Canoeing in Swift Water 



accompanied by a partner. Consequently, there is 

 not much to be said about using a paddle in swift water 

 when going upstream. 



In going downstream one should not run broken or 

 rocky rivers with a paddle unless one knows the channels 

 and river below; otherwise, disaster is almost certain. 

 When using a pike-pole you can hold your canoe back 

 and pick out the safe, easy channels, or push ashore and 

 portage around the dangerous falls. If, on the other 

 hand, you know the river below you and wish to run 

 downstream, or literally shoot the rapids with only a 

 paddle, the only safe way to do so is to paddle your 

 canoe faster than the current, so that you always have 

 steerage way. Shooting rapids with a paddle is ex- 

 hilarating sport, but as you cannot snub a canoe easily 

 in a swift current, it behoves one to know the channel 

 and keep it. 



From being the witness of many accidents in white 

 water, I am fully convinced that it is lack of proper 

 equipment as well as lack of knowledge of simple funda- 

 mental principles that is the cause of a large percentage 

 of disasters. In other words, I claim that equipment 

 as well as method is fundamental, and that due attention 

 must be given to the standardization of one as well as 

 of the other. 



Believing that fishing is the most common excuse 

 sportsmen have for getting out into swift water, and 

 that canoes improperly equipped and handled for fishing 

 purposes are responsible for more accidents than when 

 used in any other branch of sport, I am going to specialize 

 a little in this article on this particular phase of the 

 canoe game. I shall try to give first, in as condensed a 

 form as possible, an outline of equipment that through 

 a process of years of elimination has gradually become 

 standardized with experts in this particular line of 



155 



