Got an axe to grind, John?

So far, the only canoe I've ever flipped in the BWCA was an Old Town
Penobscot 16 - and we were shooting a rapid expecting to go swimming.
Big deal. As a general rule, it's the rider, not the ride. Wenonah
Minnesota II is the standard for BWCA travel - at least in Kevlar boats.
They are not a short, beamy barge - they are long, very fast, and have
a lower initial stability in trade for a very good secondary stability.
You can flip them if you use them improperly, although the same can be
said for any boat. Without knowing your friends real ability, the
specific conditions that they were in, and what they normally paddled,
it's hard for me to assess their appropriateness for the boats.
Personally, I'll stick to my MinnII for BWCA travel.

Marsh Jones
New Brighton, MN


John wrote:
Friends of mine had been going to BWCA for years. A few years ago they
rented Wenonah canoes for the first time ever. Three of four canoes
capsized during the trip. They had never capsized a canoe before that.
They refer to the canoes as WE KNOW NOW's (not to rent wenonah's).
Maybe it was the weather or their confidence that caused the
problem...but they swear it was the canoes