Canoe on Clearwater Lake

Alison Elliott and John Snively in John's 18' 6" Wenonah Oddysey on Clearwater Lake. A nice sunny morning, probably about 9am. The mountains to the west of Clearwater Lake are not as high as those to the east, or along the north and south shore of Azure Lake. The Clearwater valley is wide in this area, mountains get higher farther west, but they're just out of the picture here. Oops, I see I wasn't holding the camera level when I snapped the shot. The horizon line (shoreline) makes them look like they're paddling a bit up hill (but you know they're not). Maybe I'll get the picture rotated sometime to fix, then repost it.

John's canoe is one of Wenonah's lighter vacuum bagged models, probably weighing in at well under 50 lbs. It's not their lightest construction, but as light as John wanted to go at the time. It's a fast boat, not competition racer category, but very nice all the same. The reasonably high bow does a good job of deflecting waves so is quite seaworthy in the wind. The boat is still very managable in river maneuvering as long as the conditions don't get too tight and tortuous.

I'll see if I can dig one out, but I don't yet have a postable picture of Laurie's and my boat. It's a Sea Clipper model made by Clipper Canoes (Western Canoeing) in British Columbia. Also 18' 6" long, with a beam of about 36", and a bit more depth, I consider it a little more seaworthy than John's, but it's also not quite as fast a design. The construction is also heavier. Mine weighs about 65 lbs, but much of it is extra material because I wanted an 'expedition' model as I was planning on paddling some mild white water runs in it.

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