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  • #76
    Five Fingers Rapids, Yukon River Quest canoe race, 27 June 2013. (I am the bow paddler)

    Photos by Harry Kern, Whitehorse, YT.
    Attached Files
    "Now I see the secret of making the best person, it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth." -Walt Whitman

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    • #77
      A few of my favorite photos of the "Blue Goose" from the past year...
      Attached Files

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      • #78
        yc,
        I'm at work and always seem to have trouble to see some linked photos, I guess I have to wait until I get home...

        l'oiseau,
        That's a pretty boat...

        Justin,
        I think I voted for that first photo for the calendar, I really like the mood.

        Wldrns,
        Phew!! I know you train quite a bit for those long races, but does everyone train together? And do you train in that boat? It can't be easy to aim that boat through those waters. Do you travel with gear? No swampings or capsizes?

        Comment


        • #79
          Originally posted by stripperguy View Post
          Wldrns,
          Phew!! I know you train quite a bit for those long races, but does everyone train together? And do you train in that boat? It can't be easy to aim that boat through those waters. Do you travel with gear? No swampings or capsizes?
          Yes, we train extensively. All team members are many year veterans of the Adirondack 90-miler. Everyone on this YRQ 2013 has paddled the Yukon 1000 in a voyageur canoe, some of us twice, and some have done the YRQ more than once before. This boat can be outfitted for either 6 or 7 paddlers for the YRQ. For the Y-1000 the extra gear and food required only allow for 6 paddlers.

          Unfortunately the team members live somewhat geographically dispersed, from near the Canadian border of NY, to central and south central NY, to western PA. Prior to our first Yukon race we trained together much more extensively than this past year, but we all train and enter multiple races in various forms together or separately throughout the season.

          The boat owner (in the stern) is good enough to transport the Yukon voyageur, or another somewhat smaller voyageur he owns, so that we take turns in minimizing travel for training near each other's homes. He is an excellent sternsman and knows how to steer his boat very precisely with his trained team. In the bow I frequently provide a draw or two where needed for course maintenance, or lean heavily into power draws (my favorite) and posts for more radical turns. When an extremely radical course change is needed, paddler in seat #2, and the paddler immediately in front of the sternsman know how to provide their power to assist the turn.

          Training together in the Yukon voyageur canoe makes a very cohesive team as we learn each other's capabilities and needs as a team. All but the bow and stern seats are mounted on wheels smoothly rolling side-to-side, so that on a "hut" each paddler slides to the opposite side, putting hip to the gunwale for best paddling positon. If one person misses the seat slide it can give quite a scare by tipping. If more than one person misses a slide, we are in serious danger of getting wet. We hut approximately every 90-100 strokes on the flat, sometimes more, sometimes less, as needed during maneuvers. Training for sliding on the huts, and training for maintaining power on one side for 100+ strokes are the most important aspects of our training.

          You may notice in the Five Fingers Rapids photo that each paddler has a yellow spray skirt installed. We use these mainly just for places like the Five Fingers Rapids (FFR), or for bad weather and rolling white caps as is often found more often than not on 30 mile long Lake Laberge. In the bow I often take the full force of an oncoming wave to my torso, and many gallons of water would end up in the boat without the cover, which would then make the boat very unstable.

          We have never capsized in the 40 degree water of the Yukon, but did once when training in that boat in high waves on the St. Lawrence River. Fortunately shore was a short swim away. In the smaller Adirondack voyageur canoe capsizes have occurred, mainly due to powerboat enhanced windy wave wash dumping large amounts of water onboard over the lower freeboard of that narrower boat.

          During the YRQ race it is common for some racers to lose control when going through the large standing waves of the FFR. A safety boat is always stationed there for rescue during the YRQ, but there are no safety boats on the Y-1000.

          This year two boats did capsize on the FFR. You can see in a photo sequence a women's voyageur canoe capsizing in Harry Kern's online photo album. They took a line too far right of where they should have gone, straight into huge standing waves. With no spray cover they were doomed to a massive onload of water and instability.

          For gear, there is an extensive list of mandatory gear on the 440 mile YRQ, including tents and sleeping bags rated to 20 degrees, at least 2 sets of warm clothing for all, a stove and pot, and many other items. The race officials are rather fussy about making sure it is all carried, and we go through a pre-race day detailed visual check of absolutely everything, plus more random checks just before race start, during the two mandatory rest stops, and at the end of the race itself. The first mandatory rest stop occurs at 190 miles, which is 22 non-stop hours into the race for us. All gear is randomly checked again when we land and again before we leave precisely 7 hours later.

          Interestingly, for the Y-1000 there is less formality of requirements and gear. Apart from the start and finish, the race is totally unsupported, and the rules require that to be so with no mid-race pit crew support allowed except for emergency egress. But you had surely better know what you are doing for the Y1K.


          An unusual and very warm (hot) rare calm on Lake Laberge (Harry Kern photos):
          Attached Files
          Last edited by Wldrns; 07-17-2013, 09:29 AM.
          "Now I see the secret of making the best person, it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth." -Walt Whitman

          Comment


          • #80
            Originally posted by stripperguy View Post
            Justin,
            I think I voted for that first photo for the calendar, I really like the mood.
            That photo reminds me of the quintessential father/son trip to the ADKs.

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            • #81
              Originally posted by stripperguy View Post
              Justin,
              I think I voted for that first photo for the calendar, I really like the mood.
              Thanks.

              That was this photo...slightly different angle:
              Attached Files

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              • #82
                Justin,

                Yup, that's the one! You had my vote.

                Comment


                • #83
                  Here's my entry to this thread. Not a ultra light solo canoe, but serves my purposes well.
                  Attached Files
                  ****************************
                  "The wilderness opens us to God's presence because it reduces everything to what is exactly necessary, and no more." John Lionberger Renewal in the Wilderness
                  ***********************
                  My pictures:
                  https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/PT...=photos_albums

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                  • #84
                    this past Sunday on the Kunjamunk
                    Attached Files
                    sigpic

                    Once a year, go some where you've never been before.

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                    • #85
                      Kevin,
                      I thought you had Hornbecks!!

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                      • #86
                        Originally posted by stripperguy View Post
                        Kevin,
                        I thought you had Hornbecks!!
                        nawwwww ... not yet.

                        (Joann & Dick have Hornbecks ... not sure how often they get to use them out in California now)
                        sigpic

                        Once a year, go some where you've never been before.

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                        • #87

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                          • #88
                            A Placidboat Rapidfire and a Swift Keewadin taking a break on the Oswegatchie on a day trip last week. Most who have been there will know this exact location.
                            Attached Files
                            "Now I see the secret of making the best person, it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth." -Walt Whitman

                            Comment


                            • #89
                              Originally posted by Wldrns View Post
                              Most who have been there will know this exact location.
                              Indeed. I used to moor my canoe to that tree root when I camped there in the spring.

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                              • #90
                                I also know it well. Have camped there several times, the last being 3 nights a few weeks ago with one of my sons. With all the rain the week before, the "beach" was under water.
                                ****************************
                                "The wilderness opens us to God's presence because it reduces everything to what is exactly necessary, and no more." John Lionberger Renewal in the Wilderness
                                ***********************
                                My pictures:
                                https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/PT...=photos_albums

                                Comment

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