I'm new to the area and to solo, but I'm gearing up for my first solo weekender this weekend. I hit Opeonogo last week for a day trip trial and learned a couple things:

1. Pick your canoe carefully. Swift Osprey 15 is not a good canoe for beginner solo. Very lively little boat, but a better choice for calm weather acrobatics than for tripping. I dropped a fishing line in the water late morning and was looking over the side thinking, "If I get a big one, he's gonna roll me over in this thing and take my lunch money." I'm going to try the Shearwater 16 this week. It should be a lot more stable. (I'd like to try the Keewaydin 15, but Alg Outfitters only has them on the west side locations.)

2. As was said above, big open water is not friendly to novice solo paddlers. I'm a strong and reasonably skilled paddler, so did what I thought was going to be a nice 12km paddle. I misjudged the weather and got hit by a good 15kt headwind on the way back. Felt like 25k by the time I was done and pushed me to my limits to make it around some of the headlands. If you plan for a big open stretch, plan your time so that you can pull into shore and wait out the weather if things turn nasty.

3. If you're paddling an unfamiliar canoe and inexperienced at solo, leave your gear on the shore, paddle out 25 yds and practice a dump and self-rescue before you go. I can't stress this one enough. If you can't do a deep water self-rescue, you shouldn't be doing backcountry or open water solo. Better to learn this at the dock than 20km from help. I did this in the Osprey (it sucked) but it gave me a lot more confidence that I wasn't going to perish in a watery grave when the weather got nasty and I was fighting to make the last headland in a crosswind.

I learned a few things about gear, but have yet to trial them so I won't act like I know what I'm talking about until I have. My big advice so far is just to plan cautiously and make sure you've got your emergency and survival gear well planned.