At 10:57 PM 2/8/01 -0800, Matt Broze wrote: >Ralph_at_PouchBoats.com wrote: >>>>>In fact paddling on the whole only survived because of the emergence of >cheaper plastic kayaks. This in turn has allowed a modern renaissance of >folding boats (which the other Ralph has been documenting for the last >decade >of its growth on this continent).<<<< > >Is this the general consensus out there? (big snip) >"paddling" I don't think those companies were saved from extinction by >plastic kayaks either. Sea Kayaking's popularity has probably come partly at >Canoeing's expense. If you change the word "paddling" in Ralph's statement to "kayaking", then he's probably right. The plastic 'yak virtually started a whole new ball game out there. But Matt is right, too -- kayaks have taken a big bite out of the canoe market, especially for solo users. But the canoe makers aren't hurting much from it -- there are still a lot being built. The advent of plastics did revolutionize that industry -- say, twenty or thirty years ago, the aluminum canoe was king of the heap. Now, they're something like five percent of the market. -- Wes *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Feb 09 2001 - 05:31:18 PST
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