The Boat: I’m reviewing my Northstar Landick 2 canoe. I purchased it new for $4,354 from my local dealer on 8/20/2024. Its approximately 20 feet long and 38 pounds. From the bottom, it appears as most canoes, if not a little wide.
From the top, it appears to flare out just behind the paddler with a “wing deck” on top.
From the factory, it (at least last I checked) does not come with a rudder or the black stripes in the open back. The flaring out behind the paddler is designed to have the least amount of boat in the water. However, when leaning over, there is high secondary stability as more of the flared portion goes into the water. This gives it okay initial stability and high secondary stability.
Modifications: You can see from the photos above that there is a rudder on the boat. While there is little rocker and it does go straight well, I found for my skill level, it needed a rudder to keep me on track. Because of the low rocker, even with full rudder, it takes some serious space to turn this boat around. I was also worried about storage as the boat doesn’t have any thwarts to tie down dry bags to. I purchased a Daisy Chain from RedLeaf Designs to help keep my gear in the boat.
The most important modification I made was lowering the seat on the boat. It felt too tippy and I didn’t enjoy paddling it except in the most calm of waters. In fact, I was considering selling the boat before a fellow paddler encouraged me to lower the seat. It took me about 3 hours as I had to shorten the bars holding the seat and flip the L bracket they attach to.
Before
After
What type of paddler am I: I’m a cautious big river paddler. I spend most of my time on larger rivers. I rarely capsize as I don’t like to take risks. This may be holding me back as I’m not taking reasonable chances to get better. I’ve completed in 8 MR340 races (finished 7), one Texas Water Safari (finished), and several regional races around Missouri. Until recently, most of my paddling was in large canoes. I’ve owned an Epic V7 for 5 years and this year was the first time I got it on the Missouri River, generally using it for lake racing. This year I’ve started extending myself with more V7 paddling outside of the lake. All of this is to say that if you’re more experienced with skinny or advanced boats, you may find the Landick tame. For me, its pushing my current boundaries.
Like I had mentioned above, I was considering getting rid of the Landick due to it feeling very tippy. Local paddler River Malik who owns the only other Landick 2 in Missouri lowered his seat and pressed me to make the same update. The week after I made the update, I shaved 2 minutes off my 5K time in the Landick 2 from the week before. I believe the conditions were the same and it was just a better fit after this change.
Best 5K Single Blade: 32:52
Best 5K Double Blade: 30:28
While you can single and double blade the boat, I found the seat is still a little high for double blade. I also have numb fingertips from double blade, so I prefer to single blade as its better on my body. I’m working on improving my single blade paddling. I’m finding the secret to getting fast is paddling more with a focus on sprints. I’m watching more videos on single blade technique to narrow the gap on those times. I know I can be faster and this boat is making the process fun. I’ll have more updates as I do more projects and adventures with this boat!
Hogan Haake