Re: [Paddlewise] Flying with Kayak Gear to the WCSKS -- "foldboat" alert!

----- Original Message -----
From: <FoldingBoats_at_aol.com
>
> The German term "das Faltboot" translated to "foldboat" in English about a
> century ago (the first US "Foldboat Club" was founded in New Jersey in
1927
> already), which surely had some influence on the venerable brand name
> "Folbot" ... :-)

Legend has it that a decision was made not to use the term faltboot in the
US because people might confuse the word falt with fault and think the
product was faulty. :-)

>
> The initially somewhat derogatory German term "der Hadernkahn", applied to
> above mentioned foldboats by the obviously uninitiated, translates loosely
to
> "rag boat".

I once was bantering with Andy Zimmermann former owner of Wilderness Systems
who regularly kidded me about folding kayaks (not the only one see note on
Lee Moyer of Pacific Water Sports below).  I pointed out how the skin of a
folding kayak might make a nice camping hammock upon which Andy looked at
the frame and immediately exclaimed "firewood!"

As for Lee Moyer.  At one symposium where I was a speaker and had a tag with
my name and publication, Folding Kayaker, Lee started poking my name tag and
saying "Ah, you're kayakers that fold."  Or Dr. Hannes Lindermann, who
crossed the Atlantic in a folding kayak in 1955, also looking at the tag at
another symposium and poking me with the remark "The boats don't actually
fold."  They don't fold in the sense of like an accordian.  They assemble
from individual frame parts and frame subassemblies.  The skin folds or
rolls up.

>
> Picture this (hypothetical! :-) scene:
>
> Harried New York City passer-by sees Ralph Diaz walking from subway to the
> Downtown Boathouse on the Hudson River. He's carrying a bag containing his
> sleek-to-be, but as yet disassembled and neatly packed, folding kayak.
>
> "What are you going to do with that BAG OF RAGS AND STICKS?" she asks, to
> which Ralph Diaz answers quick as a whip,
>
> "I'm going to turn it into my SEAKAYAK!"

Actually something happened to one of our kayakers who with a group of us
had taken the Staten Island ferry and local train to a put-in spot on the
Arthur Kill to visit the Graveyard of Ships.  He was making his Feathercraft
Kahuna in the shade away from the rest of the group and close to restaurant
on whose lawn we were doing the procedure.  Some worried staff came out
cautiously as they watched him let the bungeed aluminum tubes spring into
shape.  They were worried that he was setting up a tent and intending to
camp out!

In paraphrase of Rodney Dangerfield, "We get no respect!"

ralph diaz

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