Paddling upwind

 This isn’t a metaphor. Yesterday I took out the Mad River Explorer 16 for the first time. I was solo, and went down the the MLK shoreline. I knew there was a steady north breeze, and the tide was mid and falling, but I went anyway. At the launch the breeze was light, but being cautious, I opted to spend my energy paddling upwind. Upwind was also with the tide, which meant there was some texture in the deep water where wind waves met the opposing flow of water. As I paddles upwind I got away from shelter and gradually faced a stiffer breeze. I learned a lot about how to handle the headwind, and how low the limit is of what I can paddle against. 

1) keep the bow down. Even sitting reverse left too much now in the air on the empty canoe. I had to shift my weight forward which meant kneeling at the yoke. It makes it harder to make strokes, but ends up being the way to go because of the increased efficiency. 

2) keep it straight. The canoe has less wind resistance when pointed straight into the wind. This takes more concentration than I expected. Almost every stroke has correction as part of it, which is frustrating when also fighting the wind. I wanted to power stroke into the wind, but if I got too much angle to the wind, the canoe would swing around to be broadside to the wind and it was a real struggle to get it facing upwind again.

2a) occasional swirling gusts can swing the canoe off line with the wind. 

2b) once sideways to the wind, I would get quickly swept to the middle of the channel where the water was rougher

2c)  now sideways in rougher water, long sweep strokes are needed to straighten out. Sometimes it was easier to spin around 180 and drift downwind towards shore before finishing the 360 to get headed up wind. Most of the times I needed to hug the shore to get spun around a little bit sheltered from the wind. However, snagging the paddle blade in the shallow mud on the downwind side of the canoe caused the canoe to lever against the stuck blade and tried to pull it out of my hands. Extra care was needed. 

3) the Mad River boat doesn’t have any tumble home, which I appreciated in the wind and waves. I’m curious how wet I would have gotten in the Morningstar with it’s tumble home shape. 

4) I need a better way to paddle solo than on my knees. I can’t keep my knees bent for that long. I want to keep the yoke and avoid doing three seats. The middle seat on the Morningstar prevents it having a carry yoke, which makes it a struggle to carry any distance.