Basic Canoeing: All the Skills and Tools You Need to Get Started (Basic How-To Guides)

This illustrated guide on the essential skills of canoeing should be required reading for anyone getting into the sport. A section on the mechanics of good paddling is followed by a catalogue of the most important strokes, each illustrated in sequential photographs, with concise text on the key points. Essential river manoeuvres -- eddy turns, peel-outs, and ferries -- are demonstrated by the Olympic paddling team of Wayne Dickert and Horace Holden Jr.

Wayne Dickert is a professional kayaker and canoeist who competed in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. He is currently the manager of instruction for the Nantahala Outdoor Center in Bryson City, North Carolina. Photographer Skip Brown shoots outdoor sports and recreational activities for books and magazines. He is a Class V paddler, an advanced-rated hang glider pilot, and an accomplished windsurfer, snowboarder, and mountain biker. He lives on the Potomac River in Maryland with his wife and son. Taina Litwak is a professional illustrator, former president of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, and a certified medical illustrator.