We’re veterans of the whitewater vs. sea kayak wars. Our paddling addiction began with little boats on moving water; we soon moved on to long boats on open water. But we’re basically equal opportunity paddlers who love both kinds of boats, both kinds of water, and both communities of paddlers.
Still, we take plenty of ribbing, particularly from the whitewater paddlers who call sea kayaking “flatwater.” That’s obviously just ignorance, but tell that to an obstinate, paddle-wielding playboater. Thankfully, we aren’t thin-skinned enough to take offense, though the taunting has certainly tainted a few post-trip dinner gatherings.
Now we’re getting a hard time from the canoeists, who harbor a myriad of misconceptions about kayaks. They think a double-bladed paddle ensures that our boats go straight. (Wrong.) They think we paddle with our arms instead of our torsos. (Wrong again.) But above all, they think we’re a bunch of gonzo goofballs. (You decide.)
We understand where they’re coming from, in a way. They mostly encounter inexperienced paddlers in rec boats (which we disdainfully call “wreck boats”) because those are the ones who sign up for the kind of river trips that one of our excellent local canoe organizations, the Prairie State Canoeists (PSC), organizes. These “kayakers” are typically people who’ve purchased inexpensive plastic boats and have gotten little or no instruction, and they cause the serious canoeists no end of frustration as they get stuck in strainers, swamp their boats and struggle on every portage.
We feel like Switzerland without the bank accounts. Or maybe we’re too invested in each of them. So when we were invited to write some kayak safety articles for the PSC newsletter, we happily agreed. With the utmost repect for all involved, we’ll reprint them in this blog in the coming days.
Here’s how we feel about the mutual lack of admiration, however. We’re all paddlers. If you’re invested enough in whitewater kayaking, sea kayaking or canoeing to learn your strokes and rescues, understand how to read the conditions in which you paddle, and invest in appropriate equipment, you’re part of the club. If you’re too arrogant to take a lesson and too obstinant to purchase appropriate gear, you’re out until you mend your ways.
And it’s time that we all just got along.