In a previous article, Chicago Paddling-Fishing said:
Paul Tomblin wrote:
: kids loose without basic instruction. If that had been my kids (and if I
: hadn't given them instruction already) and I saw them lurching along like
: that, I would have pulled them out of whatever program they were in and
: found another program with competent leadership.

Well... first let me say that I'm a boy scout leader... nether the boy scouts
nor the girl scouts allow youth members of the opposing genders (there are no
boys in girl scouts and there are no girls in boy scouts).

Ok, I apologize for characterizing them as "Scouts". In rural Canada,
where I'm originally from, we do have mixed gender Scout organizations.
And some of them are very badly run because they take whoever they can get
to volunteer.

Since the youth group wasn't paying attention to you but you saw them, did
you announce yourself or announce that you were passing? Even on bikes or

We were going in opposite directions - they were coming upriver, I was
coming down. They were on one side of the river, I was on the other until
they lurched across.

This picture
http://xcski.com/gallery/kayaking/DSCN2133
shows the river a few weeks previously, a different group (like I said in
my original post, the local kayak rental place uses blue PFDs, the one in
the orange is very definitely this group's leader), and about 500 metres
upstream from where I was injured. But you can see that it's wide enough
that one should be able to squeeze by.


Here's a pic of our kayaks... cost about $25 per boy... the skin is that
plastic coocooning material they use to winterize sailboats and I got it
for $4 per boat from a local boat shop. Had each kid save 12*1 gallon
milk jugs with lids for flotation.. tied to internal wood frame...

http://www.chicagopaddling.org/lilyak.jpg

Cool stuff.

--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
please excuse my typing, but my whole left arm is in a cast. and i don't
mean _the king and i_.

Personally I really don't care. I think this is all pretty comical.

C.

John wrote in message ...
Courtney, don't you get it? Paul lives his life as an
angry man. He'll find a way to be angry no matter what the
scenario. You on the otherhand have your entire future
ahead of you. If you turn all events into discrimination
against women and girls you will turn out like Paul. You
are not a victim but you don't believe your not.

The first time you were on moving water could you control your boat
perfectly or have you never in your paddling history run into anyone?

Other than the color of their life jackets being yellow, did anyone
actually
say they were from the girl scouts? I don't remember you saying that
you
actually heard that from them.

If these were boys scouts would you have been just as offended? You
seemed
to really be dogging them out because they were girls.

C.

.

On 23-Sep-2005, (Paul Tomblin) wrote:

And some of them are very badly run because they take whoever they can get
to volunteer.

Which pretty much explains why they don't necessarily teach the kids
good paddling skills. I've seen some pretty scary things being taught
to scouts on whitewater.

However, I've also seen a lot of incompetent WW paddlers who are adults
and _couldn't_ learn anything. Unless they establish enforcable standards
for WW paddling, you have to deal with the others on the river.

Mike

Ahhh.... there's the problem, excuse me, my allergies started acting up when
I viewed the pic, my allergy to "flat water" that is.....don't paddle
anything less than class III.....and no little scouts to contend with.
"Paul Tomblin" wrote in message
...
In a previous article, Chicago Paddling-Fishing said:
Paul Tomblin wrote:
: kids loose without basic instruction. If that had been my kids (and if
I
: hadn't given them instruction already) and I saw them lurching along
like
: that, I would have pulled them out of whatever program they were in and
: found another program with competent leadership.

Well... first let me say that I'm a boy scout leader... nether the boy
scouts
nor the girl scouts allow youth members of the opposing genders (there
are no
boys in girl scouts and there are no girls in boy scouts).

Ok, I apologize for characterizing them as "Scouts". In rural Canada,
where I'm originally from, we do have mixed gender Scout organizations.
And some of them are very badly run because they take whoever they can get
to volunteer.

Since the youth group wasn't paying attention to you but you saw them,
did
you announce yourself or announce that you were passing? Even on bikes
or

We were going in opposite directions - they were coming upriver, I was
coming down. They were on one side of the river, I was on the other until
they lurched across.

This picture
http://xcski.com/gallery/kayaking/DSCN2133
shows the river a few weeks previously, a different group (like I said in
my original post, the local kayak rental place uses blue PFDs, the one in
the orange is very definitely this group's leader), and about 500 metres
upstream from where I was injured. But you can see that it's wide enough
that one should be able to squeeze by.


Here's a pic of our kayaks... cost about $25 per boy... the skin is that
plastic coocooning material they use to winterize sailboats and I got it
for $4 per boat from a local boat shop. Had each kid save 12*1 gallon
milk jugs with lids for flotation.. tied to internal wood frame...

http://www.chicagopaddling.org/lilyak.jpg

Cool stuff.

--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
please excuse my typing, but my whole left arm is in a cast. and i don't
mean _the king and i_.

They could have "settled" the dispute then and there........4 boxes of
choco-mint!
"Kegs" wrote in message
...
writes:

"Three girls in a aluminum canoe ran him down?"

Not only that, but "when a gaggle of scouts came up the river" - they
apparently did so while paddling upriver.

Those must have been some menacing Girl Scouts, able to attain upriver
so fast that the collision was unavoidable.

They were probably trying to sell him some cookies

--
James jamesk[at]homeric[dot]co[dot]uk

We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty - DNA (HHGTTG)

In a previous article, "Grip" said:
Ahhh.... there's the problem, excuse me, my allergies started acting up when
I viewed the pic, my allergy to "flat water" that is.....don't paddle
anything less than class III.....and no little scouts to contend with.

I bet your boat is a lot more maneuverable than mine too.

I'd love to do some whitewater again, but right now I'm paddling placid
rivers to try and recapture some of the joy I had canoeing and to get some
fitness back, since thanks to 25 years of ever increasing joint pain I
can't cross country ski, orienteer, backpack, canoe, mountain bike or run
any more.

--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
please excuse my typing, but my whole left arm is in a cast. and i don't
mean _the king and i_.

25 years of ever increasing joint pain I can't cross country ski, orienteer, backpack, canoe, mountain bike or run
any more. says Paul

Poor Paul, now I get it...Paul needs sympathy

Paul Tomblin wrote:
In a previous article, said:
Ok, you were in a kayak and couldn't avoid a boat load of little girls...and
you are ****ed. Get over it

I would have to concur. A canoe with neither paddle in the water is a
bit like a log, something I would expect on a river.

Considering how little control they had, they were moving pretty fast.
But they were doing that "everybody paddle on this side, now everybody
paddle on the other side" zig zag thing. They didn't take their paddles
out of the water until they were on a collision course with me.


That's known, to us grizzled ol' highly-experienced old-school boaters,
as "the financial method of paddling". They go from bank to bank, and
leave you broke.


-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty
--
================================================== ====================
Richard Hopley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Winston-Salem, NC, USA
.. . . Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll . . ..
rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net . . . . . . . . . .. cell: (301) 775-0471
.. OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters ..
rhopley[at]wfubmc[dot]edu . . . . . . . . . . . office: (336) 713-5077
================================================== ====================

wrote:
"Three girls in a aluminum canoe ran him down?"

Not only that, but "when a gaggle of scouts came up the river" - they
apparently did so while paddling upriver.

Those must have been some menacing Girl Scouts, able to attain upriver
so fast that the collision was unavoidable.


Heh, heh. I wondered the same thing, Mike; maybe this WAS the
beginning of the training that everyone is whining about the girls not
having had. Maybe this WAS the fla****er which, everyone moans, kids
should be starting out on.

Kids happen. Deal with it.


-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty
--
================================================== ====================
Richard Hopley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Winston-Salem, NC, USA
.. . . Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll . . ..
rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net . . . . . . . . . .. cell: (301) 775-0471
.. OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters ..
rhopley[at]wfubmc[dot]edu . . . . . . . . . . . office: (336) 713-5077
================================================== ====================

In a previous article, "Oci-One Kanubi" said:
Paul Tomblin wrote:
Considering how little control they had, they were moving pretty fast.
But they were doing that "everybody paddle on this side, now everybody
paddle on the other side" zig zag thing. They didn't take their paddles
out of the water until they were on a collision course with me.


That's known, to us grizzled ol' highly-experienced old-school boaters,
as "the financial method of paddling". They go from bank to bank, and
leave you broke.

Oh, that's hilarious. Thanks.


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
please excuse my typing, but my whole left arm is in a cast. and i don't
mean _the king and i_.