When I "entered" the kayakin community, by joining a local club, I actually thought they were a pretty strange bunch. My club features white-water, rodeo, slalom, flat-water racing, sea- and touring kayakkers. Most of them paddle boats so tippy you can't decently stand up in them. None of their boats have storage room for a cooling box. Some of them can spend a whole day in a kayak without covering a distance of even half a mile. "Rodeo" they call it. Some spend a whole weekend of driving and camping, call it a "kayakking trip", and spend 2.5 minutes actually paddling. Their goal, in those minutes, are to get off the water as fast as possible. "Slalom racing". Some think the kayaking season starts in December and ends in March. "White water". One paddles a boat that has not even room for a thermos. I offered to put some bungies on his decks. He offered to kill me. Some spend more money on safety equipment then on their paddle. Some dress in tight rubber, with a rubber skirt that no woman would dare wear in public. Some paddle boats made of GLASS! They fall to pieces when you throw them off your car! They called me a fool for paddling an Old Town Loon: 1 meter wide with a comfortable chair. I used to carry no PFD or flares, but I did have an anchor and a good book, to spend hours in that great chair, enjoying the piece while making coffee, swimming around the boat, having a beer, having a smoke, looking at the sky... I KNOW that that's what's paddling all about, but I am liberal. I do not look down on that sorry bunch of fanatics. I even bought a sea kayak to please them. Today the sun was out. It's spring out here! I don't have that Loon any more, so I had to take the seayak out. The water I paddled is shallow and warms up quickly, so I could leave my PFD and wetsuit home and paddle in T-shirt and shorts. Every once in a while it's great to join the majority of paddlers who think it is a safe sport. Spotted some sort of Geese I've never seen before, seen 2 beavers up close and almost touched the third one with my bow. It was as big as a dog! I misjudged the tide and had to drag my boat through the mud. It came to my ancles, but there turned out te be treacherous holes of half a meter. I was glad I wasn't wearing my PFD: I hate to get it dirty. I paddled the last part in almost total darkness, scaring some ducks with worse nightvision then mine. Hmmmm, I love paddling! Niels. *************************************************************************** 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 - 15:43:16 PDT
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