Craig> Over the past decade participation at all levels of kayaking is up, sales are up over ten years ago, there are more kayak stores than ten years ago. In the last year there has been a severe downturn. But participation at the Pt. Townsend seminars was up in previous years. BCU was barely on the radar as little as two years ago. Now it's an issue. Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA www.nwkayaking.net The BCU as a controversial topic in North America is a very old topic. I had my first clinic in 99 or 2000 and in sea kayak circles there were lots of people trained by BCU coaches back then. As a topic It had a large presence throughout the 80's and 90's. Derek Hutchinson was controversial back then and he also brought with him BCU-like discussions. In 2008 he pronounced the *sun having set on the BCU* in the Andrew Elizaga video you can find on you tube. The BCU as a topical theme has enjoyed exposure in magazines for a very long time. As far as growth in the sport, I see about 60% of the retailers in this area as opposed to say, 2002. Go onto boatertalk.com and ask Corran Addison or Eric Jackson if the sport has grown or shrank. They will tell you the sport has contracted remarkably since the *heydey* of the late 90's and early millenium. I may be only seeing what I want to see, but I don't see anymore paddlers now then I did when I started. Cheers, Rob G = *************************************************************************** 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 Wed Oct 21 2009 - 13:46:27 PDT
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