Re: [Paddlewise] Are you a member of the Kayaking community?

At 09:09 AM 5/7/02 +1200, Alex Ferguson wrote:
>>If you paddle a kayak less than 17' long or more than 23" wide..
>>   ... then you're not a part of the kayaking community.
>
>That gets rid of at least one person who's circumnavigated the South 
>Island of New Zealand - and that's a SERIOUS trip. BTW, don't define a 
>kayak by its overall length or overall beam, that's completely misleading.
>[snip]
>>I hope I've made my point
>
>Which one was that?

I was hoping that my sarcasm was dripping enough that everyone would have 
recognized my posting as such. I guess I forgot that many people might not 
know about Jeff Foxworthy and his "you might be a redneck" shtick.

In the "Size of the Kayaking Community" thread as well as in the past there 
have been a lot of comments that come across (to me) as a bit elitist when 
defining "paddler" or "kayaker".  Maybe because my years of experienced as 
a kayaker is not yet measured in double digits I still remember when I 
first started.  Even though I didn't know how to roll, own a graphite 
paddle, or meet almost any of the "criteria" I wrote about as being 
required for entrance into the kayaking community I feel that I've been 
welcomed.  However, I *have* seen a lot of comments reading this list over 
the past few years that do not sound so welcoming.  While all of the 
comments I wrote were intended to be sarcastic,  I've seen lots of 
implications that they are, in fact, the truth.

My point is simply that as paddlers, or members of the kayaking community, 
denigrating those that paddle sit-on-tops, or recreational kayaks, or think 
it's perfectly safe to go out on a small protected lake in mid summer 
without a VHF radio and a set of flares, is not very welcoming and come 
across as elitist.

***************************************************************************
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/
***************************************************************************