Ralph's recent post about "A Ghost in Every Kayak" kind of shook me for a moment. I'm a grungy, disreputable kayak fisherman in Southern California, so like my peers, I paddle a plastic sit-on-top - a lime-green Scupper Pro in my case, almost as fast as a "real" kayak. I bought it used from the third (I think) owner. He told me that owner #2 got it when owner #1 disappeared. Apparently #1 was a party animal who decided, while high on something very late one night in Ensenada, to go for a paddle. They found the kayak several days later, many many miles south of town on the coast. They never found him. I don't usually think too much about it; just once in a while when my mind is not otherwise occupied. But Ralph's post made me wonder: what happens to other boats that have been involved in fatalities. No Viking funerals, right? Anybody else paddle one? Feel funny paddling it? *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Mark Hunter wrote: > > I don't usually think too much about it; just once in a while when my mind is not > otherwise occupied. But Ralph's post made me wonder: what happens to other boats > that have been involved in fatalities. No Viking funerals, right? Anybody else > paddle one? Feel funny paddling it? It need not be the result of a fatality. Boats do move on in other ways. Last year, I did a small piece in my newsletter naming the dozen people who have remained subscribers from the very beginning. As part of this I printed a note from a fellow who said: "This subscription was in the name of my brother-in-law, Joe Casey of Longmeadow, MA. I bought his Klepper from him this summer. Joe died last month of cancer and I want to renew the newsletter in my name. I believe he was an original subscriber. He kept every issue, which he gave to me, and was a loyal reader." Some kayaks last and last. The ghosts of their former paddlers ride with those who paddle them today. 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 - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
In a message dated 12/18/2000 11:21:29 AM Eastern Standard Time, yakfish_at_pacbell.net writes: > Ralph's post made me wonder: what happens to other boats > that have been involved in fatalities. No Viking funerals, right? Anybody > else > paddle one? Feel funny paddling it? > The boat that my friend "Rhino" was in the day he died of hypothermia induced drowning on Lake Superior three Thanksgivings ago had, to me, an interesting second life --- with Rhino's daughter. He was a big guy, lots bigger than his daughter, but she took it over and, to my knowledge, still paddles it. So maybe spirits that live on in boats are friends, too. I, too, like Ralph's concept, though. Makes me wonder about handcrafted boats a little, too. There's a lot more of me than just knuckle skin in that boat. You get to be one with it when you build one, and I'm closer to my North Bay than to my old Pintail, Sea Lion, and especially the Scrambler. Maybe it's just me. Back to my life as a PaddleWise lurker --- Jack Martin *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
A small correction --- for those who have been on the list for a while and felt that I'd stolen a year of their lives. Tom "Rhino" Hancock died two years ago on Thanksgiving weekend, not three years ago. It was 28 November 98 --- capsized for reasons never discovered on a solo paddle on Lake Erie. His $800 Kokatat dry suit didn't protect him (1) because it was a warn day, and he hadn't had it zipped up and (2) even if he had the zippers up, his only insulation was a cut-off cotton sweatshirt and cotton shorts. Lesson: off-shore solos in 42 degree water can be harmful to your health, especially when you're only partially prepared. He was a friend, and I helped a big bunch of other friends bury him with full honors at Arlington, but I'm still angry with him for giving us that object lesson, Sorry about the date mess-up --- seem to have forgotten to take my ginkgo biloba this morning. That happens a lot. Jack Martin *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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