C is for canoeing

It's a simple little thing. Not a necessity anymore. A pleasure. A lifestyle thing. Some like roller derby. Others like chess. I like paddling. What are the odds that there is someone out there that likes chess, roller derby, and canoeing? Probably half way decent. Maybe even right here in Madison.

But that's not point, the point is leisure pursuits. On the water. With a paddle. Boats help too. Just a bit. The other word to bring in here is "silent sport".

Quietwater has its name for a purposeful reason and it has nothing to do with jetskis or waterskiing or some pink-haired kayaker hucking him or her self over a 70 waterfall. Quietwater has everything to do with quietly slipping a canoe in the water, giving that one last push and sitting down in a seat and looking out over a lake smooth as glass.

So go find yourself a canoe. Find a morning on a quiet lake and feel the magic that comes over you when the loudest sound is water dripping off the edge of your paddle and a loon off in the distance.

B is for Birds

Port Arthur Pelicans to be more exact. This is low tide. They are sitting on a sandbar well offshore from Port Arthur, as you can likely see. We went aground on a sandbar much like this earlier in the day. The whole bay was hardly more than ten feet deep at most, and much shallower when the tide went out.

This was part of a project we did with Native Watercraft. Jimbo Meador was the host for a three part DVD we did featuring Native Watercraft-certified guides. Port Arthur was one of the locations we visited. Quite the adventure. Speckled trout and redfish were very nice to us this day.

A is for Alaska

As a mere lad back in the day when economies were small, recessions were big and long lasting, and there was no internet, my Dad took on a job as the manager of a remote gold mine in Alaska. One of the conditions of his employment was bringing me, the mere lad referred to above, along to be the camp gofer, aka lowest worker bee on the totem pole, as opposed to the more glorious and better paid gophers, who exceed at digging holes and watching for hawks.

Anyway, I went along and did the gofer thing. I guess I have to say it changed my life. Pretty much every day, as a cocky young punk going into my senior year of high school I got to see this every time I looked down the valley

Mount Sanford

Work was a 24/7 affair, which fit in with the daylight we had for most of the summer. Work looked like this:

This is a grizzly, the top part, which acts to "sort" the boulders off and shunt the to the side. Smaller "stuff" goes through where it is shaken and washed and further sorted. Large stuff going off to the left side, while the smallest fractions fall all the way through to the bottom and begin their trip down the sluice which comes out of the shot to the LR corner of the picture into a headbox and then into riffles lined with carpet. Every two weeks the top four feet of this riffle was covered with an inch+ thick layer of solid gold, ranging from dust up to nuggets the size of a thumb joint. To this day, I've never seen anything quite like it. Nor will anyone. This was by far the most destructive thing I have ever seen. At the time, even as a mere lad, I was surprised that pillaging and destruction of this extent and scale was legally allowed. It is somewhat ironic, that destruction on a much larger scale was visible in the valley head. What those three glaciers did was vastly more destructive, but that is natural and therefore OK. right?

At day's end we would vacate the machines for the next shift and proceed back to camp, which was this set of three Alaska pipeline surplus trailers. While the trailers were scrungy and not worth description, they all had million dollar views of three glaciers which within a few miles of camp, all came together and melted, creating the Middle Fork of the Chistochina River. A superb, once in a lifetime view, that I was too dumb to recognize as anything special. This was in 1983 and we were poor, so cameras and films were semi-precious. This picture is pretty much the only one.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. Hard to say how I got here from there, but I'm sure it had some effect on me.

Darren Bush needs some encouragement!

Hi all

Hopefully there's a few solo canoers that on occasion put down their paddles and get on the internet. I know that paddling is almost always better than staring at a screen, but hopefully sometimes you solo'ers do look at a screen and maybe even search on solo canoeing topics.

If so, maybe now you are here -

Because I need some help :)

I've been after Darren for a couple years now to do a second more advanced instructional DVD for solo canoeing. Last fall we spent a wonderful afternoon out scouting locations, but nothing came to fruition. I'm not sure what he is thinking, but I'm thinking that solo canoeing is a wonderful pursuit that not enough people know about, much less participate. He is not quite the world's biggest extrovert. He might even be a bit shy.

Darren is a big famous dude in the paddlesports world now, but he still loves to get out on the Wisconsin River in his solo canoe. We've always been loosely attached as partners in the films that Quietwater Films has done. When it comes to a second solo canoe DVD project, I've tried cajoling, wheedling, empathy, persuasion, and enthusiasm. I think I am too close to the source to have an effect, or else he is terminally shy (except he already did the other three DVDs).

He needs to hear from solo canoers, hopefully solo canoers that are interested in an advanced instructional DVD for solo canoeing, as well as some content that promotes solo canoeing.

I'm not seeing much growth in the canoeing world. I would love to create some content that improves paddling techniques AND also gets some pretty pictures (both moving and still) out there that serve to generate some interest in this awesome little slice of time on the water.

I would love it if you would call or email Darren Bush at Rutabaga. Let him know you like solo canoeing. Let him know that you would be interested in supporting a second DVD on solo canoeing instructions (and more!) I won't put his number or email up for fear of spammage, but I will add this link to the Rutabaga website contact page. For those of you that do not know, he owns both Rutabaga and Canoecopia.

He is a quality guy. He is a great teacher and he loves solo canoeing! All great attributes for someone to paddle and talk in front of a camera about all things solo canoeing!

thanks for the help!

happy paddling!
Jeff Bach
Quietwater Films Owner and Producer

Summertime wander to Lac du Flambeau

The mostly annual getaway this year was a fair jaunt. We hopped on Hwy 51 and drove it for hours, through Minocqua until it was time to turn left on Hwy FF, a little used, worn out, twisty, old, two lane through the middle of nowhere. Except that it led somewhere. And that was to another left turn on to O'Meara's Lane, followed ~1 mile later by our final left turn into the driveway for our rental cabin.
The panorama above was the view from the yard. Not the wildest place I've ever been, but it fit the best for the largest number of wishes on the vacation list. The Turtle Flambeau Flowage is, by the way, the largest publicly owned wild space in the state of Wisconsin. I could see it as the BWCA of Wisconsin. There are numerous primitive campsites sprinkled throughout the flowage.
Also worth noting that my wife caught the most fish this year. On a 35 year old #2 Mepps spinner of all things. From our Ultimate kayak while I was paddling her around. Nothing worth keeping, but big enough to make her happy. It is fun to see people catch fish, young or old, the thrill of the unknown is hard to beat.

Canoecopia 2014 version

So this was a year of walking the aisles instead of having a booth at CC. Judging by how far away I had to park, it seems like this was a good weekend for everyone at CC. Packed parking lot and crowded aisles at noon on Sunday. I guess there are a few people interested in paddling..... All the usual players were there for the most part. My favorites were two little guys that I happened across. It seems like there is always one aisle that has all the innovators in small booths packed into it. Does kind of make me wonder why I never see anything innovative at the big booths..... Meg McCall was at the Angle Oar booth. Her idea, company and working prototype caught my eye the most out of all the booths at CC. I thought the idea her engineer dad came up with, that she is pushing out into public was a great one. When I fish from kayak, paddleboard or canoe, where to put the paddle is a constant issue. That was the first thing that came to mind for me when I saw an Angle Oar. Finally a place to "keep" the paddle where it doesn't fall in and float away. All I have to do is let go of it. The other thing I like about it is that I can easily paddle with one hand on either side of the boat. Usually what happens is that if I want to make an adjustment the paddle is always on my other side, so I have to put everything down to get the paddle. With an Angle Oar one half is always available on either side. Very cool. To me anyway. I think to many other paddling fishing types as well. I love to see people that recognize an opportunity and fill the gap. Looks to me like Meg McCall and her Angle Oar device are on the way!!!!!
Angle Oar

The second thing that caught my eye was a portable grill from SLATWORX, (with a singular X no Ks plural!) I think this is also a great idea. Not quite as gap filling as the Angle Oar, but I do think the Slatworx grill does put a fresh new twist on a piece of camping many people do not care for - the existing dirty grill at the established campsite - prior usage unknown. I know the possibility of what the prior camper did to the grill bothers my wife. It bothers me if I think about it too much. The slatworx grill offers an easy alternative. Easy to setup, take down, and package away. Good stuff.
Slatworx

Making a Bent Shaft Laminated Canoe Paddle

So last week was a big week for Quietwater. The event that splashed into last week was an ebook on making a canoe paddle. As some know, Quietwater Films got its start with a series of five DVDs on paddlesports. For me personally, producing the five projects for QW Films was especially nice because of my life long interest and enjoyment of paddlesports. Working with Darren Bush and other big names in the paddling world like Jimbo Meador, remain high points both personally and professionally.

Along with the enjoyment of paddling and the experience as a professional guide (again back in the day but a bit further) is one more piece. Paddlemaking. The wood and hand tools type of DIY making things. A few years back I decided that paddlemaking was something I wanted to do more of. One of the pieces of that was writing a book about paddle making. Last week was the culmination of that effort. Making a Bent Shaft Laminated Canoe Paddle is the first of three books on paddle making, and like all the other firsts, remains a ground breaking eye opening effort and entry into the fast moving and evolving indie publishing world.

Working with cedar strips has long been a big interest. Hand tools and the quiet shaping of wood for me just plain feels good. In this increasingly digital world we live in, going out to the garage and escaping all screens and sounds is yet one more pleasant pursuit. Immersing my ears in the one of a kind sound that a spokeshave makes is a pleasure. Watching a piece of wood take shape due to my own hand efforts is a pleasure. I hope that some of you paddlers out there on occasion enjoy it as well!

Ironically enough, writing the book required lots of digital screen time. But writing has its own strange sort of intrinsic reward as well.

Anyway, the ebook is out there. Globally even. Paper book soon to follow. If like me you are looking at a still growing snowbank, I hope you'll consider reaching for a small screen (like an iPad) and reading about how you can start adding your own hand made bent shaft paddles to your quiver!