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Why do you paddle?

B1200

Paddler
Joined
Nov 12, 2008
Messages
126
Location
Coos Bay, Oregon.
OK, so a few here who know me, know I am new. I am building a 17 Tern, and am enjoying myself immensly. But I have never been in a kayak before. I have for the last decade been trying several things to find a 'passion' in life. Something I can get really excited about. I see others have found theirs in all sorts of activities, but I find I get proficient at something, and then become bored. So...I'm curious, Why do you paddle? What makes you go out time and time again? This is where you should feel free to get way up on that box...i'm listening :)
As always, thanks in advance for your time to put thoughts here.

Russ
 
elmo said:
B1200 said:
Why do you paddle?

Russ

I truly wish I knew Russ :shock:
I can't imagine anything I'd rather be doing though.

daniel
SEE! Now thats EXACTLY how I want to feel about something. Anything!
I'm looking forward to seeing what responses this gets :?
 
Russ.. you've ... never been in a kayak before? I think you might like to take some lessons and find out what you've been missing (you definitely don't have to wait until your tern is done to get a taste). You're brave taking on a kayak build without ever being in the cockpit.

That said, what attracts me to kayaking and other water sports is not clear or easy to pin down. It's a collection of friends, a sense of exploration and the water. Each person is going to have a wildly different answer for you and I think it'll just end up coloring your expectations.

-Rich
 
RichardH said:
Russ.. you've ... never been in a kayak before? I think you might like to take some lessons and find out what you've been missing (you definitely don't have to wait until your tern is done to get a taste). You're brave taking on a kayak build without ever being in the cockpit.

That said, what attracts me to kayaking and other water sports is not clear or easy to pin down. It's a collection of friends, a sense of exploration and the water. Each person is going to have a wildly different answer for you and I think it'll just end up coloring your expectations.

-Rich
Well, I'm not sure about brave :) But I like that description, thank you. It's better than idiot, grin. I will be careful about others views and my expectations...thanks for that. And yes, lessons will be in my future.
Like you I love to explore, really have always enjoyed anything around water, but I have no friends. :roll: Maybe I will meet some when this is all done!
 
B1200 said:
So...I'm curious, Why do you paddle? What makes you go out time and time again? This is where you should feel free to get way up on that box...i'm listening :)

I tend to cycle through activities because, like you, I have a tendency to become bored with something once I'm proficient. I flew small planes around Puget Sound off and on... I'd get tired of landing at the same islands and airstrips and sell the plane and then, a few years later I'd find another airplane and get the bug again. It was easier when 1940-ish airplanes were more numerous and for sale at the same price as a used Volkswagen. (Seriously... my first airplane was $1500 in 1970!)

And I've had a collection of sailboats over the years too. All the way up to a 32-foot cruising boat we took on a 5-year trip.

Gliders... same thing... I got pretty good at it (cross country flying) and slowed down. Ditto for cyclling. Ditto for tennis. Ditto for climbing. Ditto for downhill skiing.

Maybe I'm just back in a kayak phase again. But it's been about ten years between both white water and sea kayaking and I think this will last a while longer. One thing I like about kayaks is that I can get exercise while sitting down; not a lot of ways to do that. I don't walk all that well so it helps to sit. Not many sports where you can do the extreme version even if you don't walk all that well.

I love to explore, to see new things, to find new places. I also kinda like a jolt of adrenaline. I'm not that gregarious when I paddle but I have some close friends I enjoy paddling with. I like to teach kids to paddle and my daughter and her husband both kayak.

But it's hard to pin down just one reason for paddling. You see more and leave less of a trail than in most other vehicles. And, like cross-country skiing, it doesn't really matter how good you are... everyone can get something out of it. The learning curve between the first paddle and Deception Pass might be a couple of years but the learning curve for that first paddle on Lake Union is quite low and the experience is immediately fun. You don't have to be an expert to enjoy it. But you do have to use good judgement.

It's a challenge if you want one. A stress reliever if you need one. A learning experience if you like those. And a quiet contemplative experience when nothing else will do.

Craig
 
It's kinetic, dynamic, demanding, absorbing, a window to a new world, a route to places unknown to many, stimulating of muscles and mind, and an interplay with wild creatures unusual and new.

There is a mind/body synergy inherent in tracing old and new routes and waters that requires me to work the two together for the satisfaction of each.

Sometimes exhilarating and edging on frightening; other times calming and able to drain tension away as a sponge draws water.

Finally, it is adaptable to any mood I have, any activity level I want or am capable of.
 
First, I just wanted to float and relax on the calm water. I never thought I will enjoy going in to the rough water.
Next, I wanted to go to dig some clams, and go islands to camp.
And found out I wanted single kayak to have more freedome than being in a tandem to explore.
Being in a single kayak, my concern was the safety, so I read books and took some lesson for basic kayaking safety.
At the class, I saw my instructor doing side scull and rolling and he said I don't need strong muscle, and that was the turning point of my kayaking.I wanted to do THAT MOVE!!
Ever since, I practice to improve my skills and enjoy being in challenging conditions. It is like discovering fun of mountain biking instead of biking to just go to neighborhood park. There are always challenging condition ahead of me when I acomplished something.

There are so many things I can learn and practice that I can't see the end of it.
I can't imagine I will be bored.

What keeps me going over and over again is ( are) the challenge and goal I can see, the community which gives me advise and help to achive those goals, all those beautiful pictures I see all over taken from kayaks, and those newbies' bright bursting smile when their first roll happens ( it is like a kid getting a gift he really really wanted). If I ever became proficient about kayaking, I can see I will enjoy helping others improve their skills.
 
DarrenM said:
I think whips are too rough.

Monster said:
Because of all the hot and lonely chicks I get to meet in the middle of nowhere..!

LOL. You guys are too much. I totally agree about the whips though. Monster, are you referring to the likes of these little cuties?:

7_goldeneyechicks_1.jpg


Why do I paddle?

My father bought me a canoe when I was thirteen -- it was an aluminum canoe from Simpson-Sears. It had a 4" tall red stripe from bow to stern, just below the gunnel. It was a beauty. I marvelled at its riveted construction and couldn't wait to try it out. I vividly recall sitting in that boat wearing my life jacket with paddle in hand, hull firmly placed on the floor of our garage -- dreaming of all the places that my dad and I would go. And we went paddling at every opportunity (which wasn't all that often, but often enough). The family moved to Delta when I was in junior high school and the canoe got lots of use as we lived up a hill and across the street from the Fraser River. My neighbourhood pals and I would paddle all along the banks of the river, if we had some money, we'd sometimes stop in New Westminster to buy a delectable pastry at the Columbia Street Bakery. Or we'd paddle under the Surrey Fraser docks and make rude comments to rile the longshoremen from our safe perch, bobbing around just out of sight under the dock. That was always good for a chuckle. Many times we'd paddle to St Mungos Cannery and stop on the beach to look for native beads and arrowheads. Sometimes we'd paddle into Annieville Slough to talk and joke with the fishermen and hope that they'd toss us a fresh salmon to take home -- we'd always get big points for bringing home a salmon dinner. I remember my mom telling us in her most sinster and genuinely threatening voice, "don't you ever let me catch you around that Pattullo Bridge". Of course, the only thing that not being allowed to go somewhere meant was that it was probably a really good place to go. And it was. One of my pals and I spent many an afternoon playing around in the eddies and currents under the bridge -- had the crap scared out of us on more than one occasion too, and learned a healthy respect for the power of water. Thankfully, my mom never found out or I might not be telling this tale. I paddled that canoe quite a bit and did a few camping trips in it until a couple of years out of high school when I lost interest in it as I got into other things. I didn't paddle that canoe ever again but I knew that one day I would find myself paddling a boat once more.

For a few years in the later part of the eighties, I had been into backpacking in a big way and was finding that it was getting more and more difficult to hike to places where there were few people. I found it frustrating that it required driving nearly the better part of a day to get to trailheads that provided good wilderness experiences where you wouldn't be meeting a steady stream of people on the trail and at the destination. Finding backpacking seclusion without bushwhacking on a long weekend anywhere within several hours of Vancouver was getting nearly impossible. I began thinking that a canoe or kayak might be a good way to avoid the typical long weekend traffic and still be out in wilderness areas within an hour or so. At that time, kayaks weren't nearly as popular as they are now and I remember seeing one on the roof of a car at Mountain Equipment Co-op. I chatted with the owner and watched the excitement in his eyes as he proudly told me all about his kayak and about some of the places he'd paddled. The kayak was beginning to overshadow the canoe as my next boat.

Shortly afterwards, while I was on a solo cycling trip from Jasper to Vancouver I met up with a couple from Ontario -- I cycled and shared campsites with them for three days of my trip. They were also into kayaking (on Lake Ontario) and told me lots of stories about the adventures they experienced and how much fun they had doing it. The kayak bug had obstinately ingrained itself...

Several months after that cycling trip, and after doing some extensive investigating and shopping, I decided that I was going to shell out some of my hard earned dollars to buy a Nimbus Solander (which at the time, was one of the boats to have) -- that's when my wife and I learned that our first child was on his way. Kayaking got put on hold but we continued on backpacking and camping with our son. When Maddie was born it became pretty much impossible to carry a toddler and an infant and all our camping gear, we continued camping but migrated to car camping in remote forestry campsites with the odd short backpacking trip when we could. When our second daughter was born, we only did car camping trips. We had a lot of fun and got to some pretty cool off-the-beaten-track places but I still was longing to get into kayaking so that I could get to the more remote locations with less car travel. Unfortunately, the kayak would have to wait.

When my son turned seven, I decided that it was time to once again look at kayaks -- but this time I was looking for a double. An opportunity arose that allowed me to build the Pygmy Double that all my kids grew up in. My wife found that she wasn't into kayaking as much as I was but it was great for me (and for her) to take one of the kids and go away for a weekend here and there. The rest, you all pretty much know from trip and location reports posted on the site.

So for me, kayaking is a practical means to get to the wilderness areas that I'm so very fond of -- and to hopefully pass that appreciation on to my children as my father did with me. I enjoy the peace and quiet, and the serenity, and the spectacular scenery, and the fresh air, and sleeping outside, and wildlife sightings, and the magnificent ocean -- and paddling a kayak around in some of the most phenomenal places that this planet has to offer isn't so bad either. That's why I paddle.

*****
 
I identify with many of the elements of Dan's wonderful essay. Just two tidbits from the early years of my paddling history:

My ex- and I, very early in our marriage, acquired a Grumman 17-ft flatwater canoe, and tried to teach ourselves how to guide it. Oof. What an epic battle: two strong-willed and stubborn people, each unable to release control or share it well enough to guide a canoe competently. It truly was a divorce boat, although the breakup did not occur for some 15 years ... perhaps a delayed reaction? In contrast, Becky and I get on very well in a close-coupled double demanding coordination of paddlestrokes, although she never wants the stern and its rudder pedals. The double kayak is apparently not a divorce boat ... perhaps because we are not married, only engaged some 5 years now. Oh, yes, these days, it turns out my ex- and I and some mutual friends paddle together regularly ... albeit she and I rarely share a boat. The one time I can recall, we got along quite well, but of course I was in the rear!

I got started in kayaks when a longtime buddy and mountain biking partner was gifted with a complete kit of boat, paddles, skirt, paddle float, dry bags, clunky HH VHF, etc., etc., for some $400, back in 1991. The boat was an Eddyline Orca, a vessel of microcephalic bow and huge, broad stern, which we eventually dubbed "The Broach Machine." The Orca led Gary on a couple of solo adventures, and I got interested but with no boat, I was dead (not) in the water. Discovering a bulletin board (the real kind, not an electronic version) boat in Portland, I soon had an Eddyline Wind Dancer in my town house, complete with frozen-together mongo San Juan paddle and an oil can injury which (unknown to me at purchase) had broken the boat in the middle, separating the hull/deck seams and a bit of the cockpit/coaming seam as well. After a couple near-disasters on the Columbia, times of no immersion gear and no knowledge of how to re-enter our boats, we trained ourselves in a local pool, and acquired some skills and judgement. [I also repaired the damaged seams on mine.] He and I paddled all over the lower Columbia, as therapy for his collapsing marriage, until he got involved in hi current spouse. Kayak camping also led to my relationship with Becky. Discretion prevents me from revealing details ... suffice to say she had never camped on the ground before or slept in a backpacking style tent.

I think I've told enough.
 
Reading Dan's essay and Dave's story I wondered just how many kayakers have had an aluminum canoe in their past. My wife and I lived on a lake near Marysville and she and I used to paddle our well-used Grumman (bought for $100 when people still used the classified ads) from our house at one end of the lake to her parents' house at the other end. At first with a dog. Then with a little girl and a dog. That canoe was stolen off our beach but its replacement (bought new) reposes here at this lake house.

Paddling as therapy must have a long and glorious history. When my first marriage ended I paddled my old Folbot around the lake for hours just working off energy. That, in fact, caught the attention of a cute redheaded girl who lived with her parents in their house at the other end of the lake..... thirtysix years ago.

I talked to that cute redheaded girl for the first time in 1972 at the back door of that house at the end of the lake and in 2003 she and I waited at that same door for our daughter - another cute redheaded girl - to come out. When she came out she walked with us down the aisle at her garden wedding in the yard of that house next to the lake. Now she and her husband live (with two little boys and three kayaks) at one end of our lake and we all paddle and boat back and forth.

That daughter left with us on a 32-foot sailboat in 1980 and returned with us along with her little brother who is now my partner in our business. He was six months old before he slept overnight on land.

Boats in general... and kayaks, canoes and sailboats in particular have played a big part in my life. It's nice to see so many other lives touched so permanently by the magic of boating and one reason why I love reading Dan's stories about the adventures he shares with Maddy.

Craig
 
Rather than an aluminum canoe...mine started with a wood/canvas canoe. I was born in Whitehorse, Yukon and my Mom came from a canoe racing background and her brother Don Graham founded the Whitehorse canoe and kayak club paddling the Yukon River and such. We were active in the club...in about 1963 I remember riding in our green wood/canvas canoe in the club parade float for the Sourdough Rendezvous. As I grew up we always had boats - always wooden boats...Dad didn't think any other boat was worth owning. He built them and he renovated some others. In 2001 or so I almost bought an old wood/canvas canoe from a fellow in Grand Forks that reconditions them....until my sister in Whitehorse talked me into trying kayaking instead as that's what they do. I've been hooked ever since. I first had two plastic boats, now I have a fiberglass...but one day I'll have that wooden boat. :D

I kayak because I can travel leaving only a line of wake in that pocket just on the other side of the line between rock and water... 8)
 
The aluminum canoe I had in my past belonged to the boy scout troop. We used to take the canoe's out lake fishing on opening day and again the last weekend of lake fishing. One summer we took the canoe's and did the Bowron Lake chain in 5 days.

After boy scouts was done, I saw a guy with a Pygmy Goldeneye at the boat launch and always thought it would be fun to build a kayak. Two years ago I purchased a Pygmy kit and have been sloooowly working on it. In the mean time, I have purchased a single kayak to start learning my kayaking skills and to help get me motovated to build the kayak.

While being in a power boat and seeing a lot of scenery in a short amount of time while I'm on vacation can be fun, it's somewhat relaxing being in a kayak and enjoying the scenery at a slower pace. It's also somewhat nice knowing I'm burning a few more calories paddling that you aren't burning standing at the helm of a powerboat.
 
The easy answer to the question "why do you paddle"? would be simply if I have to explain it to you, you won't understand. Everyone here has their own very personal reasons, some of them grew up with boats, some just got started with them, but all of us seem to be pretty passionate about kayaks and kayaking. It's a sport and pastime that YOU can control the amount of physicality (?) of, whether you want to go out on the lake and loll around, or spend the day challenging whitewater or surf. There are so many different aspects of the sport, almost anyone can enjoy it. That's also why I have three kayaks, and two more builds I'm thinking of for myself in the future.
A while ago, I started putting rod holders in my boats, since I was building a special kayak to be able to fish a tiny estuary that couldn't be reached any other way. Then I realized that it was a perfect place to stick a light for night paddling, by shoving the end of my fashlight- shaped beacon into a short length of pvc, and was able to paddle at night, legally. I can't begin to explain the way the moon rise looks when you're out on the water with a few freinds, and nobody's talking too much, because they're all entranced by the view.
The other great thing about wood or sof kayaks is that they are so quiet on the water, wildlife is not chased away by them. I've seen otters pop up out of the water less than 10 yards from me, and stay there, just looking, as I paddled by. Bears were a bit farther away (thankfully) but showed no concern about sharing the water, and though I have yet to see it, I'd love to see an Orca breach from a reasonable distance, though preferably not on top of me.
In your area, B1200, there are so many great places to paddle, you shouldn't have any problem developing a passion for it, though you're already on dangerous ground by starting with a build. You know you can't build just one....
 
"Why do I paddle?"

It's hard to pin point exactly what makes paddling so appealing to me. It could be the luxury of being able to sit on flat, calm water thinking about different ways to deal with issues, and keep a cool head about it. Or, it could be the constant growth of myself everytime I see that wave and challenge myself to try new things. Or maybe it's the feeling I get when I conquer my own personal goals, as I push myself to do better and paddle farther. It may be the dynamic people I meet as I am paddling from island to island, but at the same time it may be the enjoyment I get when I am with only one other person, and I find that I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world in those quiet moments that keeps me paddling.

A while ago I figured out that it's harder to explain these things to people than I thought it was. I go to school, and I don't really share that I kayak with anyone. Because unless they have truly tried the activity, they will never understand the amount of self-reliance, self-perseverance, and self-motivation that you earn from it. So paddling stays with me as I sit in class, and I feel like I have my own pot of gold, my own treasure.

So maybe what keeps me paddling is all the lessons that I have learned. Everything I have done/have yet to do in kayaking will stay with me for the rest of my life, and it has definitely made me a better person in all ways possible.




Thanks Dad.
 
Maddie, that's amazingly profound coming from someone your age. If that kind of thinking is in any way related to the self confidence and personal growth stemming from kayaking, I think that kayaking should be a required course in all schools from first grade on.
 
I got into boats at 11 or 12 with a plywood pram my parents gave me partially built. The work of completing the small boat prior to sailing it gave me a dose of respect for watercraft in general. From there it was on to a very beat up laser (14 ft sailboat), a training rowing shell, windurfers, then a glass canoe my wife and I could use together. I had done day trips off and on in rented kayaks and never liked it. They were all big clunky doubles that I could never get comfortable in. I then read a magazine article written by a guy who built a Pygmy in his apartment. Since I still did not like kayaks, I built a osprey 13 for my wife as a winter project, the plan being to buy a used small canoe or build one for me. My kayak attitude changed when I rented a good quality Eddyline yak. It fit well, was much faster in most conditions than any canoe and I decided to build a kayak for my use. On the second trip out in my now complete boat I loved how it felt to be right on the water, silent, and with nobody around (difficult to accomplish in Seattle). About half way through that day a young seal popped up and began teasing me be chewing on the stern handle of my kayak then rocketing off when I turned to look. I was hooked.
 
Maddie wrote: A while ago I figured out that it's harder to explain these things to people than I thought it was. I go to school, and I don't really share that I kayak with anyone. Because unless they have truly tried the activity, they will never understand the amount of self-reliance, self-perseverance, and self-motivation that you earn from it. So paddling stays with me as I sit in class, and I feel like I have my own pot of gold, my own treasure.

Maddie, you stun me with the degree of self-awareness and accurate, thoughtful, self-evaluation you exhibit. As Stumpy said, it is rare to find those qualities in such a high state in someone of your chronology ... and not every person who arrives at "adulthood" reaches your levels -- ever.

Watch out, world, here comes Maddie! :wink: :wink:
 
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