About those conquering kayakers. My sense of satisfaction kicks in when I accompany swimmers travelling some amazing open water course. Consider this. Each year we have about 30 swimmers make their way in a race around Manhattan. That is a 28.5 mile swim, which also is a significant paddle. This year the swim took place on June 12. The water was 63 deg. F.. (So much for all of discussion about survival charts in the water.) There were 30 swimmers, 2 relays. Of the 30 swimmers, 13 were female. 7 of the top ten finishers; 4 of the top 5 were females. They are accomplished. The winner, Toby Smith (F) finished around 6 hrs. 19 minutes. (www.nycswim.org) My swimmer (F) finished 19 minutes later in second place. Each swimmer had a kayaker. And none of the swimmers wore a wet suit. On other occasions I have accompanied swimmers going for record times. Twice they made the trip in the middle of the night, starting the swims at 2:20 A.M.. In late August I went to Loch Ness, Scotland, and kayaked the 24 miles with Tammy van Wisse. She swam the length in 9 hours and 6 min. (as I recall). It was a record time. The water temperature was 53 deg. F. at its warmest spot and went as low as 47 deg. F.. She did wear a swimming wet suit - no sleeves. I just don't read "macho" as meaning too much anymore. It's sort of a dated & quaint expression. Being gung ho is propbaly closer to what many of us have seen. Being over-enthusiastic, unrealistic and un- or under-prepared all can descibe males or females who kayak. The swimmers I mentioned were able to accomplish each event with a crew. The kayaker was part of the crew. One climber wants to chew up the scenery, another wants to go across a lake. It only is going to happen where there is support and good planning. I really don't see hormones as the base for extended accomplishments. And there really is no such thing as "conquering" anymore. One conquers the course and another stumbles along to do it faster. But dangerous undertakings that are motivated by a "childlike" curiosity often lead to disaster, or the characterization of an "adventure" rather than a trip. It is simply a sense of personal accomplishment and satisfaction. People find it in many, many different ways and levels. Thanks for your time. Richard *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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