This Is A Travasty!

philcanoe · Post by **philcanoe** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 4:32 pm

Thanks Craig, but no thanks....

.... think I'll hold onto it, till something better comes along.

And please don't read me wrong, I'm not saying these 3-4-5 inch boats are not canoes, (not that I'm not thinking to myself). Just agreeing (w/pmp) that this is when participation dropped. The pool (so to speak) of open boaters decided not to go in that direction. Basically the sport left the competitors, and headed off in a direction which most didn't want to go. The participants were sort run over by the cart, it got ahead of most it's horses. The elite of the sport, decided to become even more elite.

Actually the sport as a whole decided to go this way. Not only in the choice of boat, but by defining the 'Pro'. I showed up a Rock Island team trials and told by some little girl , that I wasn't a pro and would only be allowed to compete that one year (as a special case). This was after being on the Team twice. There we're now new rules. In order to be a 'Pro" boater, you had to have traveled around to some absurd number of events and paid a hundred bucks (extra) to compete. Well that's fine and dandy, if there are hundreds of boaters wanting to compete. And it's also good for 'Boat Building Companies', who have an interest in keeping their sponsored athletes the (de facto) pro's. Which was/is the case for the massive and ever increasing number in K1 classes. But that's practically absurd, when applied to other classes that are in the process of trying to increase their number of competitors. For the K1 men it has kept the numbers down to a manageable level, they can have competitions that last hours instead of days long. This is what surfing did, and with the same results. However the other classes of competition has suffered as a result.

philcanoe · Post by **philcanoe** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 4:42 pm

Craig Smerda wrote:Phil... where'd your post go?

That was hilarious!

opps...

decided to stir the pot, and add a little more to the discussion

Post by **sbroam** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 4:45 pm

I think it would be a hoot to watch a class with a minimun boat length of, say, 11'. "Normal" canoes only. I want to see stand up surfing, frisbee throws and paddle twirls.

Maybe a prize for who is having the most fun...

Craig Smerda · Post by **Craig Smerda** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 5:01 pm

ya know the best thing about the short playboats... you don't need a great big feature to have fun in it.

and Phil... we all know who killed the rodeo's... and it sure as heck wasn't the open boaters.

I remember them pulling that "pro-class" crap here in Wausau... Frankie and Eli were both madder than a hatter about it.

how many of you reading this would participate in a non-sanctioned just fer fun type of "rodeo" during OC Slalom Nationals... purely for fun and bragging rights?

Dooleyoc-1 · Post by **Dooleyoc-1** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 5:20 pm

Good idea Craig. I've said for a while we should have an open boat national championship rodeo. The problem has always been finding a feature that is good enough to give up moves and friendly enough that open boaters would get in it. It would be awesome to have it at hades hole with 2 classes:

1) 11' and up traditional canoes
2) Small plastic boat class for Spanish flys, Cu-Flys, Salsas, etc...

If we could get at least 20 people to come I would be glad to put it on some weekend in the summer. We could probably get Esquif to sponsor it and AW and Rapid would probably do an article about it. If we could get a couple of our Canadian friends to come down we could call it the Open Canoe Rodeo North American Championships. Plus it would be a lot of fun to watch a lot of canoers swimming at hades hole!

Post by **sbroam** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 5:37 pm

And tandem boats...

http://picasaweb.google.com/scott.broam ... CanoeRodeo

Craig Smerda · Post by **Craig Smerda** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 6:00 pm

McCoys/Garb/Waikiki on the Ottawa... Lucifer's on the Gatineau... Hey'all Hole on the Ocoee... Sturgeon Falls in Manitoba, etc. etc. etc.... heck... we could have a whole series!!!

I'd say... 11ft. and over (traditional style OC), 11ft. and under (traditional style OC), tandem and lastly a non-traditional class (Fly style boats)

Maybe this thread needs to be retitled considering where it started and where we've been with it so far. I nominate "OC Playboating... everything you did and didn't want to hear!"

The reason I always suggest OC Slalom Nat's is that although there might not be a great spot for it... there's a ton of Open Boaters and you'd get more bang for your buck by doing slalom too. Or... we could have it wherever the best playspot is for OC's that is close to the Nationals on Monday. We could even invite the C1'ers and the Squirters.

Craig Smerda · Post by **Craig Smerda** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 7:31 pm

pmp wrote:hi guys, interesting thread, gotta add my 2 cents.
Despite their being a couple oc boaters who have pushed the boundary of the possible (thanks guys) i think OC rodeo has been dead for a while...at least in the rec oc boater eye. It was unavoidable, but the day the skeeter showed up was the start of the decline in interest from the general paddler. that was 1997. in '97 there was a huge turnout for team trials. it was big boat big air pirouttes cartwheels etc old school. the superfly and quake were out by 1998 team trials..there were 3 people at trials..and one of them couldn't roll. #'s have since dropped.
Let's face it dudes, people like river running & creeking and front surfing which their boats can do. they won't spend the time or $ to learn how to drive a decent freestyle boat.
-in the time i've been paddling it, guess how many people have wanted to know where to get a boat like my cu fly....
back to the drawing table now
paul

Paul... how about a Darwin like "evolution of the OC ender" cartoon... or better yet... a t-shirt?!!?!!!!

http://www.redcanoes.ca/paul/animation.html

oc1jacobi · Post by **oc1jacobi** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 10:05 pm

I have pics posted on facebook and will try to get some video and pics up on the website soon. www.canoekayakwhitewater.blogspot.com[url]

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Mission · Post by **Mission** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 10:28 pm

Craig Smerda wrote:So... let's cut right to the meat and get back to the original topic... who exactly is or may be pushing to eliminate the OC class from the Worlds... this time and why?

It isnt just OC1. They are effectively trying to kill squirt as well by insisting it is held at the main venue. This wont work for obvious reasons in big features or shallow feature which leaves very little!

Lets face it, us alternative boats are less popular (they wouldnt be as much fun otherwise if everyone was doing it). Unfortunately we just don't fit in with what freestyle is becoming.
Unless we get more people paddling OC1 and squirt it is not going to be popular with the ICF.

C-Forum

This Is A Travasty!

Re: supposed to be cartooning....

sorry dooley I should have responded sooner