"Jeff Potter" wrote in message
m...
Marsh Jones wrote in message
news:Io76b.368081$o%2.165655@sccrnsc02...
Why I prefer 'hut-hut-hut'...

But what about poling or standing?

So far to me poling/standing seems as fast as hutting and I can do it
very easily in a race boat and it's not like I have great balance or
anything. It feels like XC skiing, snowboarding or maybe windsurfing
to me.

But then I was asking for science/clear-data on speed variations
anyway...

10. If it's over mild Class 2, I don't want to be there anyway...

I hear that polers do rapids all the time but without entrapment
issues, eh?

[ ]
4. I can see farther down the river than you can

Polers/standers see much much farther than anyone else. It's like
waterwalking. You see down in the water far far better, too. You see
into the woods and trees and bank areas lots lots better, too. It
opens up a whole new world or three.

3. My back hurts too much sitting down in a yak for that long
[ ]
1. My knees would never put up with a high-kneeler anyway.

Poling/standing seems best of all on the bod. And a more varied
workout.

And it makes obstacle clearing a breeze, fun even. I call it
boatocross. Many many times easier than canoe which is many (singular)
times easier than a yak. We have lots of low-water around here these
days. The whole Great Lakes does, riverwise. Poling is simply the best
in the shallows from what I can tell, and I'm a longtime hutter. I
seem to stand-paddle fine in the shallows, too---but not enough data
yet. (Long paddle also seems to make a good pole. I'm interested in
testing 6-7' paddles.)


Hey Jeff: glad to see youre still a poling afficinado.

My primary method of canoe movement is poling. I take a 6" beavertail paddle
and a 16" pole whenever I go on trips, and I find that I spend about 80% of
my time poling. This is in shallows, fast water, slow water, rocky rapids,
moving upstream, and moving downstream. The only water I don't pole in as a
matter of habit is deep, flat water, because the pole just doesn't work as
well as a paddle, and the correction stroke (really a long drag of the pole
behind the boat) slows it to almost a stop between strokes...not very
efficient.

However, in any river where you can reach the bottom, there's no replacement
for that satisfying feeling that every single push of the pole results in
forward motion. And its a lot more comfortable walking around my boat than
sitting there on my butt and knees. However, again, the correction strokes
(a little pry against the hull behind you) takes away some of the forward
motion.

Anecdotal evidence: When I was on the Snake River in the NWT, leading 6
other tandem boats on a river with some good current, I was poling in the
lead so I could read the braided channels between the islands. After a few
hours, the clients begged me to paddle instead of pole because they kept
piling up on my stern since I was going so much slower than them. I assume
its because I was snubbing (slowing down) as much as I was drifting, to buy
time, but even in well-known channelized rivers, I find that poling goes
about 2/3 as fast as paddling, except in hurried, thrashing races which only
last for a few minutes until you are out of control.

--riverman

(A man at olympic event sees another man carrying an aluminum pole. He asks
"Are you a pole vaulter?" The other man says "No, I'm a German, but how did
you know my name?")