Blueberry Slide on the Kettle River

Hell Yes,

Me ripping down Blueberry Slide on the Kettle River.
I grew up in Minnesota canoeing flat water...

it took me a while to find the the training and the equipment to get started, contact Hard Water Sports to get on the funwater now.
Canoeing Instruction

Finding Minnesota: Canoeing Whitewater Rapids

Finding Minnesota: Whitewater Rapids « CBS Minnesota

Filmed in May of 2012, WCCO's Finding Minnesota visits the Kettle River in Banning State Park.

Finding Minnesota

This piece was filmed at the top of the rapids in Banning State Park, most of the whitewater paddling takes place on Blueberry Slide - a Class III rapid.  On this day the river was flowing at 1400 CFS.

The editing in the video makes the paddling look very intense and non stop.   

Finding Minnesota: Whitewater Rapids « CBS Minnesota

The Northern Open Canoe Access Project

Who's ready to give it a try?

River Levels

River Levels

Get Connected to the river levels,

Baptism River Gauge

Flow rates and river levels are very important to the Northern Open Canoeist.  Get to know your local rivers and how they change as the flows increase and decrease.

River Level Resources 

http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/view/

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/rt

http://rapidsriders.org/rivers

Stony River Gauge

You can also get apps on your smart phone, my fav is River Reader - 

Northern Open Canoe Access Project 

connecting paddlers with...

The Training

The Inspiration

and The Equipment

Live the Life of Your Dreams - Whitewater Canoeing

"The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams." 

Oprah Winfrey

Live the Life of Your Dreams

The Northern Open Canoe Access Project provides the...
Training
Inspiration
and Equipment

If your dream is to paddle an open canoe on whitewater rivers,

 NOCAP can make it happen.

Throw Rope - Essential Gear for Whitewater Canoeing

The Throw Rope 

-an essential piece of equipment for whitewater paddling.

The one piece of safety equipment that every whitewater canoeist should have in their boat is a trusted throw rope.  Your throw rope should be kept accessible, and ready to be used.

Throw ropes are generally between 50 and 75 feet in length, with a rope diameter between 1/4 and 3/8 inches.  Ropes are made out of a floating polypropylene and are a bright color for easy visibility.

Only as Good as the Thrower -

Practice with your throw bag, a throw bag is worthless if the rescuer can't get it to the victim.  Practice on dry land and practice throwing the rope to swimmers in moving water.  

To rescue a moving target in whitewater, throw the rope ahead (downstream) of the swimmer, crossing in front of them. 

Keep your throw rope accessible, you may only have a second or two to make the rescue.

Besides being used to rescue swimmers, the throw line can be used for setting "z" drags, and cross river stabilizing lines to support a swimmer with a foot entrapment.  Throw ropes can also be used to recover gear or to ferry a boat across a river. 

Throw Bags are a available from a number of manufacturers, here are some links to help get you started.

http://www.nrsweb.com/shop/product_list.asp?deptid=961

http://www.levelsix.com/store/index.php/producttype/safety.html

http://www.wrsisafety.com/throw_bag.asp

My preference is a 50'  1/4 inch.
My throw bag is always in my canoe, in a very accessible location.

Throw Bag
Get one,
Learn to use it,
and always have it Available.

Northern Open Canoe Access Project aims to connect canoeist with the training, the inspiration, and the equipment to get you on moving water.

What are you waiting for??

Open Canoes on the Stoney River, Minnesota

The Stoney River in the far North of Minnesota.  Class III and IV wilderness whitewater on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

Located in the "Far North" of Minnesota between Babbit and Ely, the Stoney River flows north into Birch Lake.  The five mile run combines whitewater paddling with the scenery of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.  

For more information, visit http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/detail/id/2866/

Open Pool for Open Canoeist

Open Pool for Open Boaters
A great way to get started with the sport of whitewater canoeing is to attend a pool session with a local paddling club.
Pools are a warm, clean, and friendly place for anyone looking to experience an open whitewater canoe.  The local paddling club I belong to, Rapids Riders, rents pool time at the Brooklyn Center Community Center.(Sundays-5-7, December through April)
Here's a link to the details
RapidsRidersEvents

At pool sessions you can work on the stokes, the braces, and rolling a whitewater canoe.  The pool is a great place to meet paddlers that can give you tips on techniques and help you access the sport of whitewater canoeing.
I feel fortunate to have found a very welcoming group of paddlers,  my skills have greatly improved because of the advice I have received during open pool sessions.  

The Northern Open Canoe Access Project aims to connect flat-water paddlers with
the training,
the inspiration,
and the equipment to get you paddling whitewater rivers.

Let me know if you are interested in testing an open canoe,
HardWaterSports@gmail.com

Adventure of Nothing

Life is either a great adventure or nothing. 

Helen Keller

Adventure or Nothing.

The Northern Open Canoe Access Project,

if you need some adventure.

The Whitewater Canoe

The Whitewater Open Canoe

Standard whitewater river canoe length 8’- 14’

Hull material :

• Royalex (Probe, Viper, Outrage, Ocoee)  
• Royalite, (Spark )
• Polyethilene (Spanish Fly, L’Edge)

A standard feature of a whitewater canoe is a rockered (non-flat) bottom, allowing the boat to make quick turns.

Outfitted with a saddle, foot pegs, and knee straps - all designed to hold the paddler into the boat.

Whitewater canoes are float bag compatible, rigged to easily install float bags.

Whitewater open canoes are designed either for solo paddling or tandem paddling. The Mohawk Probe 14' can be installed with a unique saddle that can be paddled in one direction as a solo or turn around and paddle it as a tandem.

If you are new to the sport of whitewater canoeing, you will find that your skills progress at a faster rate if you start in a longer boat (11' -13')

Once you are proficient with your stokes and braces then you can move to a shorter canoe.

Links to boat manufacturers 

• http://www.mohawkcanoes.com
• http://www.esquif.com/2008/index_en.php
• http://www.bellcanoe.com
• http://www.madrivercanoe.com
• http://www.blackflycanoes.com

 

If you are a Northern canoeist looking to make the move to whitewater ...

please contact me at HardWaterSports@gamil.com

The Northern Open Canoe Access Project (NOCAP) aims to connect paddlers with the Training, the Inspiration, and the Equipment.

If you need access to the Equipment - contact HardWaterSports@gamil.com  

So, What are you waiting for??

Essential Gear for Whitewater Canoeing

Essential Gear for WW Canoeing

To paddle whitewater rivers in an open canoe you really only need 5 pieces of equipment.

1. Canoe

2. Paddle

3. PFD (personal floatation device)

4. Helmet

5. Float Bags

That’s it.  Once you’ve acquired these 5 essential pieces of equipment you’re ready to get on the river.  In the following weeks I will be adding details and personal opinions on each piece of the essential whitewater canoeing  gear list, plus I will be writing about the other gear used by river paddlers (i.e. cold water clothing, throw bags, dry storage…)

I will also be adding links to where you can get deals on new and used paddling equipment.  

Of course, the gear is the easy part.  Anybody can go out and purchase equipment, it’s the skills and the desire that that can’t be bought.  The desire comes from within, the skills come from training and education.  Keep checking back, I’ll be writing about your options for gaining the skills to start river paddling.  I will also do my best to inspire and create the desire to move you from the flat to the white.

Are you open to the challenge of open canoe whitewater paddling?

The Northern Open Canoe Access Project provides ...

the Training

the Inspiration

and the Equipment

to get you paddling a canoe on whitewater.

Whitewater Canoeing - How to get Started

The Northern Open Canoe Access Project hopes to connect canoeist with ...
the Training,
the Inspiration,
and the Equipment to get you on whitewater.

The project is designed for people that have paddling skills, for people that are comfortable in a canoe, and for paddlers that have the desire to get on moving water.

So...
if you are skilled in flat water canoe paddling
and
if you can comfortably paddle a canoe
and
if you have the desire to start paddling an open canoe on whitewater rivers,

then contact me, Tony Vavricka, at hardwatersports@gmail.com  

The Goal of the Northern Open Canoe Access Project is simple; 
By providing the training, the inspiration, and equipment...
Convert 100 or more Northern, flat water canoeist into whitewater river paddlers by the end of the 2013 paddling season.

Get started now - be a part of the project

Contact hardwatersports@gmail.com 

Whitewater Canoeist 

Open Canoe on the St Louis River - Swinging Bridge - Jay Cooke State Park, Minnesota

My first run down the lower St Louis River in 2010.  

The Lower St Louis River, Swinging Bridge Rapids.  

Northern Canoe Country’s ultimate whitewater river.  One drop after another- table saw, Highway 210 drop, the Sisters, OCTOPUS, the boneyards, swinging bridge into the hanging pool, and Snake Bite (if you dare).

Before getting on the Lower St Louis the skills a canoeist will need are:

• a solid roll (or be able to self rescue)
• confidence in your ability to catch small eddies
• proficient in fast water river ferries

Get the skills, then get a good crew of boaters that know the run.  The St Louis is dam released, I love the river at the normal 350 cfs-fishflow, and it is even more fun (or scary depends how you look at it) at a 650 cfs release.

The Training, the Inspiration, the Equipment

The Northern Open Canoe Access Project 

2012 Paddling Season

Ripping it up in 2012- I will say, for an open canoeist with moderate skills, I had quite a wonderful season of paddling.  Plenty of Northern Adventure paddling with a banner year of personal first descents.  

• Baptism River
• French River
• Knife River
• Stony River
• Jump River
• Northern Vermillion

My personal list of first descents (rivers that were new to me) starts with the Baptism, one of Minnesota’s Great Northern Rivers. I made a low water run of the Eckbeck to Iligen Falls.  Then carried up from the parking lot in Tettegouche State Park to run “Whole in the Wall” rapids and the final class III stretch into Lake Superior.

The first descents list continues with the French, and Fish Ladder on the Knife - two more Minnesota, North Shore rivers.

I was lucky to get in three runs on the Stoney River. A remote, wilderness river, in the far north of Minnesota, roughly half way between Ely and Babbit. 

When the Jump River is up, it’s time to JUMP. A short but very intense run of class III/IV whitewater in central Wisconsin. For my first day on the Jump River I hooked up with a few other open canoeist for 3 trips down the half mile run.

I also canoed on the Northern Vermillion River for the first time  A delightful, end of July day on the last section section of the river before it ends in Crane Lake, a stretch that includes the  “Shoot,” and the “Gorge.”  Quick break for lunch and then finished up with “Table Rock Falls.”

Throw in a few runs on the upper and Lower St. Louis, the ice off runs on the lower Verm, and to many to count days on the Kettle.  Add to that 3 trips to the Wausau Whitewater Park, and that equals a lot of days on the water.

   

Northern States of Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula are blessed with great whitewater and a wonderful paddling community.  Thanks to all the river guides and shuttle friends that helped to make this year so wonderful.

Whitewater Open Canoeist on the Stony River, Northern Minnesota

Northern Open Canoe Access Project

Northern Open Canoe Access Project, (NOCAP) helping to convert flat water paddlers into whitewater canoeist.

Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the UP have amazing whitewater rivers of all grades, and there are very few paddlers who are enjoying them.  

Nearly 100,000 paddlers visit the Boundary Water Canoe Area (BWCA) every year. A small percentage of these canoeist crave to make the transition to moving water, these few want to learn the skills to have the ability to safely paddle whitewater.

The Northern Open Canoe Access Project aims to connect experienced flat water canoe paddlers with the equipment and the training to safely paddle on moving water.