Paddling with puppy


I read with interest your article “Dog Paddling: old and new tricks for paddling with your pooch” (AK V4I2) and thought you might like to see a photo of Odyssey and me doing our “paddling with puppy.” We have been doing this for three years now and we have never tipped. I can pad- dle by ducks and geese and have even cast a fish- ing line and he does not even rock the boat. I am considering buying him a lifejacket or adapting one for his use, even though we do not go in tur- bulent water.


I have yet to figure out a system where he can ride outside of the cockpit to allow me to use a more efficient paddling technique. I have thought of building a platform on the foredeck, but am concerned about raising the centre of gravity and dipping the bow in to the water. I have also won- dered about an outrigger attachment so that he can ride within a pod, but that would create drag and turning would be impossible. Any advice from your readers would be helpful.


Barry Heath Saskatoon, SK


There is no British kayak


I like that Alex Matthews’ article (“Long live the homegrown boat,” AK V4I2) made clear that Valley Canoe Products hatches are airtight along with other good points that sales persons often choose to ignore. To clarify, there is in effect no British Kayak. The simple fact that the British did so many Arctic expeditions over the past centuries exposed them to the real kayak designers and the kayaks of the Arctic peoples. They found that the little kayak used by the natives are keen to handle some of the worst sea conditions in truly adverse environs. It was the Greenland and Arctic kayaks perhaps used for thousands of years that modern sea kayak builders such as Frank Goodman improved upon with solid bulkheads, recessed deck lines and fittings and of course good gear- hatch covers that work.


Steve Lutsch Windsor, ON


WRITE US: Editor, Adventure Kayak, PO Box 70, Palmer Rapids, ON, K0J 2E0. Email: editor@adventurekayakmag.com. We may edit letters for publication.


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