Seems like the way to get more young people involved (other than our own offspring) is dependent on summer camps and similar programs by the Boy Scouts and YM-YWCAs.
I wonder if those organizations still have strong canoeing programs?
Although, of all the people I paddled with through camp, I don't think many of them stuck with ww canoeing. Some kayaking though. After camp, young people didn't have money for gear; then later were overwhelmed by jobs and now kids, so don't have time for tripping anyway, and never got into ww.
It does take a certain amount of time & money, in proper combination. Not much different than lots of activities, but the used market is small, people to play with are fewer, so it's not that accessible.
PY.
How Old Are You?
Moderators: kenneth, sbroam, TheKrikkitWars, Mike W., Sir Adam, KNeal, PAC, adamin
-
yarnellboat
- C Maven
- Posts: 1331
- Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2005 8:54 pm
- Location: Winnipeg
- Contact:
I'm 27, paddled a bit in my 'younger' years up in the Boundary Waters and other lakes and flat rivers around MN and WI. then I moved to Montana when I was 22 and started paddling OC2 for the first year and a half. Then got into a OC1 and don't do much tandem anymore. 2 years ago I got into C-1 Then had my ACL repaired and didn't canoe at all last year, did a bit of yakking(sorry) it's still paddling though. This year I have aqcuired 2 more C-1's and don't paddle much OC anymore. It is pretty sad that there aren't more youngsters into canoeing. Though it seems that the younger Cboaters are really tearing it up, which is noce. Wish I would have started at a younger age, but hopefully I can paddle until I'm 80, like some of you old farts 
.
B
. B
Just hit the big 40. I started paddling flatwater in scouts many moons ago. I did a little bit of ww rafting over the years, but had been forever since I had been in a canoe until about 7 or 8 years ago.
I picked up a flatwater canoe, and paddled it a little the first year. After about a year, I managed to talk a few people into going with me. Started whitewater in the past couple of years and I'm hooked.
I picked up a flatwater canoe, and paddled it a little the first year. After about a year, I managed to talk a few people into going with me. Started whitewater in the past couple of years and I'm hooked.
re: How Old Are You?
55 and my first clear memory of being in a canoe is 1960. Having grown up in Minnesota it was probably well into my teenage years before I realized that not everyone owned a canoe.
After many decades of flat water tripping one of my buds noticed a local club offered a whitewater tandem class. We had portaged many a rapid where we remarked that, "If we knew what we were doing, we could probably just paddle the canoe through instead of carrying it." So we took the class not realizing what we were getting into. Now, about five or six years later, my wife complains of being a white water widow. The tripping boats sit idle and the three WW boats take turns entertaining me on the weekends.
I think a good way to get people interested is to run them down some mild WW in a tandem boat. Well, it worked on me.
Dave
After many decades of flat water tripping one of my buds noticed a local club offered a whitewater tandem class. We had portaged many a rapid where we remarked that, "If we knew what we were doing, we could probably just paddle the canoe through instead of carrying it." So we took the class not realizing what we were getting into. Now, about five or six years later, my wife complains of being a white water widow. The tripping boats sit idle and the three WW boats take turns entertaining me on the weekends.
I think a good way to get people interested is to run them down some mild WW in a tandem boat. Well, it worked on me.
Dave
This thread reminds me of a conversation around the fire one evening my first time to the Dead. One gentleman, who must be into his sixth decade, asked what I was doing taking up a sport where the median age is fifty. Without missing a beat, my friend shot back "Keeping the median age at 50!" Well, that was four or five years ago, and next year I'll be on the other side of the median...
I'm also reminded of my first trip to Madawaska Kanu Centre, when I was in a group of maybe half a dozen open boaters, two of whom were young women in their late teens or early twenties. This would never happen in the States, thought I. Although I do see the occassional camp or school group on the Deerfield.
I guess my first whitewater experience was a I/I+ river somewhere in southern Indiana in my early twenties, then as a summer camp counselor canoe camping on the Androscoggin. Really got the bug for WW after rafting the Deerfield and West rivers with my kids (and my sweetie, in the latter case). Said sweetie and I took some tandem instruction, bought a Discovery 169, and finally got our first WW boat (Caper) in the fall of 2001. The rest, as they say, is addiction!
I'm also reminded of my first trip to Madawaska Kanu Centre, when I was in a group of maybe half a dozen open boaters, two of whom were young women in their late teens or early twenties. This would never happen in the States, thought I. Although I do see the occassional camp or school group on the Deerfield.
I guess my first whitewater experience was a I/I+ river somewhere in southern Indiana in my early twenties, then as a summer camp counselor canoe camping on the Androscoggin. Really got the bug for WW after rafting the Deerfield and West rivers with my kids (and my sweetie, in the latter case). Said sweetie and I took some tandem instruction, bought a Discovery 169, and finally got our first WW boat (Caper) in the fall of 2001. The rest, as they say, is addiction!
53 years young. Took up whitewater canoeing seven years ago. My only other canoe experience was back in the 70s doing the Boundary Lakes in a Grumman.
One thing our club tried this year to get younger paddlers into the sport was a WW canoeing class for kayakers. We had 5 students. Next year we hope to have more.
One thing our club tried this year to get younger paddlers into the sport was a WW canoeing class for kayakers. We had 5 students. Next year we hope to have more.
39
Started paddling in 95. Meet this girl, WW canoe Instructor, she insisted her boyfriend paddled an open boat cause it was so important to her
With her since, our 7 year old surfed his 1st wave with me in a Genesis at 11 months old and ran his 1st Class III-IV this summer with me in a Blast.
She created a monster. Been paddling +100 days a year since(except this season due to injury) and will continue to do so as long as I can.
See my self at 90+ still open boating on flat water in a cedar canoe.
Read a few comments on the future generations of open boaters in this thread...here in La Belle Province there is A LOT of very good young folks open boating and TONS of ladies picking up the C also. Maybe Esquif have got something to say about this !
Future of open boating looking good from this point of view
Started paddling in 95. Meet this girl, WW canoe Instructor, she insisted her boyfriend paddled an open boat cause it was so important to her
With her since, our 7 year old surfed his 1st wave with me in a Genesis at 11 months old and ran his 1st Class III-IV this summer with me in a Blast.
She created a monster. Been paddling +100 days a year since(except this season due to injury) and will continue to do so as long as I can.
See my self at 90+ still open boating on flat water in a cedar canoe.
Read a few comments on the future generations of open boaters in this thread...here in La Belle Province there is A LOT of very good young folks open boating and TONS of ladies picking up the C also. Maybe Esquif have got something to say about this !
Future of open boating looking good from this point of view
-
amollohan99
- Pain Boater
- Posts: 97
- Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2007 4:26 pm
- Location: VA
27. Started in gruman tandems when I was a young boy. Was in Boyscouts same deal early teenage years. Then Claimed my parents unused OT penobscot and started taking it to the chutes at Anglers on the Potomac. taught myself to attain, cross and play there through high school and early college. Learned ealry that the kayakers just didn't really want me there so I had to learn to push my size around a bit. Jumped in a prodigy while living in VT, bought a Twister off my boss in Stowe and have been learning more and more since. Just got into kayaking and C1's recently. Loving all of it.
andy.
andy.
32
I am 32 years old. I started paddling flat water in S. FL in the scouts. Moved to N. GA mountains about three years ago and took a raft down the Nanty. Started talking to the guy at the outfitter about all of the folks out there in the little kayaks. He told me he paddled a WW Canoe. That was the first time I had heard of a WW canoe.
After a raft trip the next year down the Ocoee I decided I was hooked. Bought my Nitro this spring thinking the paddling would be like the old days in a 16 ft tandem just more exciting. After my first run in the Nitro I knew I had started something that I would be doing for a lifetime.... and I needed to take a class to learn how to paddle the dam thing (sit and switch = eat rock and swim)! I have made probably 25 trips this summer mostly down the Hiwassee and once down the Nantahala with a few scrapes down the nat flow rivers around here. Sucks because I live like 10 minutes from the Amicalola put-in.
I am planning to hang it up for the winter to let my right arm recover from poor stroke mechanics the first 20 or so trips but will probably invest in a drysuit next year or maybe after I start going crazy with boredom this year. I am hoping that maybe there will be some indoor pool rolling sessions somewhere near me this winter too.
After a raft trip the next year down the Ocoee I decided I was hooked. Bought my Nitro this spring thinking the paddling would be like the old days in a 16 ft tandem just more exciting. After my first run in the Nitro I knew I had started something that I would be doing for a lifetime.... and I needed to take a class to learn how to paddle the dam thing (sit and switch = eat rock and swim)! I have made probably 25 trips this summer mostly down the Hiwassee and once down the Nantahala with a few scrapes down the nat flow rivers around here. Sucks because I live like 10 minutes from the Amicalola put-in.
I am planning to hang it up for the winter to let my right arm recover from poor stroke mechanics the first 20 or so trips but will probably invest in a drysuit next year or maybe after I start going crazy with boredom this year. I am hoping that maybe there will be some indoor pool rolling sessions somewhere near me this winter too.
Well, class II tandem paddling for 4 or 5 years on nice warm summer days in a Caper was fun, but I noticed all the really cool people were paddling their solo open boats all year round, and I was being left behind. So, at that "median age of 50" I took a really good solo whitewater workshop with the Boston AMC. Now, 2 years later, I'm a solid intermediate paddler happily doing class III water in my Ocoee (with a drysuit in the winter), sometimes pushing it up to III+ and throwing in a low-flow IV for thrills and heart attacks. Hey, I have a swim and I know how to use it!
I'm not sure this thread is going to attract the young kids to canoeing, though...
Deb
I'm not sure this thread is going to attract the young kids to canoeing, though...
Deb
Been paddling a while
I'm 60 now with a birthday fast approaching. I've paddled whitewater 58 times this season, and flatwater five more with my nine year old grandson. I think the grandson will be starting a little whitewater next summer, that'll be fun. I've been paddling a while but didn't start whitewater until after I met my wife in 91. She's a kayaker, but I don't hold it against her.
-
econpaddler
- Pain Boater
- Posts: 50
- Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2005 3:59 pm
I'm old
Just turned 50 (can't believe it until I look in the mirror). Paddled WW since 1988. I had just moved to Tennessee, and saw a copy of Selinger and Lantz guidebook. After I read some descriptions, realized they described stuff in my backyard, I thought I should try it out.
Started in an OCA, then Encore, then Ocoee, then another Ocoee, and now in a Zoom.
People ask me why I paddle a canoe (instead of a 'yak). The only think I can think of is: "It just feels good".
NEVER even been in raft.
NEVER been in a kayak.
Started in an OCA, then Encore, then Ocoee, then another Ocoee, and now in a Zoom.
People ask me why I paddle a canoe (instead of a 'yak). The only think I can think of is: "It just feels good".
NEVER even been in raft.
NEVER been in a kayak.
re: How Old Are You?
42
Started WW kayaking while a grad student in VA in the early 90s. Moved to TX and got a MR Explorer hoping to run rivers with my wife. (Any outdoor summer activity in TX needs to involve water.) She did not seem to enjoy it as much as I did. We took a moving water course and the instructors were in solo canoes. I did not know such things existed. Shortly after that course, I found a cheap Mohawk XL-13 as my first OC1 around 1996. Moved to a Dagger Rival shortly after that and love that boat. I'm on my second.
I now have a 5 and 3 year old, so the past few years I have not seen as much of the rivers as I would like, but I still get out. Got my oldest a Jackson 1 for his birthday in hopes of getting him on moving water quicker. I also found a used Dagger Caper I've rigged for use with the kids. He looks forward to getting bigger so he can open boat. His sister is equally enthusiastic about the idea. I plan to do my part to lower the average age of open boaters.
Started WW kayaking while a grad student in VA in the early 90s. Moved to TX and got a MR Explorer hoping to run rivers with my wife. (Any outdoor summer activity in TX needs to involve water.) She did not seem to enjoy it as much as I did. We took a moving water course and the instructors were in solo canoes. I did not know such things existed. Shortly after that course, I found a cheap Mohawk XL-13 as my first OC1 around 1996. Moved to a Dagger Rival shortly after that and love that boat. I'm on my second.
I now have a 5 and 3 year old, so the past few years I have not seen as much of the rivers as I would like, but I still get out. Got my oldest a Jackson 1 for his birthday in hopes of getting him on moving water quicker. I also found a used Dagger Caper I've rigged for use with the kids. He looks forward to getting bigger so he can open boat. His sister is equally enthusiastic about the idea. I plan to do my part to lower the average age of open boaters.
Austin, TX
OC1
OC1