 6, 2006
Product Reviewed: Moleskine Notebooks and Cahiers
Weight: 4.6 ounces and 1.3 ounces
Cost: $4.99 to $9.99

This article originally appeared on PaddlingLight.com. Leave a comment and an opinion by clicking through here: Review: Moleskine