Canoeing and water

No matter where I am, water is usually nearby. When I was growing up my parents would take for walks along the Welland Canal. During the summer, we would swim in Lakes Ontario and Erie. Later on, I would row and sail on Lake Ontario. I have good memories of sailing on Lake Ontario. Fast forward, a couple of years, as I currently live close to the Ottawa River. In the warm weather, I swim and row in the Ottawa and Rideau Rivers. It seems that I'm always close to water.

Every year my father and I and occasionally, one of his fellow scientists will go canoeing and portaging in Algonquin Park. This year the dynamics will be a little different. My father has a scientist visiting from Bulgaria and Ohio this year. This presents a bit of a problems as you can only safely fit three people in a canoe. We had two options, one which I was more comfortable with than the other. We could take a solo canoe and a large 17 footer. I would be in the solo canoe and my father would pilot the larger one. The other option is two take two 15 footers. I would pilot one and father would pilot the other. Piloting a canoe can be a lot of fun but tricky at times when you want to travel in a straight line for an extended distance. The secret is to have a good "J" stroke. Even though the trip is a couple of months away I want to impress my father with my canoemanship. The local outfitter runs remedial canoeing course on the Ottawa River near where I live. Today, I signed up for one of there upcoming courses. At this time of year, the Ottawa River is still quite frigid. So, I don't think they will be teaching us capsizing skills. With these soon to be acquired canoeing skills I hope that the trip will be a success and that I can take some of my friends on future canoeing trips into Algonquin Park.