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From: Hank Hays <lhays_at_canby.com>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] lead shot?
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 1998 07:38:54 -0800
Hey John and all you other boat builders,

>One possible solution to the ballast issue:
>The lead shot can be bought from any
>gun shop in bags of about 25 lbs.  

What do you guys think about all your efforts to design and build light
boats and then paddlers do this sort of thing to them???????  Like maybe
they should have bought the heavier fiberglass model in the first place,
rather than a lighter kevlar job?  <grin>  

Hank Hays


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From: John Winters <735769_at_ican.net>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] lead shot?
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 1998 07:28:11 -0500
Hank wrote;

(SNIP)

> 
> What do you guys think about all your efforts to design and build light
> boats and then paddlers do this sort of thing to them???????  Like maybe
> they should have bought the heavier fiberglass model in the first place,
> rather than a lighter kevlar job?  <grin>  

What can you do?

The puzzle is why anyone would fool around with lead shot when they could
have genuine Canadian Ballast Rocks. Completely non toxic and
environmentally friendly. Best of all we use the homeless to harvest rocks
so you are doing good all around. 

I would think the gun dealers are doing well enough in the southern
colonies. They don't need people buying lead shot for kayaks too.

 
Cheers
John Winters
Redwing Designs
Specialists in Human Powered Watercraft
http://home.ican.net/~735769/
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From: Richard Culpeper <cul258_at_lawlab.law.uwo.ca>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] lead shot?
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 1998 14:50:30 -0500
Canadian Ballast Rocks Caution

In the mid-1970s, Blair Chasty and I picked up some Canadian Ballast
Rocks from Killarney (near Sudbury, Ontario), for decorative use in his
exotic fish shop.  His store-front window was a massive aquarium.  After
placing the rocks in the tank, he went home for the evening.  The next
day his display consisted of a large number of dead fish.  Were it not
for the statute of limitations, he would be holding you liable, John
Winters.  Please stop peddling your environmentally toxic products over
the net.  Your certificates of authenticity are fraudulent, for instead
of selling Canadian Ballast Rocks, your are foisting Canadian Blast
Rocks from the slag heaps of Sudbury.  Shame on you.

Richard Culpeper
www.geocities.com/~culpeper

John Winters wrote:

> Hank wrote;
>
> (SNIP)
>
> >
> > What do you guys think about all your efforts to design and build
> light
> > boats and then paddlers do this sort of thing to them???????  Like
> maybe
> > they should have bought the heavier fiberglass model in the first
> place,
> > rather than a lighter kevlar job?  <grin>
>
> What can you do?
>
> The puzzle is why anyone would fool around with lead shot when they
> could
> have genuine Canadian Ballast Rocks. Completely non toxic and
> environmentally friendly. Best of all we use the homeless to harvest
> rocks
> so you are doing good all around.
>
> I would think the gun dealers are doing well enough in the southern
> colonies. They don't need people buying lead shot for kayaks too.
>
>
> Cheers
> John Winters
> Redwing Designs
> Specialists in Human Powered Watercraft
> http://home.ican.net/~735769/
>
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From: Robert Somerville <somervil_at_inforamp.net>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] lead shot?
Date: Thu, 12 Feb 1998 20:51:39 -0600
Richard Wrote

>Canadian Ballast Rocks Caution
>
>In the mid-1970s, Blair Chasty and I picked up some Canadian Ballast
>Rocks from Killarney (near Sudbury, Ontario), for decorative use in his
>exotic fish shop.  His store-front window was a massive aquarium.  After
>placing the rocks in the tank, he went home for the evening.  The next
>day his display consisted of a large number of dead fish.  Were it not
>for the statute of limitations, he would be holding you liable, John
>Winters.  Please stop peddling your environmentally toxic products over
>the net.  Your certificates of authenticity are fraudulent, for instead
>of selling Canadian Ballast Rocks, your are foisting Canadian Blast
>Rocks from the slag heaps of Sudbury.  Shame on you.

All Canadians regret your inability to distinguish the difference between
the classic Cloche Rocks of the area from mine tailings and the resulant
impact their use had on the artificial aquatic environment Bill had created.
Canada takes no responsibility for your or his actions.

The marketing of "Canadian Ballast Rocks" TM  began legally this decade
after extensive research, investment and testing had been done by John
Winters and his associates.  They hold any and all licences to these
valuable safety items.  Use of the product for other purposes is not
approved of by the many and Byzantine departments of the Federal, Provincial
and local governments.  It would seem that any use of the product prior to
their approval constitutes an illegal use of the product and such use does
and shall carry heavy penalties.  Furthermore the exporting of the product
without permits and the approval of all governmental agencies shall
require a complete review where all evidence shall be presented and weighed
before a tribunal.  Penalties shall be extracted by Mr. Winters at his
leisure once the tribunal (Olympic in nature) has judged you guilty

Cheers

Robert Somerville








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From: John Winters <735769_at_ican.net>
subject: Re: [Paddlewise] lead shot?
Date: Fri, 13 Feb 1998 09:41:06 -0500
Richard wrote;

> Canadian Ballast Rocks Caution
> 
> In the mid-1970s, Blair Chasty and I picked up some Canadian Ballast
> Rocks from Killarney (near Sudbury, Ontario), for decorative use in his
> exotic fish shop.  His store-front window was a massive aquarium.  After
> placing the rocks in the tank, he went home for the evening.  The next
> day his display consisted of a large number of dead fish.  Were it not
> for the statute of limitations, he would be holding you liable, John
> Winters.  Please stop peddling your environmentally toxic products over
> the net.  Your certificates of authenticity are fraudulent, for instead
> of selling Canadian Ballast Rocks, your are foisting Canadian Blast
> Rocks from the slag heaps of Sudbury.  Shame on you.
> 


It is precisely this kind of thing that we at Canadian Ballast Rock Ltd.
have been trying to prevent. 
Not all rocks (as Richard and his friend discovered) are equal. Indeed,
geological diversity is the rule even though one rock may look very much
like another to the untrained eye. To prevent such accidents, the Canadian
Government has established a licensing process that assures that all rocks
will be gathered by trained professionals and in an environmentally sound
manner. 

One does not simply pick up a few rocks willy-nilly, skip a few gracefully
across the water,  and then put the rounder rocks in your pocket for future
use. Not, at least, if you want to have children. 

Have you ever wondered why, here in this land of plenty with a McDonald's
at every intersection,  there were so few natives when the Europeans
arrived? Studies of early photographs clearly show that native people
carried rocks in small leathern bags close to their genitals. No doubt most
of these rocks were radioactive and resulted in sterility. This also
explains why candles were not discovered by Indians. Glowing body parts
sufficed.

Immigrant Europeans used the safer rock handling methods (bulldozers etc.)
and, instead of rocks, carried small bottles of rot gut around their
waists. In this way they avoided the perils of stone balls while the rot
gut stimulated them to greater reproduction levels. The rest is history. 

Why the normally observant Indians did not recognize the dangers of some
rocks is unclear. It has been suggested by the normally rational Professor
Inverbon that it was another women's plot to reduce the attentions of
native males who did not have cable and could not get Dr. Ruth on the local
station. I reject this out of hand. When touring a native burial site I
discovered a copy of Cosmopolitan secreted behind some tag alders. Is this
the
behavior of women who don't want sex?" 

Kayakers have been safely using ballast rocks for centuries and the old
skills of picking safe rocks from among millions of unsafe rocks would have
faded away had it not been for Canadian Ballast Rock Ltd. Modesty forbids
us from taking all the credit. Were it not for a 6.5 million dollar
government grant our ground breaking research at Club Meds around the world
would not have been possible and paddlers would be capsizing all over the
place, clogging up the oceans with overturned boats and making whaling
impossible for the Japanese and Makah natives.
... 
While we might weep for Mr. Chasty's fish Canadian Ballast Rock Ltd. can't
be held responsible for what amounts to nothing more the a petty theft gone
bad. 

Robert wrote;

>Furthermore the exporting of the product
>without permits and the approval of all governmental agencies shall
>require a complete review where all evidence shall be presented and
weighed
>before a tribunal.  Penalties shall be extracted by Mr. Winters at his
>leisure once the tribunal (Olympic in nature) has judged you guilty.

Uh, well, like you know, just as soon as I recover from my second hand drug
induced state. I mean like I don't use the stuff myself but I do inhale. 

I am confident that an Olympic style tribunal will enforce some one else's
rules when it seems convenienient to do so and impose unrealistic
penallties for something that was none of their business in the first
place. 

Next time downhill sea kayaking will be a demonstration sport at the
Olympics. No one will be allowed to participate unless drunk or drugged.
"No sir, that urine sample hasn't been tampered with. I really was blown
out of my mind. No, those aren't leaves of marijuana floating around in my
urine sample, those are little organic kidney stones."

Cheers
John Winters
Redwing Designs
Specialists in Human Powered Watercraft
http://home.ican.net/~735769/
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