O.k, so, I bought a boat.......
 

last May, as a matter of fact.

It happened like this........

I was at a gathering of folks who participate in another newsgroup which
shall (for the moment, anyway) remain nameless. Over the course of the last
ten years or so, bunches of us have gotten together numerous times all over
the U.S., Canada, and parts of Europe, to engage in a number of activities
we enjoy. Exactly what those activities are I will leave to others
(assuming any of them show up here and feel a need to bear their breasts) to
describe in detail. Suffice it to say that they typically include fishing.
Anyway, back in May, one of the frequent participants (who happens also to
have become a good friend) finally carried through on a perennial threat to
bring along a couple of kayaks, and we spent a wonderful day.....in the
company of some other good friends..... floating down a river, making
frequent stops to get out and fish promising looking riffles, holes, pools,
runs, etc.

I was so enthralled with the whole event that within 48 hours of arriving
back home at the end of a week long romp, I went out and bought a 9.5'
Perception Sundance (as close as I could come to the boat I'd used) and a
paddle, and went for a float down a local river. This was fun, but without
the fishing, it just wasn't the same.

So........

I went out on Lake Michigan and promptly shipped about 6 cubic feet of water
over the bow when the first 6 inch wave broke over it. "Hm......," thinks
I, "this won't do at all, at all". So, I went back to the store and bought
a spray skirt. "AH!, that's more like it!"

Since then, I've spent a couple hundred hours out on the big lake and
covered as many miles. I've paddled pretty much the entire shoreline from
the Illinois/Wisconsin state line to Sheboygan, and stopped for lunch at the
Rock Bottom Club on the Milwaukee river.

Big waves are FUN! :)

Um........I guess I don't have any questions.......right now.

Wolfgang
hey, charley..........you were right! :)

Wolfgang wrote:
last May, as a matter of fact.

It happened like this........

I was at a gathering of folks who participate in another newsgroup
which
shall (for the moment, anyway) remain nameless. Over the course of
the last
ten years or so, bunches of us have gotten together numerous times
all over
the U.S., Canada, and parts of Europe, to engage in a number of
activities
we enjoy. Exactly what those activities are I will leave to others
(assuming any of them show up here and feel a need to bear their
breasts) to
describe in detail. Suffice it to say that they typically include
fishing.
Anyway, back in May, one of the frequent participants (who happens
also to
have become a good friend) finally carried through on a perennial
threat to
bring along a couple of kayaks, and we spent a wonderful day.....in
the
company of some other good friends..... floating down a river, making

frequent stops to get out and fish promising looking riffles, holes,
pools,
runs, etc.

I was so enthralled with the whole event that within 48 hours of
arriving
back home at the end of a week long romp, I went out and bought a
9.5'
Perception Sundance (as close as I could come to the boat I'd used)
and a
paddle, and went for a float down a local river. This was fun, but
without
the fishing, it just wasn't the same.

So........

I went out on Lake Michigan and promptly shipped about 6 cubic feet
of water
over the bow when the first 6 inch wave broke over it. "Hm......,"
thinks
I, "this won't do at all, at all". So, I went back to the store and
bought
a spray skirt. "AH!, that's more like it!"

Since then, I've spent a couple hundred hours out on the big lake and

covered as many miles. I've paddled pretty much the entire shoreline
from
the Illinois/Wisconsin state line to Sheboygan, and stopped for lunch
at the
Rock Bottom Club on the Milwaukee river.

Big waves are FUN! :)

Um........I guess I don't have any questions.......right now.

Wolfgang
hey, charley..........you were right! :)

Wolfgang wrote in another thread,
"who is still searching for a new community."

Wolfgang, I have been doing some of my notorious research, and you can
ask riverman what I mean. I found some intriguing reading, and yet
would look forward to your continuing input in this NG. You ask me if I
had any idea of what community means, and I can only invite you to join
this one if you are indeed searching for a new community.

Anyway since you bought a boat, and found the big waves are fun, there
are a bunch of folks here that would have to agree with you. Despite
some of our vocal difference, we also have the same sense of fun and
life, found in the seat of a boat that can be paddled. A few of us like
to fish as well. I've been glad to meet you. TnT

"Tinkerntom" wrote in message
oups.com...


Wolfgang wrote in another thread,
"who is still searching for a new community."

Wolfgang, I have been doing some of my notorious research, and you
can
ask riverman what I mean. I found some intriguing reading, and yet
would look forward to your continuing input in this NG. You ask me
if I
had any idea of what community means, and I can only invite you to
join
this one if you are indeed searching for a new community.

Well, the comment about searching for a new community was simply a
hasty gut reaction to learning about the proliferation of guns in
convents. In fact, I'm not searching actively. On the other hand,
I've always been intrigued by how people live and react with one
another in exotic foreign cultures........I may stick around for a
while. :)

Anyway since you bought a boat, and found the big waves are fun,
there
are a bunch of folks here that would have to agree with you. Despite
some of our vocal difference, we also have the same sense of fun and
life, found in the seat of a boat that can be paddled. A few of us
like
to fish as well. I've been glad to meet you.

Thanks.

Wolfgang

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

"Tinkerntom" wrote in message
oups.com...


Wolfgang wrote in another thread,
"who is still searching for a new community."

Wolfgang, I have been doing some of my notorious research, and you
can
ask riverman what I mean. I found some intriguing reading, and yet
would look forward to your continuing input in this NG. You ask me
if I
had any idea of what community means, and I can only invite you to
join
this one if you are indeed searching for a new community.

Well, the comment about searching for a new community was simply a
hasty gut reaction to learning about the proliferation of guns in
convents. In fact, I'm not searching actively. On the other hand,
I've always been intrigued by how people live and react with one
another in exotic foreign cultures........I may stick around for a
while. :)

Well, since TnT has gotten here, I think rbp qualifies as a foreign culture,
and as such, is probably on a list to be invaded by the US forces sometime
in the next 3 years. I suspect it already has been.

"I found some intriguing reading, and yet would look forward to your
continuing input in this NG."

....and yet! Wow, if he only knew.

"...and I can only invite you to join this one if you are indeed searching
for a new community."

You probably don't need me to point it out, Wolfie, but Tinkerntom is
neither our official inviter/greeter, nor the keeper of the gate. He's more
like our new Village Idiot. We're unmoderated, so everyone is welcome here,
as long as they wipe their feet at the door. Don't let the recent puppy
tracks all over the place give you a poor impression.

And welcome aboard. Now I can stop crossposting. :-)

--riverman

"riverman" wrote in message
...

...We're unmoderated, so everyone is welcome here,
as long as they wipe their feet at the door.

It sometimes takes me a while to find the mat but, as you know, I try
to be neat. :)

Wolfgang

Wolfgang wrote:

last May, as a matter of fact.

It happened like this........


I bought two boats over the last year. I got a canoe last summer; a
Mohawk Intrepid 17, outfitted with a 3rd seat. *Just* bought a kayak,
a Necky Manitou. Style and size decision was based on the rivers where
I paddle.

The North and South Forks of the Shenandoah River in Virginia are
shallow, meandering, introspective rivers. I can cartop the canoe or
kayak on my VW Beetle and be on either river in 10 minutes. Can't
always find someone to canoe with, so I got the kayak.

The canoe is heavy royalex, weighing about 78 lb. I can get it on the
Beetle by myself, but it's a little bit of a strain. Getting it on and
off my wife's truck by myself is a pain. The kayak is half the weight
of the canoe, so cartopping barely outweighs the thought it takes to
do it.

I plan to rig the kayak for fishing. There're lots of pictures on the
'net showing milk crates and pvc pipe all bungeed and zip-tied
together for this purpose. But, I also plan to play in the river, so I
avoided a sit-on-top kayak. Also, a sit-in style will let me run and
fish the river into the cooler season.

On another topic, there are consumption advisories for fish caught in
many of the rivers near me, and outright bans on some sections. The
nature of paddling allows us to make close and frequent observations
of the ecological health of the waters where we boat. I was hoping to
see the environment become a topic of discussion in this forum.





--
"This president has destroyed the country, the economy,
the relationship with the rest of the world.
He's a monster in the White House. He should resign."

- Hunter S. Thompson, speaking to an antiwar audience in 2003.

"Frederick Burroughs" wrote in message
...

The canoe is heavy royalex, weighing about 78 lb. I can get it on the
Beetle by myself, but it's a little bit of a strain. Getting it on and off
my wife's truck by myself is a pain. The kayak is half the weight of the
canoe, so cartopping barely outweighs the thought it takes to do it.

As a canoeist who refuses to cross to the dark side, I can suggest several
ways to cartop your heavy canoe. A simple method is to drag it, rightside
up, to the car, perpendicular at the front door. Then lift the bow and
drag/lay it on the top of the cab. Lift the stern, and walk around the side
of the truck until the boat is lying lengthwise on the cab, drop the stern
to raise the bow, and shove it forward.

This works best if your racks are a bit close together, so that the initial
laydown is on a rack rather than on the roof itself. The moment you lift the
stern with the bow laying on the roof is the tricky moment...you have to
keep the bow from falling off as you start the walkaround. You could even
run a brace between the two racks to provide a bar to lay the canoe onto at
first.

--riverman

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

"riverman" wrote in message
...

...We're unmoderated, so everyone is welcome here,
as long as they wipe their feet at the door.

It sometimes takes me a while to find the mat but, as you know, I try
to be neat. :)


Even more than that, I bet you have some excellent contributions vis-a-vis
outdoor cooking. Now that you've been introduced to the dark side
(kayaking), I hope to someday have a chance to show you the REAL way to
enjoy the water: open boat tripping. You can even cast from your boat, and
the stuff you can bring along....a chefs dream.

--riverman

riverman wrote:

"Frederick Burroughs" wrote in message
...


The canoe is heavy royalex, weighing about 78 lb. I can get it on the
Beetle by myself, but it's a little bit of a strain. Getting it on and off
my wife's truck by myself is a pain. The kayak is half the weight of the
canoe, so cartopping barely outweighs the thought it takes to do it.


As a canoeist who refuses to cross to the dark side, I can suggest several
ways to cartop your heavy canoe. A simple method is to drag it, rightside
up, to the car, perpendicular at the front door. Then lift the bow and
drag/lay it on the top of the cab. Lift the stern, and walk around the side
of the truck until the boat is lying lengthwise on the cab, drop the stern
to raise the bow, and shove it forward.

This works best if your racks are a bit close together, so that the initial
laydown is on a rack rather than on the roof itself. The moment you lift the
stern with the bow laying on the roof is the tricky moment...you have to
keep the bow from falling off as you start the walkaround. You could even
run a brace between the two racks to provide a bar to lay the canoe onto at
first.


Elegant! I'm always humbled when presented with a solution that is
simple and overlooked. Much obliged.





--
"This president has destroyed the country, the economy,
the relationship with the rest of the world.
He's a monster in the White House. He should resign."

- Hunter S. Thompson, speaking to an antiwar audience in 2003.

"riverman" wrote in message
...

Even more than that, I bet you have some excellent contributions
vis-a-vis
outdoor cooking.

I tend to keep it simple in the great out of doors.......I generally
focus on other aspects of the trip. That said, with the equipment
available today the possibilities are endless. A recipe or two might
show up from time to time.

Now that you've been introduced to the dark side
(kayaking), I hope to someday have a chance to show you the REAL way
to
enjoy the water: open boat tripping. You can even cast from your
boat, and
the stuff you can bring along....a chefs dream.


I own a canoe, and have done some tripping in the past. I've always
enjoyed it but the maneuverability of the kayak makes it a lot more
fun for me.

And, as far as the fishing is concerned, I see the boat mainly as a
means of getting from place to place. I'm really not at all fond of
fishing from boats. As you know, it can be problematic with a fly
rod.

Wolfgang