My day job is at what is (to my knowledge) the worlds biggest outdoor store. I work in the paddling department. Last year we sold around 450 boats. Only a dozen were whitewater. Less than (but close to) 100 were canoes. The rest were flatwater kayaks. I would say less than a 3rd of those were open water touring boats. The rest were rec boats. So if you are defining "paddler" as someone who paddles a touring boat in open water, then I would say the number is pretty low. If you are talking about the number of folks who sit in a decked boat at least once a year, I would say there are quite a few. That's pretty much just a regional observation. I would bet that the breakdown of boat types would be quite a bit different in Minnesota, for example. *************************************************************************** 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 Tue May 07 2002 - 06:58:17 PDT
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