The canoe behaves like a TVR.....

Its now spring, and finally for the first time took the canoe onto the water.

Nearby is the Grand Union Canal, and there is a lovely part next to Newton Harcourt, where there is a couple of miles of water without any locks.

Here I take it onto the water with a mate who has done a lot of canoeing in the past and is showing me the ropes; how to hold the blade, move your upperbody, getting in and out without flipping over. We have some quite cool paddles, with aerofoils, so they glide really nicely through the water.

The canoe is very stable, but, when we put some welly into our pace, and the canoe goes slightly off course, it behaves a bit like a TVR. Great in a straight line, but once it goes off course, it goes, and it is very hard to correct. so the emergency brakes have to be applied, which in turn creates a lot of water that gets into the boat.

We do about 1 hour, and it is quite hard.

I have seen some designs online of rudders, so decision is easily made. Make a rudder, and let it help the canoeing.

Interestingly there are plenty of die hard canoeists out there that frown upon people attaching rudders to river canoes, (technically unskilled, learn how to use your blades as a rudder,....)but I think it is a case of "every little helps"...