Pnet/com gatherings

Paddlers' Place
#1

Its cold outside. I bet a lot of us are dreaming of getting out and paddling again, seeing old paddling friends, visiting our favorite rivers, campfires and rising to early morning coffee in the morning dew.

There must be thousands of us dreaming such dreams about now - so where are the trip plan threads? Are we paddlers or what? Why are we not planning get-togethers like we did years ago? What happened to Raystown? The Ozark group is ageing out and many of us have passed, but shouldn’t there be more new additions? What is becoming of the traditions of the old gatherings or new gatherings forming?

So what are youse guys’ thoughts? Is this some indication that paddling is becoming less popular? Is there some sort of societal change that is leading us to more of a “bowling alone” mindset? Granted, paddlers tend to be pretty independent sorts and enjoy a degree of solitude, but we are also a community. What’s become of our community?

Almost any of us could organize gatherings of like-minded paddlers on any number of beautiful lakes or rivers. Many of us are quite capable of safely leading such trips. Why aren’t we? Or does it just not show up on this board anymore?

We are bound in a love of the water and the feel of the wind. Starry nights around a campfire. Is that not enough to bring us together anymore? Maybe we should bring the guitars and sing a chorus or two of “Where have all the Flowers Gone”. :worried:

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#2

You weren’t kidding huh?

#4

But what about congeniality with other padlers?

#5

I don’t paddle to congeal with other kayakers. I do it to go from point A to point B and back. I don’t know more than one kayakers who has the same goal and easily outpace everyone I know, except for one kayaker, by about an average of 2 mph. I gave up offering suggestions on how they others can paddle more efficiently. Ironically, they think its too much like work.

More power to gregarious kayaking. I’d rather watch TV than retard my effort so I can hang out, or just go out solo and improve my game while enjoying the solitude.

The problem for me is that most kayakers are happy paddling between 2.8 and 3.6 mph. You can’t even feel the wind in your face at that speed. I often hear, speed isn’t everything but to me it’s refreshing.

#6

@Jyak, we are not talking about regular, training runs for efficency and conditioning, we are talking about one time get togethers to congeal in a social setting.

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#7

Understand. My response it to the possibility that kayaking interest may be dwindling. It may be true, but Im simply suggesting that there are many people with high end kayaks who engage specific conditions. I can name one kayaker who lives to paddle waves. I don’t get out enough as it is to sacrifice an opportunity that I can easily spend sitting around a table.

I’m only suggesting that fewer social kayaking events doesn’t necessarily mean that people are giving up kayaking. I guess it means fewer people are attending social events, and maybe giving up on kayaks. Not intending to redirect the post, but I have noticed that the number of paddlers who converted to stand up paddle boards has exploded with a direct correlation to fewer numbers in either rec kayaks or sea kayaks.

That’s all.

#8

I will try and understand.

#9

It’s just a different preference, not being critical. Only explaining a different perspective. Nobody has to agree, and it probably represents a minority view. Didn’t mean to dissent or complicate the topic, just registering a point of view.

#10

Still trying.

#11

No need to. No fair for me to complicate the topic and go off track. I’ll just say that kayaking as we know it is probably falling out of favor.

#12

You are mistaken, everything, everything, has its ebbs and flows, even civilization. Remember the Dark Ages? Beauty is the essence of kayaking, its simplicity, that will never change. Whether people recognize that and appreciate that, that changes. But as long as the beauty is there, it will be discovered again and appreciated and this time prevented more from being lost. Kind of like what is going on in this country right now.

#13

What matters to me is a paddle in hand, a boat under me and the solitude of open water. The future of kayaking isn’t relevant to me. That’s all I have to offer on the subject.

#14

That is not the sentiment you first expressed,you said, “Kayaking is falling out of favor.” I completely agree with the sentiment of the last post, but that was not the sentiment of the original post.

#15

I’ll retract my confusing irrelevant comment in 3 hrs.

#16

I rewrote the post to it would not sound offensive.

Total apologies to the OP for distracting the thread.

#17

PJC, distance has been an issue for me, as I try to keep from driving as much as possible. I always enjoyed the threads after those trips and would have enjoyed being there. I am still canoe and kayak camping, but it has been about a year now since my last trip. Two years ago, there were at least 4 water related camping trips. Looks like I’m slowing down.

I also committed to being crew on a racing sailboat every Saturday the last two years. So that has been a limiting factor.

This winter I have been daydreaming as I work on my Scamp sailboat readying it for sailing trips here in SC and down along the coast of FL.

I think many may be like me in that I have a group of about 6 friends that paddle and camp together. That reduces to some degree any shuttle problems. However, most of the trips start and finish at the same place because they are large lakes and coastal venues. We rarely leave the state to paddle. There is talk about doing the Savanaha River from Augusta to the coast. Lots of swamps and wild river land.

When I saw the Ozark Rendezvous post I thought heck now with family not far from there maybe we can do it this year. I just have to see how things schedule out over the next couple of months. I would like to finally meet you.

I am headed up to the mountains to camp 3 nights and flyfish with two of those paddling partners tomorrow.

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#18

I do think society is changing. A lot of us who have been around Pnet since it started are part of a generation that did things face to face together and enjoyed being in wild places with little gear and enjoyeld “roughing it.” Younger people have grown up in a cyber-space world where friends meet and communicate, do gaming etc on line. Although there are of course major exceptions, a large portion of society does not feel any need to congregate live. I’ve noticed one area that this is less true is attending music concerts, I think it gives them a taste of what it was once like to be part of a large social group.

You also see road bikers in large groups, unfortunately their behavior have earned them the belief among non-bicyclists that road bikers are a$$-holes for the most part.

Mountain bikers tend to get together in small groups of similar ability, much like paddlers, but equipment costs keep a lot of people out of that sport.

The other side of this is paddlers are aging out and most young people don’t have thousands of dollars and large garages to buy and keep performance sea kayaks or even just family canoes.

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#19

I fear what you say about societal change is true and maybe (maybe) that is at least a contributing factor in why there haven’t been any other new start up Pnet/com groups since Raystown. I’m a bit doubtful that its all about on-line communities replacing face-to-face communities, though.

I don’t know if anyone here has read “Bowling Alone” by Robert Putnam (its a pretty well distributed book and well known) written in ~2000 - before the internet had the impact it now has. His thesis, well documented, is that there has been an ongoing decline in social communities since about 1950. He centers his observations on bowling leagues, but applies it to everything from trade groups, church attendance, tavern softball leagues, Elks Clubs, etc. And maybe Paddling groups?
But it could also be, as Mjac suggests, the ebb & flow of popularity of paddling. It has happened before. Canoeing was supplanted by bicycling as a common activity in about the 1920s, if my memory of an account I once read serves, due in part to the buy-in costs and maintenance requirements of wood/canvas canoes. Some felt that as a sport for ordinary folk paddling was revived by the affordable low-maintenance Grumman aluminum canoe.

Like Jyak I’m not exactly tormented by whether paddling is popular or not. I’ll do it as long as I can no matter. On the other hand, it would be very nice to pass on a tradition that has brought us all so much pleasure to another generation. At least from where I stand it looks like they sorely need it. And group paddling seems like it might be a good way to introduce it, especially if their peers could be involved with them.

I don’t know. It just seems incongruous that so many people come to this and other paddling boards, discuss boats and clothing and gear and locations, yet we don’t actually get together with each other and paddle with the folks we communicate with.

What’s up with that?

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#20

I think we fret too much about this generation or that generation spending too much time on internet related activities many times in isolation. That experience and it is an experience in and of itself, will only make the experience of nature when they bluntly encounter it, that more impactful and they may become better stewards of it then we were.

#21

I experience this with bicycling. Road biking was popular, but I didn’t get serious until mountain biking exploded. I tried getting my kids and friends involved. They did for a while, but eventually, they had less important things to do. I eventially drifted away from biking because my favorite rail-to-trail route became clogged with people, and they posted a speed limit of 15 mph enforced by radar. Rather than complete the 40 mile round trip, I ended up going 12 or 14 miles because the people who wanted to accompany me got tired.

I switched to water and bought a couple of canoes with one rec kayak. Then I expanded with upgrades. When talking about a kayak, I got drawn in by anyone who thought it would be fun to kayak. Packing up five kayaks and gear, then piddle around as they paddled and stopped, paddled and stopped, or went 1/2 mike and stopped. It was my burden to pack and unpack the gear, then clean up. Too much like work for them. In the time it took to handle the logistics and wait for people to show up, I could have paddled a 21 mile round trip. I stopped trying to introduce anyone to the nuances of bicycling or kayaking.

One thing I have noticed is the switch from sea kayaks to the stand up paddle boards. The place where I launch no longer even rents sea kayaks. Their inventory is all sit on top style or paddle boards, which don’t have the range of a sea kayak. Therechas also been a wide growth in fishing kayaks, and they tend to go out individually.

I’m not competitive, so I don’t race, but I do enjoy the low cost and efficiency of paddle power. Technically, there is no real cap on how fast you can paddle. Of course there is the hull speed limit. Once you approach that, you can just upgrade to a faster boat. I don’t mind working with anyone to help them develop skills, but my available time is to valuable to sit in a cove and absorb the sun. Frankly, I joined the forum hoping to find more like minded kayakers who were interested in developing more efficient paddling technique to travel longer distances. That interest is there, but I think less vocal.

You’re probably right when you mention how groups simply tends to drift apart over time. Commitments make it harder to coordinate and schedule trips, and close bonds might make it hard for newcomers to feel like they fit in.

When I was young, canoe rental was more common. Canoeing was just a cost effective way of getting out on the water without the expense and maintenance of power boats. I’ve never been able to figure out why kayaking isn’t more popular, but then, how popular does it need to be. I’m enjoying it as much as I can stand. Sports never die, they just transition.

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