A wonderful Birthday
My daughter and two sons gave me a new Sportspal canoe for my birthday in April 1999. I was told to close my eyes, heard the front door open, and when I opened my eyes, there it was in the living room.

I had an older one purchased in 1973, a 14-footer with 850 lbs. carrying capacity, about the carrying capacity of a 17-foot conventional canoe. It was perfect for carrying our little family with a 3-year old daughter, and 5- and 7-year old sons, plus all our gear for day trips and cookouts on nearby islands. It was very stable and safe for a young family. Despite serious attempts, we were never able to upset it.

The brand new Sportspal is a 12-footer with about the carrying capacity of a normal 14-footer. Although the beam is the same width at 42", the new one is (or feels) much tippier. However, it handles much better when paddling alone into a wind. The white streak is our cat Syd. The hull is 38" wide at the beam, but this becomes 42' with the added 2" foam flotation sponsons.
 

Here my lovely wife has just shouldered the new Sportspal in our living room to test how light it is. It is all of 33 lbs. She will now be able to do fairly long carries on our trips this summer. Really!

Actually, my family gave me the new canoe thinking the old one was becoming too heavy for my advancing age. I normally carry the canoe atop a heavy backpack. The old one was just over 60 lbs, so this one has quite a weight saving. We live facing on a park strip so I carry it down a path 150 yeards to Lake Banook, usually 2 or 3 times a week.

The 12-foot Sportspal is the ideal getaway canoe. Alone I can carry it to places where others don't go unless there are two to carry the canoe and gear. There are usually decent footpaths beside rapids and runs. When I encounter a run I can quickly carry around it to a tranquil lake or stillwater above it. The 12-footer is easy to place on a cartop carrier. Some days I unload it, paddle, and load it again 3 or 4 times while exploring new areas.
 

This photo was taken in 1996 just returning to Nauglers camp from a 2-3 hour trip out over the lakes near Camperdown, Nova Scotia. The friend is Doonie our Shetland Sheepdog, then one-year old. This is an older version of my new 12-footer.

I seldom sit in a canoe unless I am drifting and fly casting. I normally paddle from my knees. When I am alone I shift forward near the center, and slide over to one side, letting the canoe cant over. This makes one edge the hull, actually a very narrow hull that handles quite easily. It paddles more easily into the wind. The wide flat bottom makes it difficult for a lone paddler to paddle into a wind when the canoe is lying flat on the water.

To see specs on the Sportspal visit BW Marine. In the USA it is known as the Radisson because the name Sportspal was long ago registered there for some other product.

I sometimes get messages asking where one can be purchased. Two places near Halifax are:

Sunset Marine Ltd. 118 Post Office Rd, Porters Lake NS B3E 1H7 Tel: (902) 827-3353 Fax: 827-3855 E-Mail: Sunsetmarine@ns.sympatico.ca

New Wave
Fall River, Waverly NS 860-2220

Bob Adams
http://i.am/bobadams
ac200@chebucto.ns.ca or
bobadams@ns.sympatico.ca