Need to promote cboating? How?

Decked Canoes, Open Canoes, as long as they're canoes!

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ncdavid
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Post by ncdavid »

Thanks, Jack. My reward is to see things like Shannon's results at Nationals, Leah having a clean, dry run of the New River Gorge in her first open boat season, my daughter running the Pigeon, etc.
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Post by East Coast Canoes »

Totally random but during our local weekly paddles, I bring multiple C1's and a rodeo OC1 for everyone to try out. I've actually have gotten a few customer out it to convert there old kayaks to C1's. While there interest in Cboating might be a novelty, they still bring them out along with there kayaks to the local runs and playparks. We have to start somewhere.
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Louie

Post by Louie »

If you are from the South don't kid around with the Yankees on here they have no sense of humor, they are over sensitive, and if in a position of power they tend to over use that power. No concept of what pokin fun with your buddies is about, they are serious about every word they say and can't believe anyone else wouldn't be. The only good think i can say is that they are trainable, after a week at ALF with the GDI, it makes a world of difference, it looks like someone finaly pull the corn cob out of their culo, I would have said butt but that would have been censored.
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yarnellboat
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Post by yarnellboat »

Out west, you need to promote canoeing if you want to have anybody to canoe with! I think any of us who are passionate about something naturally want to share it with others.

The biggest succeses for getting people into canoes generally seems to have been through camps & clubs & organized training. I htink having canoes at outdoor clubs at colleges/universities is an opportunity that we're missing around here, we need to get to young, active people.

The stuff I do to promote canoeing includes:

actively particpating in the local canoe club, including mentoring new members, especially trying to get flatwater paddlers to try whitewater, and offering informal training;

moderating a local canoeing forum to hook-up paddlers in the region beyond their clubs/cliques, and also doing runs & training that the clubs don't offer;

starting a local slalom race just for open boats! - http://www3.telus.net/~soloboat ;

doing some occasional media to promote ww canoeing; and,

joining the local kayak club, interacting with kayakers at pool sessions etc., and attending kayak-dominated events, to expose them to ww canoes, including offering canoe lessons to interested kayakers (no uptake yet).

The biggest successes we've had is probably in the mentoring of new ww canoeists through the club. There are lots of barriers to canoeing, and people need support to get over "the class II hump", whether it's training, mentoring, loaner gear, etc. Often it's just opportunities to get out and practice with other canoes that's a big limitation.

So, if you want to promote ww canoeing, you should probably be willing to paddle with newbies, become a member of local paddling clubs, and if there are no clubs or festivals/races in your region - start one!

Sticking to class IV runs with a few of your buddies isn't going to help much, even if kayakers & rafters do cheer when you roll. The sport is going to grow by building a bigger foundation of class II canoeists and helping them along, not by the occassional class IV conversion.

Pat.
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Craig Smerda
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Post by Craig Smerda »

I used to paddle almost exclusively with kayakers... because almost no one in canoes wanted to "play" or do any of the "big stuff" :(



There... I said it... anyone else care to make confessions? :lol:
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markzak
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Post by markzak »

Do your part for the sport... offer C1 and OC1 roll clinics locally, be available to your friends for help and LOAN out your boats!!!! I always have people asking me how to get into the sport, and just like every other sport including kayaking, it requires specialized equipment. I live on the Lehigh River and I keep my Mad River ME around almost exclusively as a demo open boat for my kayaking buddies. After a run of two in the OC, they usually ask for roll lessons in the closed deck boat, so i throw them in a creekboat. Every year I convert at least a few kayakers to the world of c-boating, even if not full time at least to give them a different way to appreciate the river. Loan out your boats, offer free roll sessions, and if you extra boats lying around, sell them off to make room and money for a new boat. And buy a new boat if you can afford it, show it off as a new boat. And when you see a C1er or OCer in a new boat, those style conscious kayakers (you know the type - that need a new hot design playboat every year even though they can't even flat spin it) are all the more interested in trying out the boat. Style really does matter to a certain percentage of the market out there. For a first timer, trying out someone's beat-up old Mad River ME is a lot less appealing than trying out a cherry red L'Edge, even though the ME is probably a better boat to first learn in.

I also paddle probably 90% with kayakers only, or maybe 1 or 2 other c-boaters. There's nothing wrong with hanging out with kayakers, because sooner or later they're going to want to try out your C or OC.
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oopsiflipped
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Post by oopsiflipped »

can a dead horse feel pain?

i think most canoers of any sort are eccentric at best and frequently are not the sort of people that attract others to anything. how many kids see colin or smell louie and think "wow, i wish that was me?" or see some idiot in a pink helmet flip to his offside and think "wow, being able to brace on both sides is lame!" there is obviously enough of a market to have new boats finally. isn't that good enough?

build the sport all you want, but i'm just out there to enjoy myself and hanging out with my friends. (most of whom are kayakers) in fact the only open boater i've ever paddled with or even seen on the watauga is a kayaker 95% of the time.
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Post by jscottl67 »

I think to grow the ww canoe market, you have to spend some time on the flat water on an OC-2 and take some people out with you. Take them fishing, camping, day trips, etc. to get them out on the water and accustomed to a canoe. I think that is the way the majority of us started, then we moved (at least partially) to ww.

I think that is still where most of the growth will come - not converts.
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PAC
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Post by PAC »

Not to sure on this Louie...
If you are from the South don't kid around with the Yankees on here they have no sense of humor,
....

Saw a lot of folks from all over NA (and Japan) laugh'n and smil'n at ASCI....at each other and with each other!

I know the kids were having way too much fun paddling the BFly the the L'Edge. Kudos to Jeremy and Craig (Esquif) for designing and building boats that are youth friendly.. not just TOG friendly! :D

Just keep trying to drag the youth out and give them the chance... I think the effort with the lost tribe proves that! :wink: Keep at it! 8)
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Post by Mike Gardner »

Paddling in any form -in fact watersports in general will always be a subset of the American sports culture. In any given city or town look and see how many own a boat of ANY type. How many swim? Probably more go to see a NASCAR race or big name football game than paddle all summer. Maybe some hyperbole, but maybe accurate.
Having fun, teasing each other, getting upset occasionally, all part of living a full life.
Every year a group of local Level 1-3 instructors here in OK have some 350-400 scouts Girl and Boy in some kind of paddlecraft. Mostly canoes. 60 or so on river trips including classII. Will they continue paddling, mostly no, but they will be the future voters and can help keep rivers open and will have an appreciation for the outdoors.
Sports cycle, and with the new boats and over familiarity with kayaking, canoeing will gain a level of popularity again-until the next cycle.
Didn't mean to go all Zen, but I went through a similar circumstance when Mountain bikes came on the scene and roadies bemoaned the loss of "purity?". Road bikes have since become more popular. $2000 for a bike not uncommon and clubs more popular.
5k running events were the in thing, now not so much.
Same with us
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Dooleyoc-1
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Post by Dooleyoc-1 »

The sport is growing again. New designs are coming out. The sport is getting more exposure ie the canoe movie and more kids and kayakers are getting into canoeing than I've seen in 15 years of paddling. I'm very optimistic about the future of the sport. Also, I'm as fired up about canoeing as I've ever been. I'm looking forward to the green tomorrow, the lost tribe hiawassee trip next week, gauleyfest, the russel fork, tallulah season, new creeking runs this winter, my next mexico trip, and the list goes on...
SkeeterGuy86
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Post by SkeeterGuy86 »

only way to promote the sport in my opinion is to let people demo and ask questions ... and encourage people to try it at a local easy play hole ... that and like someone above me said ... paddle schools work ... Lost Tribe started from a canoe school which is coming up next week
SG86

here in the south east god paddles on the left and that's how he made our rivers ~ oc1paddlr

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Mikey B
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Growing the sport

Post by Mikey B »

Being a Flatlander I'm envious of all you guys and gals who can paddle WW close by! :D It complicates things when you don't get to paddle WW as often as you would like. I've had a few canoeing buddies switch to kayaks because it was quicker/easier to get to run a bit more difficult stuff than honing their single blade skills to run it comfortably (because only 3-4 times a year made progressing hard). But they still will paddle canoes.
But that said, I've had quite a few kayaking friends switch to canoeing over the years too. Usually they notice how graceful and easy we can make stuff look sometimes ( I tell them that they should give single sticking a try for a while as they will learn to read and use the water to their advantage because you only have one blade to work with).
I have had quite a few kayakers digging the Blackfly at the East Race with a couple even trying it out. It generates a lot of interest (if only I could make it perform better it'd generate more I'm sure). I'm not sure a lot of the playboaters would switch to C-1 or Openboats, but the more advanced ones definitely seem to be more open to it as they are looking for another challenge. But general river runners seem to be easy to get to try canoeing as well...especially if they paddle with any single stickers.

It seems to me that a lot of us openboaters are more hesitant to try smaller hotter boats as we have to move out of our comfort zone from getting rock solid in our current boats? I know when I switched from my Shaman to a Taureau and a C-1 Delirious, stuff that gave me no trouble before I might flip in now...my comfort level dropped at first...and sometimes I still feel embarrassed paddling around others if I'm having an off day as I feel like I look like I'm worse then I am and that would've never happened when I was paddling my Shaman :-? as I was so comfy in that boat. So why switch...I wanted to challenge myself and try something new, and I have to say I love little boats now! Canoeing still rocks!
I still have trouble getting a lot of my canoeing friends to try my boats though.

I hope Esquif, Mohawk, Millbrook ,and BlackFly can keep bringing new boats out that sell!
I can't wait to get in a L'Edge (hopefully my Stink Eye paddles well enough to tide me by until I can save up enough for one) and can't recommend the Blackfly enough...I haven't had so much fun in a boat since I can't remember!!!!! :D
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Post by FullGnarlzOC »

Pat - you nailed it... you won't get as much exposure from the class IV-V runs and stuff, as you will a popular class II-III run.

Problem is... most of the great paddlers, are on the class IV/Vs, most will never see them. All they see is the average canoer, cruising down the river, and just enjoying what he/she does to himself. Which is good and all...for yourself.

But there's just so much more to 'recruiting' new OCers than what has been going on. and I'll always say OC, because that's the issue. C1 will always be fine, because all you have to do is buy one of the millions of kayaks, from one of the tons of kayak manufacturers. Like I said before... if one OC company dropped out of the game....we'd be devastated. SO it's about OC, as opposed to C1, as far as I am concerned. Although - perhaps, if people switch to C1, they might go to OC1 at some point.
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TheKrikkitWars
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Post by TheKrikkitWars »

FullGnarlzOC wrote:SO it's about OC, as opposed to C1, as far as I am concerned. Although - perhaps, if people switch to C1, they might go to OC1 at some point.
Don't worry, If Nolan was able to come up with the concept of the OC1 and eventually convince people to make rx ones back in the day, then I'm sure someone would be able to rescue us in the even of all the canoe manufacturers going bust (just like jeremy making 20 blackfly's at his own expense and risk simply to further OC1).
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