Re: [Paddlewise] FW: ACA meetings: Greenlan

From: John Winters <735769_at_ican.net>
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1998 07:50:40 -0500
Ralph wrote;


>To quote Bart Hauthaway, a fellow esteemed boat-builder like you,
>writing in Atlantic Coastal Kayaker back in 1992 "If you can't roll you
>aren't a kayaker.  You can be an acceptable person, but you are not a
>kayaker."
>
>So, John, at least let us take comfort in knowing that we are
>"acceptable" persons which may be the nicest thing any one may have ever
>said about us!  :-)

Flattery will get Bart anywhere.


>
>Don't you just love it when individuals set standards for who should be
>considered a serious or true practicioner of some endeavor?  It tends to
>be a definition that first and foremost fits them.  I think I better go
>around saying that somebody who cannot make a folding kayak in less than
>10 minutes may be a fine gentleman or gentlelady but he/she ain't no
>kayaker. :-)

Hey, I can live with that. We need standards. In fact, it bothers me that
nowhere in the ACA or BCU curriculum do they have time set aside for
teaching how to assemble a folding boat. This kind of bias should not be
condoned.

I suggest we go one step further. If you don't own at least one folding
kayak you are not a serious paddler. :-)

This kind of thing is fun. If we add some more restrictions we can prove
once and for all that there is no such thing as a serious paddler and ask
the Coast Guard to step in and require mandatory boat assembly courses. How
many Inuit ever assembled a foldingf kayak? Bet not many. Just a bunch of
amateurs. Probably  used those skiny paddles that made rolling so easy.
real paddlers sue those wide paddles that make rolling harder.

Shame on you Ralph. You know better than to set me off. :-)

I hope no one gets offended. I am really just kidding around. Well, maybe
just a little.

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




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Received on Sat Dec 19 1998 - 05:43:37 PST

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