We trip each year with whom ever can make the trip.  We have anywhere from three to nine in our group.  Normally, two in each canoe with the odd number one riding as "princess" in the odd boat.  Works well, but only three in the group is the worst senario. We took a solo when this happened on a Spring trip a few years ago and it worked very well.  The solo could out perform the tamdem.  I may even try solo trip in the future; although I like the companionship of a group trip.

starwatcher

azalea wrote on Apr 24^th, 2010 at 7:35pm:


I did not find this to be true on my solo trip last year (first time ever in a solo canoe).  I mean, if I'd gotten into a nasty headwind on the first day, this might have been true, but a couple hours into my trip I felt very comfortable that I could handle headwinds.  Didn't get into any serious headwinds until Day 5 and they didn't slow me down any worse than they would have slowed a tandem.

Part of the deal with a solo is you have a much better length-to width ratio as a true solo is much narrower than a tandem yet it's nearly as long.  This is a much more efficent hull shape that helps enormously in making up for the fact that you have only 50% of the paddle power of a tandem crew. 

I'm no physicist so I can't give you exact figures, nor was I in the neighborhood of any tandems to measure myself against them, but I would estimate conservatively that I had at least 85-90% of the efficiency in my solo that I normally enjoy in a tandem.  I bucked a strong headwind and plenty of rain from Suz all the way down to Kett in less than a full day of paddling and I'm a pretty average-sized guy with average paddle power using a single-bladed stick.

I was a strong proponent for the tandem backwards thing and it still works for me though you will get stuck more often than true solos or good tandems.

I've paddled my tandem with really good bow paddlers and others who were, shall we say ... good company. It's got a lot more miles on it with just me in it. I cannot keep up with good paddlers in a modern tandem but I would be waiting for the rest of the group in anything below a light chop. With two people, pit stops take more than twice as long. Even tandems decide they are windbound if it takes 20 minutes to go a few hundred yards. Treadmill - Paddlemill? Sometime it just ain't worth it.

My trip last year was the first time I ever paddled a true solo and I gotta say I was impressed. I paddled through the biggest waves I ever have and made decent progress. A few days later I was staring at whitecaps crashing at the end of a portage. I was in no mood to wait it out. Worst case? I wash up where I started. Hardest part was loading up and getting in. It actually required some thought with no one around to keep it off the rocks while loading. Paddling in it wasn't a problem although I did go out of my way and head into the wind. I didn't know the boat well enough to paddle the crests & troughs broadside - even near shore. Maybe someday.

Bottom line, paddling solo is easier since the only balance you need to consider is your own. You don't need to consider what a bow paddler might react to and how and the wind has less to grab.

Back on topic - Traveller, my advice to you is - be the martyr! Take the solo on the condition you never have to do the dishes or whatever you hate doing the most and keep that little gem all to yourself. If you end up hating it, well then, it must be someone else's turn....

Fun and fear is in the eye of the beholder but there is also knowing how to use the right tool for the job and making it work. You can always make due but there's a lot of satisfaction in finding the sweet spot. And what's the saying? Two's company and something about a crowd? Your mileage may vary ... greatly.

Having paddled solo in a tandem you'll do just fine in a solo boat.  It will be a treat!  Just be aware of your trim.  When I bow-backwards a tandem my gear is stuffed at the opposite end.  When I paddle a solo most of my gear is behind me.  Trying to turn with the bow skegged from too much weight is an adventure.

One thing to be aware of is how much tumblehome the canoe you get has.  Twice I've been dumped by fighting the tumblehome.  Weight down, slide into it, let it cradle you.  Head between the gunwales. 

My personal fav is the Wenonah Argosy.  I'll take that in wind and wave I wouldn't solo my prospector in.

Scooteri

HI

Go for the solo boat route, IMHO.

First you'll get to iron out being ditched on future trips

2nd if you are proficient at paddling stern in a tandem using J and C stroke the solo gig is not that much different. Only that a small amount of correction in every stroke works a bit better, as it is more efficient. Think a stitch in time saves nine. Switchin' and rudering works too, just not as fast IMHO

So on and so forth. Enough numbers already!

Be mindful of your trim as it with make your paddling somewhat easier. Bow down trim with head wind or quartering headwind and vice versa with a tail breeze. That brings us to the next piece... in trim, not tail, trim....One big pack is problematic in a solo, harder to cram (think about the decrease in beam in a solo boat-depending on what you rent) into the hull and very difficult to trim the boat. So two is better than one, opps . I run two solos or a mid sized pack and solo depending on duration of trip and what I dont want to leave at home in the gear closet and kitchen! And then additionally a daypack and at least one twart bag...for the necessities I need at my finger tips...tackle, camera, raingear, bugshirt, redcross bag, and the like...those are the "packs" that I use to trim, and get the tail just in the right amount of H2o. That is trim. Nothing to it.

From my meager experience it is not the trim so much, or even the paddling for that matter...that is the hinging pin in solos. For me it is the primary stability...just a fancy pants way of speaking to the balance issue inherit in the hulls of fast solos. They're just a tad more tippy when they aint moving. So the getting in and out part is just a tiny bit, a tiny bit, more uncomfortable.

If it is a sitting boat like a We-no-nah then I suggest that you move to your knees and to get that foot on the keel line before you make your boot wet, and with a hand on each rail... it is a snap...but down move like one. This is just a spot that takes some practice... so you can work out your own system of the ins and outs that is driven by the limits of your own self-that is why some have spoken to flexibility/balance. It is NOT that big of a deal really. Just practice. If your using a double bladed kayak type paddle then using a modified kayak mount or dismount, depending on your perspective, could prove to be useful. Keep the boot on the keel line and your hands on the rails, it is simple.

It still dont parallel rollers, always quarter, but I get sea sick in the car still and I only like to swim when I want too, control issues you know But that is enough surf talk!

So, here is a bit of a story for yah to calm the nerves.

Mid-october last year. A friend and I did a five day. We got snow, and it was reasonably seasonable-frost the water bottles at night, windy and rain/snow. He is 62 and was in a brand spankin' new solo, one of those sittin types and he paddled better than me in my twenty year old Bell and I am a pup in the terms of my audience at large. I will say this though, he questioned my sanity in regard to the conditions  while we surfed the rollers as the snow pelted us; I still dont think I caught everything that he said as his glasses were fogged, literally. I am lucky that he is my friend.

Mind the "bear mice" the first couple of days...there most likely just mice.

Bon Voyage

M