Educational Workshops

A small group of fully vaccinated WCA members paddled the Larder River in early summer of 2021.

This Zoom presentation  will review this little traveled route.  Three days of water falls and Class 1-2 runnable whitewater and no one around.

Topic: Larder River Presentation

Time: Dec 14, 2021 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88080169764

Meeting ID: 880 8016 9764

Cooking in the Outdoors with Cliff Jacobson

Join Cliff for a WCA Zoom Presentation and Q&A session, where he will answer all your questions.

Cliff has been a WCA member since the early 1980's.

Please join us for this presentation.

The Mississagi River is a river in Algoma and Sudbury Districts, Ontario that originates in Sudbury District and flows 266 kilometres to Lake Huron at Blind River, Algoma District.

A group of WCA members paddled 143 km of the head waters of this river in the summer of 2021.

This trip was also written up in the Nastawgan 2021 Spring Journal.

This Zoom presentation  will include our stories, pictures and movies from our trip.

The Moisie River is a river in eastern Quebec. Known as the Nahanni of the East, it is a wild river of North America. It has been proposed to protect the river with the Moisie River Aquatic Reserve. 

The Moisie River basin lies between the basins of the Rapides River to the west and the Matamec River to the east. It covers an area of 19,273 square kilometres (7,441 sq mi).. The Moisie flows south from Lake Opocopa near the Labrador border to the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River east of Sept-Îles, Quebec. The town of Moisie is located at its mouth. The river is 410 kilometres (250 mi) in length. We started from a bridge of highway 389 over Pékans River (at 52°43′48.19″N 67°24′47.31″W ) is 373 km.

The Aux Pékans River (French: Rivière aux Pékans) is a river in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, Canada. It is a tributary of the Moisie River.  We paddled 75 km of this river before we joined the Moisie River.

Join us for this presentation.

Are you heading out for your first canoe or camping trip and confused about what you really need to bring? Are you worried about how you are going to carry all that gear? Or, are you a seasoned veteran who is serious about lightening the load? Then this course is for you!

We will be exploring the basics of ultra-lightweight canoeing/camping techniques, where to start, how to be mindful with gear selection/purchasing and introduction to food dehydrating. Whether you are a seasoned veteran or just beginning your camping journeys, this course has something for everyone.

Topic: WCA River Flow Data for the Science Nerd
Time: Jul 19, 2021 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89072048911

Meeting ID: 890 7204 8911

Environment Canada maintains a network of hydrometric data collection equipment on streams, creeks and rivers across Canada. The data collection stations measure the depth of the river and record flow measurement.

Many of our WCA trip leaders are already using this information by saving photos and noting the flow and water levels for the paddling day in their post trip notes. There are also a number of easy links on the Boatwerks website.

In my presentation, I am going to take you back to the source at Environment Canada and walk you through how to search for your favorite river or stream, how to search historical flow levels. Streams like Willow Creek that runs into the Minesing Wetlands west of Barrie. The Moira, Beaver, Credit , and Humber rivers. My favorite, the Mad river at Creemore Ont. The Nith and Grand Rivers.

We will examine river depth and river flow, what the numbers mean from Environment Canada's site. We will look at how ADCP (Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers ) (underwater radar) is used to map and calculate stream and river flow data in hundreds of Canadian Rivers. All of this data is online and available to you the paddler.

How is this relevant to us as paddlers? Instead of calling up your buddy the night before to go over to your favorite paddling river to check flow and depth, how about doing it online and in real time. Maybe you planned a spring paddling excursion weeks ago and want to know if the levels still look good the night before. . Check your local flow station on wateroffice.ec.gc.ca to find out that local rains made the river too high to make a spring water water trip safe that day, and save yourself the three hour drive to discover this on the banks of a raging river.

Your presenter this evening, Andy Hueton, is an admitted Science Nerd and a current resident of Stayner Ontario.. An experienced paddler, lover of the outdoors, and a computer geek, he stumbled on Weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca a few years ago and now uses it to monitor his ,favorite paddling river, the Mad, which has good spring whitewater from Creemore to Concession Road 3 below Glencairn Ont for only a few weeks every spring, and sometimes after a big summer rainstorm.. In preparing this presentation I became aware that many WCA trip leaders are already using this site and some good links are already on Boatwerks..com So lets share the knowledge.

Give Andy ninety minutes of your time and lets explore how Environment Canada ADCP collected hydrometric data can help make your next river paddling trip a whole lot better.

Join us for a Doug Webster presentation on his travels in Alaska with his daugther.

My 22-year old daughter had just graduated from college and I asked if she would be interested in a trip to Alaska....to Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. 

Please join us for another WCA Zoom presentation.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83759340074

Meeting ID: 837 5934 0074

Ray Goodwin is the UK’s best known and (many would go so far as to say) foremost canoe coach.

For more than 30 years Ray has been introducing people to, and developing people’s skills in, the great outdoors.

Ray has paddled all over the UK, as well as extensively in Europe. His ground-breaking British canoe journeys include the first circumnavigation of Wales and the first unsupported canoe crossing of the Irish Sea, as well as grueling journeys across Scotland.

Ray’s experience extends far and wide, with his paddling career having taken him to four continents.

Ray’s North American canoe expeditions have taken him south to the Rio Grande and as far north as the Arctic Circle. Ray’s North American exploits been have not been limited to open boats either; in kayak he has made two descents of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River.

A British Canoe Union Level 5 Coach in Canoe, Inland Kayak, and Sea, Ray was the first coach to be assessed to Level 5 in three disciplines.

As if Ray’s skill and achievements in paddling weren’t enough, he is also holds the Mountaineering Instructor’s Certificate (MIC).

Ray is a ‘technical expert’ under the UK’s Adventure Activities Licensing Regulations 1996 and as such he advises outdoor training centres on safety and good practice in the outdoors.

He is an active writer in the field of canoeing with his articles appearing in various publications. Ray wrote two chapters of the BCU Canoe and Kayak Handbook as well as sections in the standard UK textbook on White Water Safety and Rescue.

Ray’s own book, ‘Canoeing’, was first published in 2011 (see below for more details) with the second edition being published in 2016.

In the 2019 New Year’s Honours List, Ray was awarded an MBE for his services to canoeing.

Ray brings his experience and expertise to all of Frontier Bushcraft’s canoeing activities, including the Expedition Canoeing Skills Course in the Lake District, River Spey Expedition in Scotland, and The French River and Bloodvein River expeditions in Canada.

Check out his YouTube clips also.

This one-long workshop will go over meal planning and backcountry cooking for canoe trips, with a focus on long canoe trips where you can't rely on fresh food.
We'll cover topics like:
- Building a meal plan & nutrition on trip
- Prepping and packaging food (including dehydration)
- Finding and testing recipes
- Keep your food safe from bears and leave no trace
- and much more!

Have you ever wondered what that plant is? Noticed some cool mushrooms? Heard a weird bird call? Do you care about the places you canoe through and want to contribute data to help conserve them? Join Dr Mhairi McFarlane to learn about iNaturalist and eBird. These community science platforms are a great learning tool for amateurs and experts alike, and support research and conservation globally. Mhairi will introduce these tools, and provide valuable tips about how to use them in the wilderness to improve your knowledge of the natural world, drawing on her experiences canoeing throughout Ontario. Zoom Meeting details: Time: Mar 23, 2021 07:00 PM Eastern Time https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84525836972 Meeting ID: 845 2583 6972