: The best self rescue is a good eskimo roll.

Totally useless advice for me and my boat, which is a 13' double paddle canoe. The fore and aft quarters are decked to create substantial flotation chambers. The central half of the boat has narrow side decks but is otherwise open. There is no way an eskimo roll can be performed in this boat.

I appreciate the post re flooding the boat for reentry and will give it a try this summer when the water and weather warms. Actually, it is kind of hard to find warm water in Oregon at any time of year, but we do have an abundance of warm summer days.

The boat in question is still in the finishing stages, but I couldn't resist putting it in the water last weekend. Had it in a small mountain lake and the Little Deschutes River, and it did everything I had hoped it would. Testing its limits will have to wait until the finishing touches are done, and, since I am being forced to spend the next two weeks in Hawaii, that won't be until July.

Chris Luneski