Places with deep water and narrow approach would demand this practice.  I know of a few portages that end like this.  Temagami means deep water by the shore.  Places like Sharprock Inlet are aptly named.

Sometimes, once the bow paddler gets in, the stern paddler must shove off and jump in.

Wet feet aren't a problem.  They're a fact of tripping.  Dealing with wet feet is how the British built an empire.

I too gripe when my bow paddler hauls the canoe out of the water high and cantilevered on a rock that's going to punch a hole.

On tandem trips of, say, 9 nights, we have heavier packs than those guys. Bow man usually out first and holds gunwale while stern paddler gets out.  We just wetfoot it, mainly. Definitely don't want to set a pack down only to pick it up again.  Unless the water is choppy or a noticable current, the canoe carrier pulls the heavier pack (wetfooting) and holds it for the other guy to slip into the straps... Canoe is free, for that moment, so this is not done in heavy wind, etc.  After handing over paddles, etc., the canoe carrier takes a smaller pack and the (kevlar) canoe.  The canoe is freefloating or only very lightly beached, most of the time, and parallel to shore as possible.  More or less reverse at the other end; minimize setting a pack on ground, only to lift it again (though, of course, stuff happens...).

I don't mind wet feet, but I also don't travel in the shoulder seasons.  Might have to change it up a bit when I do, or at least look at thicker wool socks.  Yeah, there have been some portage landings where we had to climb up the canoe, but most I've been able to wade in safely to at least my knees, and set the canoe down 100% in the water.

Their method looks somewhat reasonable for all of those nice sandy beach entries on flat/calm water, you know, most of what you find in the BW/Q 

I'd have to say that if you drug my canoe through the sand or grounded a bow or stern by sitting on the deckplate or gunwhales that way, I wouldn't be happy.  Joe from Red Rocks is a very good canoe finish restorer, so he probalby doesn't mind the scratches and extra wear.  It is good form to stabilize the canoe for others to get out, so I'll give them partial credit.

Never used that technique, although maybe would have one guy get out and then hold canoe steady for the the other one.  Could see something like the technique in the video if the wind were really blowing waves into shoreline...

How I do it depends on the landing.  If it's long & narrow & deep that just might be the way. 

Having good high boots helps.  I can wade up to my calves and stay mostly dry.  That's enough water to float the canoe.

Not with my canoe you don't...rented maybe...plus that how many packs are as light as that?  either that guy in the video is super buff or that pack is really light. 

We call exiting a canoe like that "Climbin Jacobs Ladder."

Been there, done that. I agree w/ others about loading, un loading parallel to shore where possible.

The biggest question it raised for me was, 'how did they get everything in one pack?' Must be a short trip.

If, upon arrival to shore, the bow paddler had hopped out before grinding hull on shore, and stabilized canoe for partner, while swinging canoe parallel to shore, the stern paddler could hop out, and one could grab the pack, while the other picked up the canoe, they both could avoid canoe grind.

It seemed odd, that they both got their feet wet anyway, but the method seemed to focus on minimizing wet feet.

I think you'd be better served in most instances getting your feet wet and wading out and then stepping into the canoe (stern paddler).
Holding the bow as pictured is a good idea even if the stern paddler wet foots it.

Climbing in and over your gear in any landing situation is iffy at best. I can see someone taking a header real easy with a small misstep.

I understand the slippery rock/broken leg concern, but that can me minimized if you use your paddle as a 3rd leg ( maybe not hi-end graphite ones), but most paddles with the rock guards would be fine with a little care.

With bow secured as pictured the stern paddler can use his paddle and the gunnel's to walk themselves out and in safely.

Solo you get in the best you can
I wear the Brookie-Knee highs, so I just wade out and step in low and quick.

I've seen more than a few paddlers dump landing or exiting becasue they got careless for a moment and forgot that regardless of water depth, you can still roll one over pretty easy if you forget where your at.

There are situations where their technique may be needed, deep water, big rocks or a short narrow area to unload or load. I am a proponent of walking into the water and laying the canoe down parallel to shore for loading and stepping in and out of the canoe. So much less work than straining in every way just to keep the feet dry.

that's pretty much the way we often did it with the Grummans from a beach landing. Its really very stable when you sit on the deck like that, with your legs bracing the hull on each side. 
But we'd put the stern out, and the bow on shore - that helps to lift the bow when you shove off like that.



with a $3,000 kevlar boat - nope.

    what was kind of stupid in the video is the guy walking into shallow water, and then setting the stern on the gravel beach - as long as he walked out that far, he should have set the boat parrallel to shore in water deep enough to float it and loaded it there. 

would I recommend it - probably for any boat except a kevlar hull - that wouldnt' hurt aluminum or royalex at all - at least not for the first 25 or 30 years.  works fine for a beach landing, and doing it that way, neither paddler needs to get thier feet wet.  but you don't want to load up in a river like that - should always load up parrallel to the bank with bow upstream for max control. 

there is an advantage to loading that way if you are at deep water, but with a lot of slimy, unstable rocks 2 or 3 feet under - it can be really difficult to load in the water under those conditions, and the method demonstrated might save someone from a nasty fall trying to make a wet-foot entry - trust me, I know all about falling on slippery rocks while wet-footing an exit or entry.  just depends on the circumstances, but if I felt it was safer, I'd do that with a kevlar hull and the hell with a few gouges that were easier to repair than a broken leg.