For the first paddle of the year Lucy and I took out our warrior canoe. It’s an old flight boat from back in the day when they would make Wenonah Champlains without floats and with removable seats, yokes and thwarts so that you could nest a Wenonah Spirit II inside and carry both canoes strapped onto a float plane.
When I got it, it was already a rescue canoe and had many of its ribs broken and several stress holes. It needed a lot of work and was cheap and it gained some weight as a result of the process. Since repairing it years ago, it has survived several storms and big branches falling on it and ripping through the Kevlar.
It has been repaired twice again, at least. Ironically, it survived the tree that nearly destroyed it. That maple was cut down when our street and drainage system was redone last year.
