How Old Are You?

[watrwzrd]

Forgot to add this 5`11 170#`s everyone come to the Russel Fork this weekend we run the upper and lower sections not the gorge We will be camping at Breaks Interstate Park

[the great gonzo]

I am 42.
The very first tim I paddled was in 93, where, after 10 minutes of instruction by the outfitter (I never was I in a canoe before in my life), I set off from Whitehorse on a 3 week solo canoe trip down the Yukon to Dawson City. Against all odds, I survived and even enjoyed it. what helped is that I had bought a copy of 'Path of the Paddle' before and did some dryland practice off all the strokes before. I nmet some great people there on the river, some of them I still consider as some of the best friends i ever met.
Upon returning to Switzerland I bought a MR Freedom tripping canoe. I quickly realized that tripping in central Europe wasn't really my thing (population density way too high), so in 94, after taking a few courses, I bought a Dagger Encore.
When I decided to move to Canada in 96 I sold my boats and, once I settled in nToronto, I bought an Old Town tripping canoe. Dip tripping almost exclusively intil about 6 or 7 years ago, when I got again into WW paddlinng. Never looked back since... ...

martin a.k.a. the great gonzo!

[c1swim]

46, if I don't say it out loud, it can't be true.
I started canoeing about 1975, in various coleman and grumman tandem boats with a truck tube strapped in the middle as needed. Raft guide for a few years in the early 80's. Then bought a 14' Rikken Chief ? and did some serious whitewater. Married in the 90's. Then first C1 and OC1's started about 99. Now I have 4-C1s,
1-OC1, 1-OC2,(all WW boats) and an old raft.
Water's cool, moving water's cooler.

[ohioboater]

Age 40. I bumbled my way down MO Ozark float streams all through high school, usually in either a jon boat or a square stern Coleman. Didn't get to paddle much after I left MO. Then I discovered WW in 2000. Learned in a kayak, then tried a solo open boat a year or two later, and I was hooked. I now hardly ever paddle the kayak. The only time I really miss kayaking is attaining.

Currently own a Probe, an Atom, and a Dimension.

Just took my two little kids for their first open boat run down class 1-2 this past weekend in a Dimension. As they get older, I'm not sure whether to let them learn solo in a kayak or an OC. I think I was better primed to enjoy OC from having learned in a kayak. If I had been trying to learn edge control and river running fundamentals on top of the harder single blade paddling style, it would have been a pretty rough introduction. Of course, they're learning the fundamentals in the OC 2.5, so maybe that's a non issue.

[philinasheville]

I'm 30 and stated paddling about 9 yrs ago. First boat was a Caper which my brother and I still have. It's beat up pretty badly, but still floats.

I have one son 2yrs old and another son on the way. I plan to get a raft to get them interested in WW, however I hope to raise them paddling canoes.

[CosmikDebris]

I'm 22 and have been addicted for 6 or 7 years I think, but I can't really remember.

Learned initially in a kayak and did that for about a year. Found a XXX C1 for sale and got kayak outfitting with it as well but figured I'd try it out C1. Paddled C1 for a couple months then got in a buddies kayak and couldn't roll and felt awkward so I stuck with the single blade. I should have known all along though because a C1er taught me to roll a kayak.

[OC1_SURFER]

Okay, seems we have two threads that have turned into paddlers' biographies, more or less. I'm going to cover both bases with one post:

double nickel, 5'10", 197# & loosing

Been paddling WW about 20 years. Before that, it was Ozark float trips in tandem canoes.

Paddled a Mohawk Challenger (very wet) for a couple of years, then bought a new Old Town H2Pro when they came out. I learned how to paddle WW in this boat. Next was a Mad River Rampage. My first canoe with edges was a Mohawk Viper 12. Then I went to my favorite: The Dagger Ocoee. I'm on my second one right now, and I have another one in "moth balls". I tried an Esquif Zoom for a couple of years, but I felt that it was just too small for me. Got a Mohawk Probe 14 for tandem WW.

Just recently, I've discovered that my 55 year old reflexes are slowing a bit (had a couple of bad swims on the Ocoee at 1800cfs this summer), so I've decided to use a more forgiving boat for big water. I bought a Mad River Outrage.

That's where I'm at in the world OC paddling.

Terry Prater

[KNeal]

Age: 43 years and 11 months . Started paddling in Boys Scouts. Got a Coleman 17 footer and started running it down the James River here in Richmond as a teen-ager. Got an original yellow Blue Hole Sunburst and got much more serious about whitewater around 1990. Saw the '92 Olympic slalom races on TV and thought it was AWESOME! Got an Atom in '97 and REALLY upped the difficulty of what I've been paddling. Dabbled in c-1, c-2 slalom racing and still think it's AWESOME!

paddled SOT tandem kyacks in the ocean only. Other than that, it's ALL about the "C".

KNeal

[keez]

I'm still 19, but with 27 years of experience! Just retired from 1st team senior men's rugby last year (too many injuries interfering with paddling).
Like most, started out with tripping and got hooked on moving water.
Geoff

[Paddle Power]

I'm 42.
Started canoeing a Boy Scout, 1970/80s.
Currently, I play in a C1, teach and trip in OC1, and teach and wilderness trip in OC2.

[John Coraor]

51 (52 in November)

Mid-60s: Started paddling in a Grumman with family and Boy Scouts - flatwater, tripping, and a little Class I.

1974: Canoe instructor at a boys camp in the ADK. Discovered I was also in charge of a handful of kayaks, so I taught myself to roll using the AMC Whitewater Handbook (man, that took a lot of wet exits until I learned to get up!)

1975: Bought first kayak (high volume, all glass, 4-meter boat of unknown parentage) and started running WW (Class II-II+).

1976: Watched helplessly as I washed past more than half the gates at the Unadilla Slalom, my first race.

1979: Built a Gemini III slalom C-2, and started paddling it with my future wife.

1980: Started grad school at Penn State and began racing & training with PSOC (coached by John Sweet). Took up C-1 (Sweet Hahn, then Ultramax, then Batmax) as occasional solo boat when we weren't training in C-2.

1983-1984: Helped design Torrent & TorrentXL C-2s with other John Sweet & other PSOC C-2M teams. Won 1984 Nationals in C-2M.

1985: Finished grad school, got job, retired from serious slalom training & racing.

1988-2002: Stopped paddling due to job pressures and raising 4 kids (4 under 4 in 1996).

2003: Rebirth!!! Kids old enough to paddle!!!!

[Walsh]

25. Paddling lakes and rivers in Colemans and Grummans all my life, learned a J-stroke in the Boy Scouts. Led canoe-camping trips in college.

Bought a used Savage Skeeter in 2002 (my boss practically gave it to me) assuming I knew how to paddle it. I didn't. It was a long learning curve.

I pretty much just paddle the Skeeter everywhere. I tried my hand at converting a Switch, didn't fit in it very well (long and inflexible legs vs. narrow cockpit) and am not passionate enough to about the boat to fight my financee for it She's made great progress in a year. We're also a tolerably good tandem team - I have a Probe 14 that we paddled for one summer and I've been "fixing" for almost a year now. Tracking down the right c-1 would be a lot of fun, but space is at a premium these days.

[Ed Eout]

There was a confluence of events which drew me in. At 10 I learned there is a substantial Native American presence in my ancestry, read Huck Finn, saw my first canoe (well probably Recognized it as a canoe). Also started escaping the neighborhood to explore my rural county on bicycle. The freedom was intoxicating. With the influence of Huck Finn, the idea of Rivers moving from place to place and not coming back, newfound freedom and the sense this was my native land, canoes were my birthright. I was primed for action. Earned my Canoing Merit Badge at age 11. I even learned how to swim because that was required before you could get in a canoe at scout camp. Nothing up to that point had been able to get me much interested in swimming.

Made my first "real" WW trip at age 22 on the Red River in Ky. in a 17' keeled Grumman. Got Seriously thrashed and was hooked, but good. Credit Ben Culbertson with the introduction. He was the perfect paddling partner/mentor. Gave good advise and got out of the way. Cheered when I did well - pointed and laughed when I screwed up, guess what he did most of!

I'm 48 and see no waining of interest. As long as there are folks like JK, "Not Elvis", Dave B, Danno and Denise (and a dozen others) to paddle with you'll find me on a river somewhere.

Maybe there are elements here that would appeal to the youth of today - Freedom, self reliance, comradery, mastery of a difficult skill? These were and still are the touchstone of any enjoyable river trip for me. Maybe the most important thing in getting anyone interested in boating is to be a good paddling partner.

[JulieKeller.com]

I'm a lady and have lived in the south long enough to know that a lady never tells her age This is a real great thread for all the gentlemen to tell their ages, but the more interesting information is how and when everyone started paddling.

I started paddling class II whitewater at YMCA camp and with my parents in the late 60's in Aluminum Grummans. In the 80's I was paddling Blue Hole OCA's on class II/III in the southeast. My first husband and I bought one of the first Dagger Dimensions, wore it and another one out and were on our third Dimension when we divorced a decade ago. I've paddled both the Dagger Rival and Phantom for the last 10 years. Though I had a blast a few weeks ago paddling a Dimension with 16 year old Sean Chapelle. Sean has been my lone effort to try and get younger paddlers involved in the single blade lifestyle. Though Sean is a dedicated kayaker he seems to have a good time in a canoe with an "older" women and I have a blast paddling with him.

Julie

[Roger]

I'm a lady and have lived in the south long enough to know that a lady never tells her age This is a real great thread for all the gentlemen to tell their ages, but the more interesting information is how and when everyone started paddling.Julie

Awwww shucks, Ms. Julie, you're right about a woman telling her age! And I'm not sure that you can use the term gentlemen when referring to boaters, though, specially them open-boat types!