Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #104335 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Customer Reviews

Visually stunning and well written treatise on canoeing.
Unfortunately this book has to be compared to Bill Mason's seminal work 'Path of the Paddle'.

Of course you need both, however the McGuffin book would be the choice if a choice was to be made.

Attempting to explain canoe strokes from the page is almost impossible. The use of excellent photographs, superimposed diagrams and clear text brings each stroke to life. Included is the development of the new techniques for modern white water canoes. Studying the text and visual information together brings real understanding of the use of the paddle. A thorough section on safety and rescue again has good photographs and lots of sound practical advice. The section on river morphology (chapter 14 The River) is much easier to read than Mason's and the diagrams are a joy to study.

Interspersed with all the 'hard skills' stuff are page after page of wonderful photographs capturing the romance and spirituality of canoeing. For example, on the same page as an explanation of the tandem onside U-turn with six good photographs is a picture of Denison Falls. If you look at Denison Falls then you will know why your onside U turn must work!

The early chapters on how the body and boat should work together, preparing the body and the analysis of the physics involved are very readable and clear. In virtually every photograph Joanne is laughing or smiling, perhaps the book should have been called 'The Joy of the Paddle'. The photographs capture exactly their understanding of those early sections about the body being in harmony with the boat.

Altogether a superbly presented book, for both beginner, improver and coach. A text that I shall recommend to my pupils, one in which they will find years of useful reference.

Bookreview
Good book but not as easy to follow as others. Lots of tips and photo's to enspire you to get out on the water.

Good but perhaps a bit too 'Zen'
As other reviewers have mentioned, this book has a lot of pictures often superimposed with arrows to try and make the point. As a complete novice to canoeing I'm not sure this book has been all that helpful for me. I have tried to read it in chapter order, but this seems illogical as the first thing you want to know how to do is paddle a canoe in a straight line. I'm not quite sure what friends, family and on-lookers would make of 20 minutes of yoga before getting into a canoe.

It is obvious that the authors love canoeing and have been brought up with the sport from a very young age. Their enthusiasm is contagious and there are a lot of really nice pictures. Sadly, for me I found that the illogical sequence of the book and the sections on yoga were not really up my street and I have found other guides a little easier to follow without being quite as Zen-like as this one.

It is a really nice book to flick through and look at the pictures, but for a beginner there are better publications which are a little cheaper!