Canoe Wrecks & Rescues: Pin, Wrap, and Extraction from Ontario's Petawawa River

A whitewater canoe is pinned on a rock and then removed using a Z Drag pulley system, with only limited damage.
At Crooked Chute, Petawawa River, Algonquin Park.
#AlgonquinPark

[@vatsalsoni4839]

Matthew you’re a great person and a great patient adventurer.

[@wildernesscanoeassociation]

Cool! Nice to meet you today.

[@TS-xj5mt]

Thanks for posting - lots to learn all the way around - what to do and what not.

[@wildernesscanoeassociation]

Glad it was helpful!

[@MrPwor]

I think this video just sold me on a Esquif boat!

[@wildernesscanoeassociation]

Careful though. This is a Royalex canoe and they are made from T-Formex now.

[@whodatcanuck3519]

Rest assured, T-formex is just as durable. Please check out Northern Scavenger and they wrapped their Esquif Canyon around a rock as well. After a very dramatic recovery, they were able to pop the boat back into form and continued their journey. That video and now this one has sold me entirely on Esquif Canoes. I'm looking into getting a Pocket Canyon myself.

[@BurtReynoldstash]

😂before I saw this I’ve planned to pick up an Esquif prospectuer tomorrow. 😂 I’m even more sold now, I was flipping coins about a nova craft tuffstuff epd but not now lol😂

[@TimRobinson]

Great demo video for teaching about this stuff. Thanks for sharing.

[@wildernesscanoeassociation]

Glad it was helpful!

[@TomBeakbaneToronto]

That water is powerful! Royalex is magical.

[@wildernesscanoeassociation]

It really is a shame they stopped making Royalex. :(

[@careyrobson5722]

Letting the force of the water do the work would have worked. The boat "stuck" because it was at equilibrium. If your partner had just held the bow rope downstream without pulling on it and you had lifted the bow the force of water on the stern would have pulled off the boat. Where the boat was creased, (folded), it will be vulnerable to cracking because of flexing over time. I would suggest one or two layers of 8oz cloth with epoxy on the inside over the crease. Sand the royalex, (t-formex) and wipe with alcohol only. Feather the repair.

[@TOOZECRUISE]

Great video! Thanks.

[@wildernesscanoeassociation]

Glad you liked it!

[@TOOZECRUISE]

@@wildernesscanoeassociation it's too bad covid spoiled the group outings for this year. I was looking to join the club.

[@wildernesscanoeassociation]

Well, we are doing other stuff instead.

[@tombeckett4340]

The first thing I thought about was lifting the end closes to the shore up over the rock . Lucky thing you had a rugged Royal X boat. And that device with you guys. Cheers.🇨🇦👍

[@wildernesscanoeassociation]

It pays to be prepared.

[@CanadianSledDog]

That was a great demonstration! Can't wait to try it out myself, lol.

[@wildernesscanoeassociation]

Please don't get yourself into anything you aren't prepared for!

[@CanadianSledDog]

@@wildernesscanoeassociation nope, I'm taking it slow and learning properly :) ...actually had one good scare in Alberta's Sturgeon River that set me straight. Got way too close to a strainer and it just looked like the mouth of the beast, is the only way I can describe it.

[@Twobarpsi]

So much energy in flowing water!

[@wildernesscanoeassociation]

It will wash Gary away!

[@roocanoe6338]

Excellent video guys, so glad you had a body camera on you to show all the action

[@wildernesscanoeassociation]

We aim to please!

[@HowardMorland]

The bow paddler tried to avoid the rock by doing a back stroke on the left at the last moment. (Did he think he was in the stern?) He should have done a draw on the left or a sweep on the right. But the stern paddler, who has the most control, should not have let the boat get in that position in the first place.

[@wildernesscanoeassociation]

His thumb is clearly pointed upstream; he was doing a draw. But then, attacking the rock never helps.

[@Loonislandoutdoors]

Which part of Crooked Chute was this? Was it between the 1st and 2nd take outs? Any idea what the water level was on this run?

[@wildernesscanoeassociation]

This was in the bottom third, after the main chute. Most of the equipment was on the portage trail to the very bottom. This is where most experienced people resume paddling after skipping the most dangerous part. It looks healthy but no, we don't know exactly what the water levels were. Pretty sure it was summer.

[@joeburns9876]

👍

[@wildernesscanoeassociation]

We do our best.

[@victorziebenhaus3229]

No need to overcomplicate its a basic 3:1 system. The travelling friction hitch can easily be replaced by a midline knot if ur not going to bottom it out at the anchor.

[@wildernesscanoeassociation]

Yes, but a knot would weaken the rope and could result in a failure there.

[@victorziebenhaus3229]

Adding two prusics with spliced or stitched eyes adds four spots for potential failure (at each splice or grizzly stitch). Also knots only reduce a ropes tensile breaking strength by up to 50% so unless your using a way underated rope or old rope its not going to fail. More likely to tie your friction hitch improperly than have a rope fail. Also the bite of a friction hitch on a rope also reduces a ropes strength. Basically reducing the amount of spots a failure could occur in a system is always a good idea is what im saying.

[@JayhooOutdoors]

My biggest fear my canoe would be done for. Luckily I’ve never pinned or flipped. But that just means I haven’t pushed hard enough yet lol

[@wildernesscanoeassociation]

You could try some more challenging moves, but in lower risk situations.

[@georgevenckus]

Your canoe survived cause it was an esquif

[@wildernesscanoeassociation]

I am sure that esquif likes to hear that, but it is not the only reason. There are many comparable canoe models made from royalex with vinyl gunwales that should have performed similarly.

[@sed6]

We used to do that with aluminum rental canoes all the time. We'd just leave it where it is and let the rental guy know where to find it.

[@wildernesscanoeassociation]

In 3 pieces at the bottom of the river?

[@sed6]

@@wildernesscanoeassociation No, wrapped around a tree or submerged under a tree.

[@wildernesscanoeassociation]

I hope they took your deposit.

[@kirilprochorov7662]

Looks great, but you could’ve avoid this if just could better paddle and maneuver. River took control of you 👌🏻

[@wildernesscanoeassociation]

I agree there was a moment where an aggressive move could have saved the day, but it would have been best to paddle out farther from shore in the first place.

[@tedanderson463]

If you want to see something incredible..... Tie a 50 foot long rope to a tree.... Tie the other end to your truck... Put the truck in neutral... With brake off... Stretch the rope tight... Go halfway between the truck and the tree... And pull 90°to the rope... The physics book says that a man is capable of moving 1500 lb like that... But as soon as the object moves afoot or so you have to retighten the rope again and block the truck tires... So you don't lose what you gain ...a man can pull a truck up a hill like that... It may only move one or two feet at a time. Or even less. I think they call it a vector pull.

[@wildernesscanoeassociation]

It definitely works!