Canoeing in Swift Water 



as near the stern of the canoe as possible. This would 

 have delayed the stern long enough for the bow to swing 

 downstream, when she would have lain straight with 

 the current, and I could have easily held her with a pole. 

 Then, by shifting my weight a little forward, I could 

 have backed the canoe up against the stream to quiet 

 water, where I could have turned her around, or could 

 have dropped her downstream for the same purpose. 



With these conclusions I started upstream once more. 

 The water was very heavy, and I decided to go up 

 through a little channel near the shore. Immediately 

 I was in trouble. The channel was rocky and crooked, 

 and as fast as I got off one rock, I got on another. Finally 

 I gave it up and took the centre of the big channel. 



A large flat rock divided the current and made a 

 heavy eddy about half-way up. I got into this eddy 

 quite easily with the idea of taking a rest. The return 

 current rushed me toward a big rock. I lost my head 

 and tried to shove up the heavy falls without a rest. 

 I shoved the stern toward the left, which swung the 

 bow toward the right and out into the main current. 

 My stern was still in the return current of the eddy. 

 This whirled the canoe nearly crosswise to the stream, 

 and she shot for the right-hand bank like a scared trout 

 and landed on a rock pile. 



This convinced me that an eddy was a poor thing to 

 depend upon in the middle of a swift stream. If the 

 rock making the eddy is flat and slopes down to the water, 

 it is practically possible to ease the bow of your canoe 

 up on the flat rock, and the stern of your canoe will hang 

 on one side of the eddy or the other between the up and 

 down currents. Getting out of an eddy into the current 

 for the purpose of going upstream takes considerable 

 care and skilful handling if you wish to avoid a quick 

 trip ashore, or come to grief on the rocks below you. 



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