Took the new Wenonah Advantage out for its first paddle this morning. Only a quick trip (1.3 hours) as I had chores to tend to this afternoon. Definitely going to take some seat time to get adjusted from paddling barge SOT kayaks for the last 10 years. Love how she paddles and can see a lot of time in this canoe in the future.

Wife asked if I was not going to sell all my kayaks. lol. I need to come up with a better camera mount. I have some ideas, just need to get some parts. I had just wrapped the legs of my gorilla tripod around the stern grab thwart.

Quick video

You kept it right side up and stayed dry. Success! She really flies. Nice boat.

Is it a Gopro? I use a gooseneck with a clamp at the end for a camera mount. Works great. If you need any advise on turning your Advantage let me know. Also pay attention to trim.

Nice video! Your comment about the glide is certainly true...they glide forever it seems especially when it's that calm. Glad to see you got it out already!

Nice! looks like it flies

If you're new to Sit and Switch technique, this video breaks it down very well

Here is a video of mine similar, but used to paddling an Advantage.
Advantage in Gov. Dodge State Park WI
GoPro mounted to stern carry thwart.

butthead

Northwoodsman: "You kept it right side up and stayed dry. Success! She really flies. Nice boat."

Almost didn't. Wind picked up towards the end of paddle and a couple of gusts broadside made me check my balance.

Blatz: "Is it a Gopro? I use a gooseneck with a clamp at the end for a camera mount. Works great. If you need any advise on turning your Advantage let me know. Also pay attention to trim."

Similar. I use Sony ActionCams. Turning is going to take some figuring out from what I am used to. Definitely took some effort to turn as she tracks very well.

butthead: "Here is a video of mine similar, but used to paddling an Advantage.
Advantage in Gov. Dodge State Park WI
GoPro mounted to stern carry thwart.


butthead"

Great video thank you. That is where I had my gorilla tripod warped on. I have a couple of camera booms from my fishing kayaks I want to use but need to get the mount part taken care of. I have a couple of different ideas. Yakattack gear track mounted on the gunnel. I had seen on another post I need to find some aluminum thwart clams that had a flat surface to mount things on.

singlebladecanoe: "

Blatz: "Is it a Gopro? I use a gooseneck with a clamp at the end for a camera mount. Works great. If you need any advise on turning your Advantage let me know. Also pay attention to trim."

Similar. I use Sony ActionCams. Turning is going to take some figuring out from what I am used to. Definitely took some effort to turn as she tracks very well."

The key to turning is a good on or offside lean. Basically sticking your hip out while keeping your torso relatively vertical. This shortens the length of the canoe in the water and gets the bow and stern out of the water. Often a little lean is all your need while maintaining your forward stroke to get around a mild turn in the river. Many of of the Freestyle turns can be applied to your Advantage, just not nearly as dramatic results

Blatz: "If you're new to Sit and Switch technique, this video breaks it down very well"

Thank you for that link. Great information.

RTuner and cyclones30, Thank you.

singlebladecanoe ,
GoPRO has bike handle bar mounts and the clamp mount that should work well with tube thwarts. My trim is all wood so I just drilled and use flat bolt-on mounts front and back. Camera contol is via wi-fi on an old Android cell phone kept with the camera. Ram-mounts also work well.

Turning is a bit counter intuitive to most canoes. You'll pick it up quickly!

butthead

There seems to be something different about your ice, but I can't quite put my finger on it...

Great video. I enjoyed watching you get used to your new ride. I have not paddled and Advantage, but it looks like fun! Just watching someone paddle made me jealous.

Stops paddling at 1:12, glides for 17 seconds and barely loses any speed! Amazing! Looks like a nice way to cover some water. I can’t wait to paddle mine. Looks like you easily got 5-7 strokes per side before switching. You might pick up another one or two once you get more time in it and get the stroke angles down.

Blatz: "If you're new to Sit and Switch technique, this video breaks it down very well"

Wow, that is a phenomenal video. Great find! I’ve felt a couple of those concepts before without knowing the importance of them, or why it felt better. Learned some things today too!

Also, singlebladecanoe- looks like a good time! Is your camera gimbaled at all, or is it just software stabilization? I can see a balance between the gunnels tipping side/side and the horizon. It looks very smooth. I’ve tried before to mount an iPhone off the gunnel and the horizon was super shaky given the rigid mount- in time lapse it only got worse: Daybreak solo vid

Is that a ninja pfd? I cut the shoulder straps off the front of mine and sewed them on further away from the centerline: I felt like it was pinching my neck side-to-side.

sns: "There seems to be something different about your ice, but I can't quite put my finger on it..."

It does not get cold long enough where I live for our lakes to freeze except for a random year or 2. Even then the ice only gets paper thin.

Ole496: "Stops paddling at 1:12, glides for 17 seconds and barely loses any speed! Amazing! Looks like a nice way to cover some water. I can’t wait to paddle mine. Looks like you easily got 5-7 strokes per side before switching. You might pick up another one or two once you get more time in it and get the stroke angles down. "

Thanks. That seemed to be my average, 5-7 per side. There were a couple of times I had gotten 20+ per side but that was thanks to the wind :)

muddyfeet: "

Blatz: "If you're new to Sit and Switch technique, this video breaks it down very well"

Wow, that is a phenomenal video. Great find! I’ve felt a couple of those concepts before without knowing the importance of them, or why it felt better. Learned some things today too!


Also, singlebladecanoe- looks like a good time! Is your camera gimbaled at all, or is it just software stabilization? I can see a balance between the gunnels tipping side/side and the horizon. It looks very smooth. I’ve tried before to mount an iPhone off the gunnel and the horizon was super shaky given the rigid mount- in time lapse it only got worse: Daybreak solo vid


Is that a ninja pfd? I cut the shoulder straps off the front of mine and sewed them on further away from the centerline: I felt like it was pinching my neck side-to-side. "

Camera is not gimbaled. I use a Sony FDR-X3000 which has built in video stabilization. Several years ago I had been using GoPro's and picked up a Sony Action cam and did a comparison and I found that I like every feature of the Sony much better than the GoPro's so sold all the GoPro's and stuck with Sony.
It is the Ninja pfd. I have several different styles ranging from recreational fishing style to white water swift water rescue pfds. For just a flat water paddling day, I have it to be the most comfortable. I found by leaving the shoulder straps slightly loose that they lay far enough away from my neck not to pinch.

singlebladecanoe: "

Ole496: "Stops paddling at 1:12, glides for 17 seconds and barely loses any speed! Amazing! Looks like a nice way to cover some water. I can’t wait to paddle mine. Looks like you easily got 5-7 strokes per side before switching. You might pick up another one or two once you get more time in it and get the stroke angles down. "

Thanks. That seemed to be my average, 5-7 per side. There were a couple of times I had gotten 20+ per side but that was thanks to the wind :)"

5-7 per side is pretty good actually on the high side for a solo.. One of the reasons the sit and switch style was developed is to even out the muscle fatigue on each side. So too many paddle strokes on one side is actually detrimental