Earlier this week as my brother and I were paddling down the Old Voyageurs’ Channel in the French River delta we approached a canoe coming upriver. We were struck by their paddling technique – they were switching sides every four strokes or so. My initial thought was that they were rank amateurs! That hasty judgment came crashing down when I asked them where they were coming from. “Rocky Mountain House, Alberta” was the response!



Mike and Cass Wild are English doctors working in Scotland. Two years of planning went into this epic and inspirational canoe trip. Their Wordpress website can be accessed here –

https://thedoctorswild.com

They had started their trans-Canada journey in May and here they were on the French River! Along the way they had been gifted a couple of carbon bent shaft paddles and some professional instruction on how to paddle without making use of the J-stroke! We had a long chat and then headed in opposite directions – they were off to drop in on friends living near North Bay on the east side of Lake Nipissing.

You can see their route – and their current location – thanks to their Garmin inReach Explorer+

https://share.garmin.com/MichaelWild2



If you are on their route you might want to cheer on these voyageurs as they do the home stretch down the Mattawa and Ottawa Rivers to Montreal!

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http://albinger.me/canoe-tripping/

Pretty much the standard racing hit and switch.. Racers do not do J strokes.. The difference between amateurs and pros is the execution. A hit and switch is organized every few strokes and there is no boat yaw really discernible
It takes a lot of practice too! Kudos to them.. I have two friends who paddled across the US ( including upstream paddling) with hit and switch.. They also do canoe racing

Thanks for posting this. I just spent nearly half an hour going through their website, and there's still lots left to explore. Fantastic!

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www.mikemonaghan.ca

Mike and Cas Wild are heading down the Ottawa this morning. They are south of Pembroke and approaching Fort Coulonge and the Rocher Fendu whitewater stretch of the river. They'll have to decide which channel to take down!

The Main Channel - the favourite of Ottawa River rafting companies
The Middle Channel - a bit tamer with some portaging to do
The Calumet Channel - the Quebec side route of the Voyageurs and the easiest of the three

https://share.garmin.com/MichaelWild2

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http://albinger.me/canoe-tripping/