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I paddle the Canadian style too. I use this technique always except in whitewater or in high winds. This style takes a while to learn but once you get it you will never go back to sit and switch. I learned it by using the Bill Mason Path of the Paddle Videos. It is an artful style and much more graceful and relaxed than the sit and switch so commonly seen in the US. I have a Wenonah Minnesota II, a Nova Craft 16′ Royalite Prospector and a Clipper Kevlar Prospector and find that the Prospectors both do well using the Canadian style. The Wenonah is 18.5 and with zero rocker so it does not do well using this technique, especially in wind. Of course the purpose of that canoe is to paddle tandem and go fast while carrying lots of gear and that it does very well. I love all 3 of these boats and they all get plenty of use.
Being a serious wilderness paddler and paddling trips up to 73 miles I have had experience with both traditional and modern packs. I have the Frost River Lewis and Clark Canvas Pack complete with Tumpline and waist belt and I have both the Quetico and the Superior One Pack by Granite Gear. After many river trips and one solo and one tandem trip trhough the 72 Bowron Lakes Circuit in BC I have decided that the traditional canvas pack is the least useful.
The Frost River pack is harder to pack and the axe pocket is too small to be of use. When this pack is gets wet it stays wet and it doesn’t hold near as much as the Granite Gear packs because it does not have the expandible drawstring enclourse at the top. On a long trip with rain it is a pain. The other 2 packs repel water and do not get heavier in rain. They just make more sense and they are made very well with lots of room and handy places to attach extra gear if needed. Both of the Granite Gear axe pockets will hold a full size axe very securely. These packs are great.
