Friend oldyaker,
If I am repeatin' a tale, please accept my apologizin'. I aint az old az some, but I kin fergit with the best of 'em.
Back when I usedta read "Outside" magazine, cover ta cover....issue after issue (before it become a Yuppie snow ski & mountain bike magazine), Ole Randy Wayne White wrote a tale bout paddlin' gear. He tole how him 'n hiz ex-Marine buddy went over ta the Nantahala 'n laughed at the paddlin' folk in wierd clothes 'n air bags 'n such.
Ole Randy 'n hiz buddy wuz wearin' cut off jeans, tennis shoes 'n paddlin' a Grumman. It wuz summer. He tole how wierd they figgered all them whitewater paddlin' fellas wuz in all the funny clothes 'n plastic boats.
They put in up ta Ferrebee Park, jest above Delebar's Rock. They went round the bend 'n lost the Grumman on Delebar's. They lost the beer cooler 'n paddles 'n near bout froze before they got out. Ole Randy sez mebbe there's a reason fer all the strange paddlin' gear 'n plastic boats.
Now dont git me wrong. Most a my paddlin' life I been in used, beat up gear. Until 2002 I never had a seat I didnt make outta foam 'n Lance's fish carvin' lectric knife. [That year I bought a used fat man boat....the red one in the pichurs of me in the falls on my webshot that Pirogue showed me how ta set up.] I carved 'n glued all my own knee pads frum blocks 'm glued in all my thigh straps. I made some foot braces frum a tore up kayak.
One year we painted all our canoes green like the college colors, but the paint didnt take. We put 'em in the Nantahala 'n turned it kinda green. We used ta call the reglars "Center Magic" cuz they mostly had Volvos, high dollar dry suits 'n high dollar roof racks. I used the $25 rain gutter clamps ya put a 2x4 on till Lance's son-in-law made me a angle iron rack.
I use a $25 plastic paddle 'n a few "lost" plastic raft company paddles that I never could git back ta the owner. Half my flotation iz used, wore out stuff frum the NOC GAF (Guest Appreciatin' Festival) sale each October. My river shoes come frum Wal-Mart 'n my wool socks frum Campmor. Whew.....
Aint no reason fer anyone bein' a snob bout gear, but there dang sho iz a point in havin' the rite gear fer the job......jest like Ole Randy figgered out when he run up on Delebar's Rock 'n lost hiz Grumman.
regards,
bearridge