Basic Canoeing: All the Skills You Need to Get Started » (1ST)

Step-by-step photo sequences on correct form and essential strokes

Illustrated guide to river maneuvers

Gear, safety, choosing a canoe

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 catalog of the most important strokes, each illustrated in sequential photos, with concise text on the key points. Essential river maneuvers—eddy turns, peel-outs, and ferries—are demonstrated by the Olympic paddling team of Wayne Dickert and Horace Holden, Jr.

Wayne Dickert is the head of instruction at Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina. He was a member of the 1996 U.S. Olympic Canoe and Kayak Team and a 10-time qualifier for the U.S. Canoe and Kayak National Team. Skip Brown is a freelance photographer whose work has appeared in National Geographic, Outside, Men's Journal, Paddler, and many other publications. He photographed Stackpole's Kayaking with Eric Jackson series: Whitewater Paddling and Playboating. Taina Litwak is a professional illustrator, former president of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, and a certified medical illustrator.