Howdy y'all, I've been off list for a while, feels good to be back at least in digest form. I'm getting a kick out of the ballast and additional boats threads, so here's my two cents. IMHO, most people paddle boats that are too darned big and high volume anyway. So, in the interest of NOT adding 20-40 or more pounds of ballast to a lightweight boat you just paid top dollar for, get one of your kids a boat that you can just skinny into and paddle that when you're not camping out. Other way to look at this, you married guys, buy wife (presumably considerably smaller and lighter than you are) a boat that fits her. Now you are in a win-win situation. If she doesn't like the boat, it's free for you to paddle when not camping or carrying a lot of gear; if she likes it, now she has something comfortable to go along and maybe she'll really enjoy it and encourage you to go paddling more often. Not being encumbered with spouse or SO, but having an 11 year old daughter, I bought her the EPI! Sea kayak and it's a hoot for me to paddle. It's about 19" wide and 14' long. I was surprised to see I could paddle as fast or faster than other sea kayaks in our group last time I paddled it. And, speaking of paddling, I had a wonderful trip out on Trinity Bay to the east of Houston (Texas) on Sunday. My good friend and favorite paddling companion Marilyn took some great photos of our trip. she has posted it at: <http://cards.webshots.com/cp-32132306-CWlf-album/47458724UaXOlD> The irony of my being off list is that I've become the Interim Director of the Galveston Bay Information Center. This is akin to the fox in the henhouse, all the good info about my favorite paddling area streaming across my desk. But it's been an administrative challenge and I'm finally getting things turned around so proper priorities (Paddleswise, etc.) coming back on to the radar screen. Happy paddling! Natalie Wiest Galveston TX *************************************************************************** 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 Aug 20 2002 - 09:57:36 PDT
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