Dan Hagen wrote: > > I believe that it was Henry Kissinger who said that "University politics > are so contentious because the stakes are so small." I think that this > applies to a lot of debates in sea kayaking as well, the current > discussion of feathered versus unfeathered paddles being a case in > point. This feathered vs. unfeathered issue has taken on the trappings of a religious debate. When confronted with religion, go to a religious source, I always say. So I consulted my dusty 40 year old copy of St. Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica from my Fordham College days. Aquinas approached a number of far-ranging issues positing a position, the objections to it and replies and ending with some conclusion. The list of subjects that were addressed are almost endless. This may sound like I made it up, but when leafing through his thick tome, I came across the specific question of whether paddling unfeathered is against natural law...honest! St. Thomas had great foresight to deal with this small turf issue while pondering more weighty agenda items such as how many angels could fit on the head of a pin. His conclusion after paragraphs and paragraphs of posits and rebuttals is that indeed paddling unfeathered _is_ against natural law! (BTW, so is driving on the left side of the road.) I hope that Matt Broze will add this to his steadfast points against going unfeathered into surf. And I hope that John Winters and his professor associate, Dr. Inverbon, accept the unnaturalness of their ways. Hell, who want to buck with a saint and scholar. :-) ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Apr 30 1999 - 13:02:18 PDT
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