On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 11:45:21 -0400, Rich Kulawiec said: park-n-play (especially in a benign spot chosen for that reason, or in an artificial one built that way) is not the same as river running, is not the same as river running in isolated/wilderness situations. I can't tell you how many paddlers I've come across in the last 5-6 years who can do more tricks in holes than I've had hot dinners -- but who lack basic river-running skills, like the ability to hit an eddy where they need to, or a consistent, powerful forward stroke. Maybe this is my old-school mentality (which is far from !EXTREME!)showing, but I've always agreed with authors/instructors who advocated progressive training: learning to do hard moves on easy water, gradually learning to execute them with precision on harder water, etc. Me: I've seen this as well. I coached a kid last winter who had hopes of making the junior slalom team. He is amazing in holes and waves but I could beat him in gates and I'm 39 years older than he is. And the park and play set of my club are mostly miserable river runners. But a shining few are terrific no matter what they are doing, whether expedition or play paddling. I think the good ones still use the progession you mention and it shows in the smooth, clean strokes they use even in the big stuff. Old, crusty paddlers like old, crusty people generally, see the world going wrong but I think maybe it's just a factor of age. My opinion as an older guy. Jim Tibensky *************************************************************************** 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 Thu Aug 19 2004 - 13:01:00 PDT
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