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Canoe
Kind of Guy
By: Randy Cunningham
There have been many changes in paddling over the years.
Clothing and accessories of every imaginable sort have been
developed and marketed. Materials for craft have gone from
wood and canvas, to aluminum, to Royalex and Kevlar. None
of these have matched in importance the rise of kayaking as king
of paddling - leaving canoeing in its wake.
This trend is shown in some anecdotes. Three or four years
ago, I took a basic canoeing class from the local chapter of the
American Red Cross. The class was filled with no
problem. It was one of the last of such classes to enjoy
that level of enrollment. Since then, basic canoe classes have
been cancelled for lack of interest, while for kayaking classes
it is standing room only. Last June, the Mad River Canoe
road show came to a lake I paddle on frequently. They were
also showing a line of kayaks. The canoes lined the banks
unused, like wallflowers at a dance. The kayaks were never
on dry land for long. This past spring, I signed up for my
river canoeing introductory class, again with the Red
Cross. I was the only person who signed up for it.
The rest were kayakers, taking their river class.
Being a rock-ribbed canoe head, I have not joined the
enthusiasm. I would like to try sea kayaking at some time
in the future. However, it is at the bottom of the list of
priorities, behind all the places I want to visit - in a canoe.
Why this hesitancy to get with it and be so retro? I bear
no ill will towards kayakers or kayaks. I sure as hell
have more in common with them than I ever will with those who
motorboat. (We will not even discuss those barbarians on
jet skis).
I think it boils down to culture and stage in life.
Canoeists wear their baseball caps with the bills facing
forward. Kayakers wear theirs facing backwards. A
canoeist will call you a guy. A kayaker will call you a
dude. A canoeist will react to something he or she
approves of with polite, or, at best, enthusiastic
applause. A kayaker will react like the audience of the
Jerry Springer show, with whoops and high fives. Canoeists
won't admit it, but they identify with Homer Simpson.
Kayakers identify with Bart. A canoeist reads a good book
or takes care of the unexciting business of maintaining society
while not paddling. A kayaker is publishing an E-zine,
jumps around in the mosh pit, goes skateboarding, or is diving
into a chasm attached to a glorified rubber band. A kayak
is your boyfriend or girlfriend. A canoe is your spouse.
The branch of canoeing I identify with the most is wilderness
tripping. Another example of the difference in the two
branches of paddling is conversation around the campfire.
With wilderness canoeing we would discuss sighting a flotilla of
loons, or the beauty of a particular lake. The campfire in
my river class was utterly different.. There were no
musings about the sublime around this campfire. Instead,
the conversations were about hair-raising drops and the last
time you cheated death. I felt like a Betazoid on the
bridge of a Klingon bird of prey. I was surprised that at
the end of the night, everyone did not take his or her leave by
butting heads and declaring "May you die well!"
The rise of kayaking and the decline of canoeing can be seen in
advertisements. The cult of youth is reflected in kayaking
shots. The ads show excitement. They are sexy.
They show paddlers who are right out of TV, where the world is
occupied by people who are beautiful, hard-bodied, young, rich
and single. These characters live life on the edge, and
when they are on the water, they are in kayaks. Canoes are
only shown when the target audience is focused on retirement
services, Viagra, menopause or adult hygienic products.
You kayak into the excitement of young adulthood. You
canoe into your demise.
Canoeing can be done solo, but it really was designed to be a
collective effort between two people. Kayaking can be done
in tandem, but it really was designed to be an individual
effort. It has a better fit to the culture of our present
go-go era. Collective efforts are not in vogue. The
cultural hero of our time is the lone entrepreneur, sitting
behind his laptop, playing Master of the Universe with far-flung
investments and economies. You can bet that if he paddles,
he paddles a kayak. Paddling by yourself in a kayak is
also more convenient in a world where families seldom eat
together and more and more Americans live alone. Ever try
to organize a canoe trip in today's world? Finding that
other partner can be more daunting than negotiating any rapids.
Will canoes be driven from the waters by the kayaking
rage? Will canoeists become a small, obscure sub-sect of
the paddling world? Since devised eons ago, canoes have
waxed and waned repeatedly in popularity, but have never totally
disappeared. They still have the edge on their rivals in
being able to haul a ton of gear into the bush. Though
families kayak together, when you think of a family outing with
kids in tow, you think of a canoe. Canoes may return in a
future, less frantic time. Our culture may swing back
again to where the emphasis is less on the heroic, self obsessed
individual, and more on the cooperative effort of two people
paddling a craft.
Until the wheel of fashion turns again, canoe aficionados should
learn to glory in their underdog status. I can think of no
better example of this unhip and proud stand than a recent canoe
race that was held in Illinois. The competition was
restricted to aluminum canoes. You want to talk about out
of fashion! Yet there they were, proudly racing their beloved
bauxite beasts. Their spirit should be an example to us
all, that we, canoe heads, should keep the faith and continue to
paddle into the future the craft that has given us so much
pleasure in the past - the humble, unappreciated, but
indomitable canoe.
Copyright
© 2000, Randy Cunningham. All rights reserved. Not
to be reprinted without the express permission of the author.
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