James Raffan https://paddlingmag.com/author/james-raffan/ Wed, 10 Sep 2025 13:13:54 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.2 Sinking Outdoor Ed https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/sinking-outdoor-ed/ https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/sinking-outdoor-ed/#respond Thu, 11 Sep 2025 12:15:29 +0000 https://paddlingmag.com/?p=83162 Pardon me in advance for yelling. On morning radio the other day, a 20-something municipal recreation administrator was interviewed about a new protocol to make flooding the neighborhood skating rinks safer. In his city, self-organized and well-intentioned volunteers had done what they needed to do for years, working early in the morning and late into […]

The post Sinking Outdoor Ed appeared first on Paddling Magazine.

]]> https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/sinking-outdoor-ed/feed/ 0 The Uncertain Future Of Wilderness Canoeing https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/wilderness-canoeing-future/ https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/wilderness-canoeing-future/#respond Tue, 01 Oct 2024 11:00:57 +0000 https://paddlingmag.com/?p=74939 Even a casual fan of The Weather Channel will know prognostications about the future lie firmly in the realm of fiction. Interesting speculation based on available information, perhaps, but fiction, nonetheless. Still, thinking ahead can be fun because sometimes wishes do come true. And, unlike the weather, what we dream of today can affect what […]

The post The Uncertain Future Of Wilderness Canoeing appeared first on Paddling Magazine.

]]> https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/wilderness-canoeing-future/feed/ 0 Tumplines: How To Make Portaging Great Again https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/tumpline-history/ https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/tumpline-history/#comments Tue, 02 Jul 2024 11:00:50 +0000 https://paddlingmag.com/?p=73537 Of all the epic portaging fails that have happened in a lifetime of canoe tripping, none was more memorable than a tumble on the bouldery high ground in the headwaters of the Lockhart River system northeast of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories a few years back. We were in the early days of a seven-week […]

The post Tumplines: How To Make Portaging Great Again appeared first on Paddling Magazine.

]]> https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/tumpline-history/feed/ 1 The Good Fairy: Features On Our Tripping Canoe Wishlist https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/tripping-canoe-features/ https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/tripping-canoe-features/#respond Fri, 13 Oct 2023 11:00:10 +0000 https://paddlingmag.com/?p=69180 There’s an ancient green 17-foot Old Town Tripper on the rack out back that, after countless river miles and more than a half-century of service, paddles just as well as she did new. The boat is a brute to portage thanks to its high weight and windage, but back in the day the vinyl/ABS Oltonar […]

The post The Good Fairy: Features On Our Tripping Canoe Wishlist appeared first on Paddling Magazine.

]]> https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/tripping-canoe-features/feed/ 0 Remembering The Storied Canoes That Changed The World https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/famous-canoes/ https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/famous-canoes/#comments Thu, 14 Sep 2023 14:08:48 +0000 https://paddlingmag.com/?p=68827 A canoe can change a life—imagine, for example, how many children have been affected by fleets at summer camps or grown folks by beat-up livery boats. But that’s kind of a personal thing. What about more famous canoes, ones that have changed the world? Remembering the storied canoes that changed the world The very first […]

The post Remembering The Storied Canoes That Changed The World appeared first on Paddling Magazine.

]]> https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/famous-canoes/feed/ 1 The Worst Camping Invention Of The 21st Century https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/worst-camping-invention/ https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/worst-camping-invention/#comments Wed, 28 Dec 2022 12:00:07 +0000 https://paddlingmag.com/?p=60255 It’s confession time. Deep down, I’m a closet gadget junkie—a bit of a techno-weenie, if you will. When it comes to seductively cool camping gear innovations, I’m all in. Back in the 70s, for example, at the suggestion of a pilot friend, I was part of the first wave of paddlers using small aircraft emergency […]

The post The Worst Camping Invention Of The 21st Century appeared first on Paddling Magazine.

]]> https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/worst-camping-invention/feed/ 7 The Very Incomplete Guide To Having Sex In A Canoe https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/sex-in-a-canoe/ https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/sex-in-a-canoe/#comments Mon, 12 Dec 2022 12:00:39 +0000 https://paddlingmag.com/?p=58093 For all you would-be and wannabe Canadians out there, I have some bad news. Sex in a canoe is not what you think it is. You might be familiar with the quote, “A Canadian is someone who knows how to make love in a canoe.” Author and historian Pierre Berton, to whom the quip is […]

The post The Very Incomplete Guide To Having Sex In A Canoe appeared first on Paddling Magazine.

]]> https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/sex-in-a-canoe/feed/ 2 The Joy Of (Self-Imposed) Suffering https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/the-joy-of-self-imposed-suffering/ https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/the-joy-of-self-imposed-suffering/#comments Mon, 22 Aug 2022 11:00:26 +0000 https://paddlingmag.com/?p=56903 There’s a story circulating about a guy who accidentally zapped his manly bits with bear spray. How these two items came into communion boggles the imagination. Being naked on a campsite is understandable, but being naked with the bear spray safety off? Maybe there was a bear who got left out of the story. Either […]

The post The Joy Of (Self-Imposed) Suffering appeared first on Paddling Magazine.

]]> https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/the-joy-of-self-imposed-suffering/feed/ 4 5 Common Canoeing Myths Busted By James Raffan https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/canoeing-myths/ https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/canoeing-myths/#respond Wed, 20 Jul 2022 12:00:00 +0000 http://rapidmedi.com/stories/canoeing-myths/ After a decade of columns in this space dedicated to the history, heritage, esoterica and minutiae of canoeing, written for paddlers and would-be paddlers, it occurred to me that there might be people out there who are non-paddlers. Maybe the spouses or children of readers, who might pick up Canoeroots out of curiosity or from […]

The post 5 Common Canoeing Myths Busted By James Raffan appeared first on Paddling Magazine.

]]> https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/tumblehome/canoeing-myths/feed/ 0 How Tough Were The Voyageurs, Really? https://paddlingmag.com/stories/how-tough-were-the-voyageurs/ https://paddlingmag.com/stories/how-tough-were-the-voyageurs/#respond Wed, 26 Jan 2022 13:00:00 +0000 http://rapidmedi.com/stories/tumblehome-small-miracles/ Ah, les voyageurs, short on height but legendarily long on suffering and strength. What of those happy-go-lucky little gnomes chanson-ing across the country, paddling 60 strokes a minute and tumping two 80-pound packs across freshly chewed goat paths, their bowels pushing through rotting abdominal walls. Behind their cheerfully colored ceinture fléchée, how tough were the […]

The post How Tough Were The Voyageurs, Really? appeared first on Paddling Magazine.

]]> https://paddlingmag.com/stories/how-tough-were-the-voyageurs/feed/ 0