I noticed in the replies to the boats question that a lot of spouses or SOs have their own boats. So here is another survey question: How many of you are kayaking couples, and were you paddlers before you met? To start the ball rolling, my wife and I are both kayakers. Linda had a solo canoe (a Bell Creek Runner) when we met, but because one of her favorite places to backpack was in the Apostle Islands of Lake Superior, she wanted to try sea kayaking. Her first sea kayaking trip was a beginners trip in the Apostles that I led four years ago, and it went so well that we became a couple two days later and got married ten weeks later, after another trip to the Apostles and one to the Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium. Our honeymoon was an eight-day, 63-mile canoe trip through the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness in my We-no-nah Jensen 18. We both own white Romany kayaks that we paddle and roll with home-made Greenland paddles, we both have BCU Four-Star Awards, and Linda is currently a board member of the Twin Cities Sea Kayaking Association and secretary of the Minnesota Canoe Association. Incidentally, Linda is a white-haired 50-year-old secretary at the University of Minnesota Medical School and I am a gray-haired 53-year-old writer of modem manuals. People at her workplace are usually amazed when they find out she can roll a kayak and enjoys winter camping. Chuck Holst *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net ***************************************************************************
Is there a kayaking division in the AARP?? > > Incidentally, Linda is a white-haired 50-year-old secretary at the > University of Minnesota Medical School and I am a gray-haired > 53-year-old writer of modem manuals. People at her workplace > are usually amazed when they find out she can roll a kayak and > enjoys winter camping. > > Chuck Holst Bob Denton Vice President Undersea Breathing Systems bob_at_dnax.com http://www.dnax.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net ***************************************************************************
At 02:03 PM 2/19/98 -0600, Chuck wrote: > >I noticed in the replies to the boats question that a lot of spouses >or SOs have their own boats. So here is another survey question: >How many of you are kayaking couples, and were you paddlers >before you met? > My wife Mike (yes, female; name is short for Michael -- her parents expected a boy) and I are a kayaking couple, but were a couple for a long time (more than 30 years) before either of us paddled a stroke. But we bought a house that backs up to the Chattahoochee River here in Atlanta, GA, USA, and I resurrected a dream from boyhood -- I saw kayakers on a small river in Germany when I was in my early teens, and wanted to do that, too. We are one of those disgustingly close couples who would prefer to spend almost all our time together, so we took a weekend course in sea kayaking and started looking for boats. We've rented a few times, but now I have my boat and day after tomorrow she will have hers and next weekend we will paddle the Chattahoochee together. Ron p.s. I sent this to Chuck instead of to the list because I can't seem to get the hang of that Reply button. I have some trouble programming my VCR, too. 8^) -------------------------------- Ron Johnson |The Tao is nowhere to be found. rfred_at_mindspring.com |Yet it nourishes and completes all things. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net ***************************************************************************
Chuck Holst wrote: > > How many of you are kayaking couples, and were you paddlers > before you met? > > To start the ball rolling, my wife and I are both kayakers. Linda > had a solo canoe (a Bell Creek Runner) when we met, but > because one of her favorite places to backpack was in the > Apostle Islands of Lake Superior, she wanted to try sea kayaking.[snip] My SO and I do a lot of yakking together, but I drug her into it a year or so after we started going out. I had been yakking actively for a couple seasons before we had a chance to get her on the water. It was a really new experience for her, as she had never been an active outdoorsperson before. She really loves it. Both of us are close to the 50 mark (I'm over; she's under), and the wear and tear on the joints of backpacking make sea kayaking a better way to get into out-of-the-way places. I've got a 30-year history of outdoor stuff, mainly backpacking and climbing while the knees where still OK, but sea kayaking is really a kick! I like the route-finding, navigation, playing the game with Ma Nature, checking out the wildlife, and the cool places. Becky likes the last two the most, and we both enjoy cooking in the outdoors. (I have the shape to prove it!) We both have really been impressed at the character and genuineness of the Canadians we have camped near on trips to BC -- and find our own ilk too-often peopled with posers. (That's our experience -- I don't have an explanation.) -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net ***************************************************************************
On Thu, 19 Feb 1998, Chuck Holst wrote: > How many of you are kayaking couples, and were you paddlers > before you met? I'm a long time paddler, I started racing canoes when I was 13, I'm 35. My wife wasn't a paddler. But she is a former coast guard cadet so she has a definite affinity toward boats. We took out some of our canoes and she soon made it clear the only boats she liked were the marathon flatwater racing canoes. She liked the comfortable tractor seats, and the light hull weight. She basically refused to paddle, by way of refusing to help load, the Old Town Laker. We went to the LL Bean symposium a couple of times and she quickly determined what she wanted. The Nordkapp HM with the small cockpit. All of the other boats felt too big to her and she has come up with an aversion to plastic boats - too slow. I was supposed to get her the kayak in lieu of an engagement ring, but I took so long getting around to that event that she went out and bought the boat herself. I didn't get my first sea kayak until the season after she bought her boat. Part of our honeymoon was a week paddling in Maine. Now I just need to figure out how to get the 2 year old out in the kayaks. Is it in a double or in a single with a mini-kayak as an outrigger.... The 2 year old does enjoy going out in the canoes. We are up to 9 boats, with plans for at least 3 more - the additional boats are on hold until we move and have more space to store boats ;-) kirk *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net ***************************************************************************
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