Costa Rica es Pura Vida! -- Presentation by Dr. Robert Jackson, Director Interamerican University Studies Institute.<www.iusi.org>

Travel to the land of Costa Rica where capuchin monkeys peer from leafy branches, scarlet macaws fill the sky with brilliant colors and mountains meet pristine beaches. A slide presentation and commentary will highlight one of the most biological diverse countries in the world and will explain how you can travel to this "jewel of Central America" in ease and comfort.
 
 

September 30 - Middle Fork Willamette River - A solid class II run from Oakridge Rest Area to Black Canyon Campground. Run includes Hellsgate Rapids at the Westfir bridge a II+ to III depending on the water level. Donna Riddle reports two new rip rap wing dams at the top end of the rapids creating some additional difficulty. Experienced Class II boaters only. Call Mari Baldwin (683-7796) or Omar Nelson (345-5115) to sign up or for more information. Meet 9:30 AM at South Eugene High School east parking lot.

October 7 - Siuslaw River - Tiernan Landing to Florence. We'll float down with the tide and explore the back sides of Duncan and Cox islands. The back channels should keep us out of the wind and away from the power boats on the main channel and the highway noise. Omar is coordinating this one. (345-5115)

October 28 - We'll paddle one or two or three lakes at the coast south of Florence. We will decide exactly where to paddle when we get together. Thoughts include Elbow, Carter, Siltcoos Outlet, Tahkenitch and maybe even the deflation plain lake if there's water and no wind.

Omar Nelson (345-5115)

For November Robert and I are thinking about Eel Lake on the south coast.

Any other ideas? Omar Nelson
 

Eugene Celebration aka life in the wind tunnel.

Volunteers Robert Horner, Jim Peterson, Jon Tressler, Chuck Missar, Janet Towar,Mike Harrington, Phil Backman and Omar Nelson thoroughly enjoyed themselves visiting with the masses of fellow boaters who stopped by the club booth at the celebration.
We gave out many, many information sheets and many membership forms. We also sold all the copies of Paddling Lane County that we had.
The booth location on Broadway at Willamette was good for traffic and often good for music coming from the stage around the corner. The only down side of the site was the wind that funnelled along Broadway both days. We huddled in the booth wishing we had brought lots more clothes while fifty feet away people were sweltering in the sun.

We had a good display, Robert made a large plaque with the club name and crossed paddles and also brought pictures of his trip on the Bowron Lakes this past summer. Omar brought some guide books and Phil brought photos from his trip to Sechelt Inlet and the club trip on the John Day.

There were several people who would like to find people with boats to paddle with. One couple in particular would be interesting to boat with. They are from Russia and their paddling experience is in baidarkas, skin boats similar to sea kayaks. (ed. note: in fact, these are the original sea kayaks - for info, see http://robroy totalsports.net/baidarka) There were several people who wanted to know how to find a used canoe and one woman who wants to sell a custom made wood canvas canoe that is about ten years old and has been on the water only thirty or forty times. Call Omar if you're interested. (345-5115)

Thanks to all who helped we had a good time and shared information about the club and canoeing with a lot of nice people. Thanks as well to Horst who dropped by to lend moral support and also pictures of the cleanup and other silly trips.

Omar Nelson & Robert Horner

Bowron Lake Provincial Park, BC.... Trip no. 3 I never seem to get enough of this park and this trip in August was the best ever. I paddled with an old college friend that had never done any canoe tripping before and is just getting into backpacking. He had a great time paddling, portaging and camping on this 10 day trip. The weather was great, the bears cooperated, we met lots of other canoeists (even a couple of yakers, they let anyone in this park). We had a nice layover day at Unna Lake where I revealed my special 'tang-cakes' to all who were brave enough to try them. The general consensus was...nah! I guess the world is not ready for these special pancakes. Anyway, it was a great trip which I think should be extended to two weeks from here on. We rented a 18.5 ft. kevlar clipper weighing 46 lbs., stayed in one of Beckers' trapper cabins and ate in their nice restaurant after we completed the circuit. Yes, we kind of splurged but it was worth it and the showers felt great! It was such a perfect trip in every way I can't stop thinking about it. I think I will set my sights on a different canoe adventure next year; any suggestions? or paddlers interested in joining me?

Robert Horner

The native kayaks and paddles which developed in Atlantic waters were different than those which evolved in the North Pacific. The Greenland kayaks were very narrow skin covered hard chine boats. A number of current day sea kayaks are modeled after them. The paddles seen in stores, though, don’t look at all like the Greenland style paddle. Besides being of historical interest, the paddle is making something of a comeback. For one thing, it is pretty cool. For another, it can be built for under $10, which is less than the cost of a carbon fiber paddle.

To make this paddle, all that is needed is a pen knife and an 8’ cedar 2x4. It is easier to make if you have more tools than a penknife, but a 2x4 pretty well does it for materials. (The original design has whalebone inlaid around the edges of the blade to protect against encounters with icebergs. Since whalebone is hard to come by in this area and icebergs are only infrequently encountered, we can safely forget about the inlay.) Of course, if simplicity of design is too much to handle, various different kinds of wood can be laminated togetner to make a more colorful 2x4, which is how commercial paddles of this type are made.

So how can you get a paddle out of a 2x4? Well, the blades of the West Greenland paddle are very narrow and very long, which also means the shaft (which is called a loom on this paddle) is very short. The paddle is widest at the tips and it tapers to shoulders which are about a person’s shoulder width apart. The paddle is held at the shoulders, not on the loom. This placement provides quite a lot of control over the paddle. At no point is the paddle 2 inches thick - this is why you need a penknife. A drawing of the tapers of a typical West Greenland paddle is shown on the facing page. The word typical is appropriate, as the paddles varied by maker.

Besides grasping the paddle on the shoulders of the blade, there is another difference in the way these paddles are handled. Rather than having the blades enter the water at a 90* angle, they are usually canted forward about 15*, which drives the paddle down in the water faster, creating a more powerful stroke as well as easing the exit of the blade at the completion of the stroke.

Clearly, these paddles were not feathered, nor did they need to be. For really bad weather, they used a storm paddle - same blades, but almost no loom. For a stroke on the right side, the right hand is on the shoulder and the left hand is slid up onto the paddle blade. The hand positions are reversed for a stroke on the left side. It works, and with no loss of leverage and less windage. A pretty clever way to make a short paddle act like a long paddle.