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?:
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.
*****