Bent Canoe Paddle

Canoeists race Black River

05.06.11

At the sound of a horn, 15 canoeists paddled furiously as they launched themselves down the Black River.

The solo canoe race was one of several Saturday at the fourth annual Black River Canoe and Kayak Races at the Riverside Boat Launch in Port Huron.

Jim Wier, an organizer of the event who lives in Ruby, said the races drew about 60 canoeists from across Michigan and outside the state.

"Once you get it in your blood, you go for it," Wier said, regarding the sport.

Since the race was started in 2008, Wier said participation has doubled. Wier, along with other members of the race committee, said the race also promotes awareness of the Black River.

Adults competed for cash prizes in expert and amateur two-person canoe races, as well as a general solo canoe race Saturday.

Source: Port Huron Times Herald

Paddle power: canoeing on the Norfolk Broads

23.02.54

Like all the best ideas, it is simplicity itself. Find a river. Supply canoes and paddles at the head of the river. Arrange food depots and tents along the route. Start paddling. It is a method that has worked well in the past. There was Henry Morton Stanley and his first crossing of the Dark Continent via the Congo. Then there were Lewis and Clark, who set out in 1805 to fight their way across North America by canoe, surviving rapids, storms and hostile natives. And just when it was thought that all great challenges of fluvial exploration were over, there was one more: the river Bure in Norfolk .

Now if you'd said the Bure to Messrs Lewis and Clark, they would have been nonplussed. In the 19th century this 50-mile waterway through the Norfolk Broads was a well-known thoroughfare busy with wherries, the black-sailed Norfolk cargo boats. There was a system of locks and a long-established trade in coal, flour and timber. In 1912, however, came a great flood that would finish this cosy arrangement forever: locks and bridges were washed away, boats wrecked and sunk. When local people assessed the damage, they found that only one boat – the Zulu – had survived and the repair costs for the entire network were prohibitive. The railways were eager to take the trade away and so they did. The river Bure was largely abandoned by man.

Source: The Guardian

Reminder: Permit required for paddle craft

23.02.17

Non-motorized boaters — including paddlers with canoes, kayaks or drift boats 10 feet or longer — now have to purchase a permit to support anti-invasive species programs.

The Aquatic Invasive Species Prevention Permit is part of legislation passed in 2010, which gives the state the ability to inspect boats, put up check stations at boat ramps and fine people for knowingly transporting non-native aquatic plants and animals.

“Its goal would be to pay for the inspection stations, decontamination units, the training and personnel to operate those, and a supervisor for those crews,” said Rick Boatner, invasive species wildlife integrity coordinator with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Source: Bend Bulletin