Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Clipper Sea Clipper Canoe
It's difficult to know where to start in reviewing the Sea Clipper. Perhaps a good place to start would be to say that it's on my (KB) top ten list of all-time best gear I've owned. Might even get on my top five list if I had one. It's simply that good.
But what does "that good" mean? For me it means that the Sea Clipper has lived up to it's promise, which is in the name. It was designed to paddle big water with big loads and this it does amazingly well. We've had our boats in 3 meter + seas and the boat was bone dry. Granted, we paddle them with spray decks on coastal trips, but I'm always amazed at how little water even splashes the deck.
One aspect of the Sea Clipper that I've grown, over 10 years of ownership, to love is the the feeling of security that it provides. When seated in either the bow or stern there is a lot of boat above your legs. This makes for the dry ride mentioned above, but it also allows a great deal of contact with the boat with the paddlers thighs. We have ours outfitted in the bow and stern with foam to "lock" us in. We also have an adjustable foot brace for the stern paddler. This and the foam work together to allow excellent power transfer from paddler to boat. Padded bucket seats are also a great feature. This deep design has somewhat ruined me for boats of lower stature.
The main reason we got into the Sea Clipper in the first place can be answered in one word: kids. A canoe is the right tool for the job: easy access to gear, easy access to kids, multiple kids can sit comfortably in the middle (cut the legs short on a cheap kid's lawn chair), and the ride is much dryer than a kayak for kids and adults. Hey, we don't have anything against kayaks, it's just that there's a right tool for every job, eh?
But here's the thing - I've come to truly love the canoe in its own right, kids or no. The body position in a canoe (especially one rigged with foam thigh pads, foot brace, and bucket seat) is really comfortable. It just is. And it's an amazingly dry ride in a deep boat like the Sea Clipper. You will get people looking at you a bit sideways and some will get up the nerve to ask "Why a canoe?" But most folks don't realize that the saltwater highways in the pacific northwest were traditionally traveled in canoes, not kayaks. For cryin' out loud, people hunted WHALES in open canoes by human power on the open ocean - successfully. So the canoe is not, as it turns out, an oddity in the salt water environment. On the contrary, it's right at home.
KB
More to come...
Cooke Custom Sewing Tundra Tarp
Cooke Custom Sewing make an absolutely great tarp. I've had a 15 x 15' version for about 6 years and it has made many rainy and windy camps much more comfortable. Most recently (bottom photo), we had it set up on the coast of BC. At breakfast the next morning I found one corner sagging almost to the ground due to water that had pooled (multiple gallons). This was certainly due to my carelessness in set-up, but the tarp was no worse for the wear. We had it set up as Cliff Jacobson describes in his video, The forgotten Skills (to be reviewed separately). Specifically, this involves a "ridgeline" to which the leading edge of the tarp is tied at multiple points. I'm convinced that any other set-up style would have collapsed, but this method held firm. What amazed me most was the fact that no part of the tarp pulled out under the stress - all tie loops survived, every seam is undaunted, and the fabric hung in there (literally) as well.
CCS is one of those small companies at the core of the sport for which it makes gear. No big ad campaign here, just a commitment to quality products and the follow through to make it happen.
KB
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
