Do It Your Way

Of all the sports in which I've participated, I cannot recall one that offers the variety of expression as much as kayaking does. We might all start out with the same basics but, from there, the possibilities seem endless (which would be infinite and not likely, but I use poetic license...and I digress).

There are the recreational paddlers who tend to paddle wider boats in calmer waters on nicer days with less expense. Most of us, I suspect, call ourselves sea kayakers, spend more on everything, have lots of it and sometimes go out in conditions that cause our spouses, friends and partners to fret about our sanity.

Then there are the racers who work out like marathon runners and paddle boats that are to rec boats what thongs are to boxer shorts.

Even within the sea kayaking fraternity there are day paddlers, shuttle paddlers, out and back paddlers and trippers who pack their food, fire, clothes and Irish whiskey into small dark compartments in (dare I say) the bowels of their little boats.

And, speaking of boats, there are plastic boats, glass boats, Kevlar boats, carbon boats, inflatable boats, sit on top boats and skin on frame boats...to mention the main ones. We buy them, trade them, hang them in garages and put them atop our cars. We build them from scratch, from kits, out of strips, out of planks and sometimes cover them with canvas or nylon or some other synthetic material. Then, depending on the "skin", we paint them with outdoor oil paint or, perhaps, Rustoleum.

Then there are the folks in little crafts and wearing brain buckets as they shoot down rapids and over drops and in and out of swirls in the river.

The thing is, and what I like best, is that we are all members of the same group. We are all kayaker people who share the essence of the game...smelly neoprene.

Paddle safe...

DS