Re: [Paddlewise] What's Wrong with Kayaking

In a message dated 12/20/2004 4:22:05 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, 
nick_at_guillemot-kayaks.com writes:

(I was just in the local Barnes & Noble looking through the magazine 
rack. I noticed that there were 4 or 5 slick surfing magazines and no 
kayaking magazines. While they typically do carry some, I find it 
amazing that here on the northeast coast where surfing is virtually non 
existent and sea kayaking is quite popular, that so much more shelf 
space would be devoted to surfing than kayaking.)
There is so much more web space, too. In planning a late winter trip, the 
surfer websites are quite informative on places very rarely reported on in 
paddling circles. Whitewater is a much more popular sport than sea kayaking and its 
imagery of giant drops, nasty holes and first decents bring out the imagery of 
athletic exploration still lingering in most of our souls.
 
I was disappointed to see only a few scenes of olympic kayaking made it onto 
the big screen. My forward apologies to runners or shot putters, but those 
translate to TV as well as weight lifting or reruns of Locomotion. Watching large 
greasy men wrestling each other somehow didn't do it for me, either. And yet 
5-6 minutes was all the screen time they could manage for kayaking. It's not 
just the surfers who are eclipsing paddlers, its every sport.

(All these surfing magazines have very attractive covers. One is 
virtually an art publication. The whole image presented is interesting 
and exciting. How come sea kayaking is portrayed as boring? Is a 
picture of a low-end kayak, sitting calmly on smooth water really the 
image of sea kayaking that attracts us to the sport? Is this really the 
cover shot that is going to attract people to the sport?)
 
Because most of Sea Kayaking is boring. Picture yourself Nick, there you are 
on the pond looking at ducks in your 11 foot by 39 inch (fill in the blank). 
Look at C&K mag, with all of the alpine lake imagery, mountains embroidered on 
the surface of the water as viewed by a sea kayaker! A sea kayak on an alpine 
lake. Sounds pretty boring to me, too. Backpacking is far more athletic, 
exciting and capable of delivering a real wilderness experience than that kind of 
sea kayaking. I would rarely paddle unless there was a better way to paddle 
than the image you are speaking to.



It seems to me that the enthusiastic sea kayakers participate in a 
different sport from what we see on the covers and inside the sea 
kayaking magazines. Wouldn't it be good for the sport if it was 
portrayed in the same way that the most enthusiastic experience it?
Mostly, I do. Whitewater paddlers suggest often that if it is saltwater you 
are wasting your time. Those that suggest that are quite wrong, of course, but 
their image of sea kayaking comes from two sources. The first is the media, 
there goes Joe in his 11x39 and binoculars, get em tiger, they say. The second 
is quite visual, us. Most of the boats and the folks they see are not on the 
coast. It's only when the rivers are shriveled up do you see WW boaters surfing, 
as fun as it is, it doesn't have the same pull as a grade 3-4 river.
 



While we are on the subject, who is happy with the new layout of Sea 
Kayaker Magazine? To me it looks like just another conglomerate 
produced enthusiast publication. The old layout was distinctive and at 
least somewhat interesting.


The latest issue had a review of the kind of boat and design intent we are 
speaking to. Usually they are much better about that. They should look at the 
title of the magazine and draw the line at boats for that.
 
If I see another article about Baja or the inside passage to Alaska I won't 
even remove it from my mailbox. They are running out of flatwater to report on 
and they'll soon be competing with C&K for alpine lake photo shoots. On the 
other hand, I cannot wait to see who spouts off about Justine Curgenven's 
article on Kamchatka. I can hear it now: How dare you take a raw beginner on an 
inhospitable wilderness coast full of bears and waves! What kind of representative 
of the sport are you Sea Kayaker? That is part of the problem, the *us* that 
have been so indoctrinated with Sea Kayak(er) Correctness that the editor 
can't even shoot a photo of his buddy sans PFD on a tropical millpond paddling an 
SOT without getting ripped by the public.
 
It may be a sad state of imagistic affairs, but the campsites along the coast 
have little competition, still.
 
Rob G