Well, I have been stockpiling paperbacks to take with us next month for a long paddle on the central Canadian Arctic Coast. AND, have down a fine job of keeping them closed (not reading them beforehand.) The book "Below the Convergence...Voyages Toward Antarctica 1699-1839" by Alan Gurney ( Penguin Books 1997) proved irresistible however. So here I am, half way through the book, regaling my wife with "you gotta read this". Any one who has even a passing acquaintance with the novels of Patrick O'Brien, will find this work of non-fiction impossible to stop reading. Mostly it deals with the British attempts at discovering the Southern Landmass in the 18th Century ...but it contains a wealth of historical information dealing with everything from the struggle to develop a system to determine Longitude at sea, to anti-scurvy methods prior to the discovery of vitamins. It deal with cartography, maritime biology, personalities ( Edward Halley, James Cook, Weddell, and others). It is without a doubt the best book I have read in the last 3 years...I regret NOT saving this book for some anxious day storm bound on Bathurst Inlet,sitting in our tent, cursing "rotten luck and foul weather". Possible relevance to Paddlewisers?... uh.. saltwater, adventure, and an appreciation of "common sense" before it became so "common". It is difficult (for me at least) to appreciate exactly how much I take for granted....and how hard won even the most basic knowledge (like the creation of accurate maps) must have been. One of my favorite lines in the book is a quote: (Paraphrased as I can't find it at this minute) " Embarking on a long journey stirs different emotions in men. In some it is fear, in some excitement, in some pleasure and satisfaction . But in the heart of all, unspoken, there is a sense of foolishness." Rich Dempsey ridem_at_msn.com *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Richard Dempsey wrote: > Well, I have been stockpiling paperbacks to take with us next month for a > long paddle on the central Canadian Arctic Coast. AND, have down a fine job > of keeping them closed (not reading them beforehand.) ...snip... And not wanting to wait for what I'm sure will be a terrific trip report in the fall, could you find some time to tell us about your intended route? Cheers, Richard Culpeper *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
A couple of years ago, I found an interesting master's thesis on women leading paddling trips. It was by Deborah Colman and was specifically about canoeing, however the similarities between canoeing and kayaking, from the perspective of leadership are probably negligible. Colman is the sister of Caryn Colman, who runs Smoothwater Outfitters in Temagami, Ontario (with her partner Francis and daugher Emily). It was at their lodge I found and read the thesis. Colman had interviewed six women who make a living, in whole or part, as professional canoe guides. They were anonymous, but one was pretty obvious to me, as I had paddled with her and knew her company and several of her guides fairly well.* In addition to gathering information from the interviews, Colman had scoured the literature for other relevant information. It makes for interesting reading. I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, but a professional in the field might find it useful. There were no major insights; most of the information was as one might expect from, shall we say, stereo- typical behavior etc. It analyzed the differences between men and women, noting that men tend to take charge while women tend to seek consensus. What was interesting to me that the women actually didn't like the term "trip leader" applied to themselves. They prefered something like "guide". The objective was that they didn't want to tell their charges what to do, but to guide them in discovering what they could and should do. They also discussed the difficulties that the women have in guiding men. While most are ok, some will not or can not take advice from women. Sometimes a power struggle ensues and has to be resolved. They considered options for resolving this IIRC. Another topic was all-women trips. These have become quite popular these days and are indicative of the problem that many women have in sports when men are around. They don't want to deal with the dominance, flirting, macho bs etc. I'm sorry I can't be more specific about the paper, however, I thought a couple of you might benefit from knowing about it. It was long enough ago I've forgotten many details. I was director of tour leading in a cross country ski club at the time and know that there were several points I learned from the thesis that I brought with me to establish some policies or guidelines in the club. The thesis was submitted to the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), part of the University of Toronto. You may be able to get it through inter-library loans. Mike * One thing about this woman's company. Most of the men who guide for her have similar personalities. Specifically, they are all fairly calm and confident. They are exceptional paddlers (WW canoe and sea kayaking) and highly skilled and independent outdoorsman. However, they never come across as macho leaders. They always discuss rather than order. In other words, they have some of the characteristics that the women value as guides. PS - I'll be off on a paddling adventure (including Grand Marais next week) so I won't be able to respond to comments (if any) till then. See ya! *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Michael Daly wrote: --snip-- > PS - I'll be off on a paddling adventure (including Grand Marais next week) > so I won't be able to respond to comments (if any) till then. See ya! Just might see ya. I'll be in Grand Marais on Tuesday (though not paddling). Keep your eyes open for a bridge troll with a very happy babe at his side (my sister, Jennfer, who is celebrating her promotion this week to controller of a division of Magna -- the first woman to make senior management in that multinational in many years; and who is also celebrating the dumping of her boyfriend last week -- an interesting justaposition). Meanwhile, back to your post about the thesis you found at Smoothwater in Temagami....... It has been interesting to follow the development of wilderness canoeing guiding industry in the mid-north of Ontario over the last couple of decades and contrast it with the dvelopment of the rafting industry in the province. Both have drawn people with the pretty much the same technical skill set -- in fact, kids in outdoor ed programs often land up working for one or the other industry more or less by chance simply according to when a job opens up, and often move back and forth until they find their niche. I've noticed that the strong leadership approach has pretty much disappeared from wilderness canoe guiding in that area of the province. While folks offering women only trips were few and far between only a few years back, they now are the norm. Similarly, and while He Man guides used to be common, they are now pretty much relegated to the rafting industry. The effect of this paradigm shift? The wilderness guides have managed to broaden the client base so that it crosses both gender and generation, whereas the rafting industry has pretty much stayed with young males for clients. By being inclusionary, the wilderness guides have opened up the wilderness for a great many people who otherwise would not have had the opportunity, and have encouraged a great many people to return again and again, either with guides or on their own, when otherwise they would only dabble the one time and be turned off, or would outgrow the activity. In short, they have promoted padding as a lifestyle, whereas rafting has been left more as an occasional entertainment, no different than a midway ride. Cheers, Richard Culpeper www.tbaytel.net/culpeper *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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