Winter project: the DIY wannigan

Our Canadian editor-at-large gets crafty with an old-school essential

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Winter project: the DIY wannigan

02.06.2012 // 0 Comments

As someone recently bit by the traditional bug I decided it was high time to build a wannigan or two of my own. The project can easily be completed in a few evenings of work, basic tools and about $25 of materials.

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Death of a Wave Warrior

02.02.2012 // 7 Comments

Eric Soares, an author, instructor and co-founding member of the Tsunami Rangers, died suddenly on Wednesday due to complications following a ski accident in Lake Tahoe this week.

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Oil and Water

02.02.2012 // 4 Comments

Like the wicked sou’easters that pummel the Inside Passage all winter long, a storm is brewing on the northern coast of British Columbia that could threaten a paddler’s paradise and a pristine node of biological diversity.

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Canoeist Don Starkell Dies

01.30.2012 // 7 Comments

Don Starkell, who claimed to have paddled more miles than any person in history, died of cancer Saturday at his home in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the Winnipeg Free Press reports. He was 79. The famously stubborn canoeist is best known for paddling 12,000 miles with his son Dana, from their home near Winnipeg to the mouth of the Amazon. The 1980 open canoe journey earned the Starkells a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. It was but one episode in a life of canoeing and kayaking that spanned nearly 75,000 miles.

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Rocked like a Hurricane

01.25.2012 // 0 Comments

Rowan Gloag of the British Columbia-based Hurricane Riders crew—a group of hard-charging sea kayakers from the Vancouver area who have a recurring habit of surfing sea kayaks in places where sea kayaks rarely venture and of always returning with the footage to prove it—recently checked in with C&K from his new digs on Vancouver Island.

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5 Steps

01.24.2012 // 0 Comments

Though wood-and-canvas canoes look great and paddle even better, few people have bothered to build them since the early 20th century. They’re not all that easy to build, and lighter, stronger materials have only become more readily available. Even fewer people take them on long expeditions.

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VIRTUAL COACH: How To Self-Support

01.23.2012 // 1 Comment

In this episode of Virtual Coach, Erik Boomer demonstrates how to pack your multi-day kayak

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Behind the Scenes: Ireland

01.20.2012 // 0 Comments

British sea kayakers Jeff Allen and Harry Whelan may have got all the press for their record-setting 25-day circumnavigation of Ireland in the spring of 2011, but behind the scenes was a man with a camera on his own a whirlwind tour of the Emerald Isle in a cluttered Pugeot Boxer van. Photographer Vaughan Roberts racked up about 3,000 miles providing land support for Allen and Whelan, navigating the backroads of coastal Ireland and setting up shots for his new DVD, “Into the Wind.”

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Seldom Seen Floats

01.20.2012 // 0 Comments

The naturally flowing streams of the arid American West are all about timing. Hit that window just right, and you’ll be grinning like a kid playing hooky from school. So be vigilant.

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Seldom Seen Floats: San Francisco River, New Mexico/Arizona

01.18.2012 // 0 Comments

Flanked by pine-covered escarpments and lined with strands of sycamores, cottonwoods, and willows, the sparkling-clear San Francisco is a major tributary of the Upper Gila River, but a complete unknown to most paddlers—possibly because catching the river with navigable flows is difficult at best, and possibly because combat boating skills are a prerequisite to safely traverse this extremely remote stream. Three years ago, when we decided to explore the San Fran, we were met by a lonely land of inaccessible high mountains, rugged canyons, and stark ridges, and a river that tested our fortitude. In between quiet pools were long stretches marked by swift currents and boulder-garden rapids. Great fun. However, what required all our attention, all the time, was the threat of strainers and downed trees often completely blocking the tight channel. Not so fun. That said, the San Francisco ranks near the very top of my favorite ephemeral streams.

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