A question from a new paddler...
 

Wilko van den Bergh wrote:

IMNSHO the main problem is that many couples who think that they have a
good relationship, don't. Finding out on the river that you're not
communicating but talking to each other, that cooperation is something
else than a fight for domination, that it's better to have the most
experienced boater set the course instead of the most dominant one...
A lot can go wrong in a relationship, but tandem kayaking is a good way
of finding out how well a couple really gets along and brining out some
deeper lying problems.

Jesus, this is getting scary. Does anyone actually know of a married
couple that has gotten a divorce because of tandem paddling?

Or is "divorce boat" perhaps a metaphor?

Steve

A question from a new paddler...
 

Yes actually! One caught the other tandem paddling at a party
and.............oops you meant boats
wrote in message
oups.com...

Wilko van den Bergh wrote:

IMNSHO the main problem is that many couples who think that they have a
good relationship, don't. Finding out on the river that you're not
communicating but talking to each other, that cooperation is something
else than a fight for domination, that it's better to have the most
experienced boater set the course instead of the most dominant one...
A lot can go wrong in a relationship, but tandem kayaking is a good way
of finding out how well a couple really gets along and brining out some
deeper lying problems.

Jesus, this is getting scary. Does anyone actually know of a married
couple that has gotten a divorce because of tandem paddling?

Or is "divorce boat" perhaps a metaphor?

Steve

A question from a new paddler...
 

No firm rule here. It all depends on the couple. My wife and I have been
paddling tandem canoes for over 40 years and in recent years have added
solo kayaks to the fleet. We enjoy both and are still happily married.

Dan

In article .com,
"Wilko van den Bergh" wrote:

Melissa wrote:

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256

Hi Alex,

On 9 Jan 2006 18:45:27 -0800, you wrote:

I didn't sit that damned bar exam for nothing.

So you can mix yourself a nice drink and endure just about anything?

;-)

- --
Melissa

ROFL!

I was already wondering for a long time what the connection between
lawyers and bars could be... English is a strange language! ;-)

--
Wilko van den Bergh wilko(a t)dse(d o t)nl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://kayaker.nl/

A question from a new paddler...
 

Wilko van den Bergh wrote:
John, I'll be the last one to point at the tandem boat instead of the
paddlers involved for finding the source of the problem. Of course,
things like communication, trust, cooperation, honesty, awareness and
respect all play much bigger roles in making a tandem team (or a
relationship) work or not.


Wilko

I think Wilko's got it right. Relationships aren't destroyed in a
tandem boat, but they certainly are made public!

I have to admit that my favorite paddling is tandem with my husband. I
do more solo paddling than tandem because he just isn't into paddling as
much as I am, but I really enjoy our canoeing together. We've been
paddling together for 25+ years, and we've got the "communication,
cooperation, ..." stuff down pat. With a long-standing tandem partner
you know what the other person is going to do without even thinking
about it. It can really be great fun.

Pam

A question from a new paddler...
 

Pam in Iowa wrote:

I have to admit that my favorite paddling is tandem with my husband. I
do more solo paddling than tandem because he just isn't into paddling as
much as I am, but I really enjoy our canoeing together. We've been
paddling together for 25+ years, and we've got the "communication,
cooperation, ..." stuff down pat. With a long-standing tandem partner
you know what the other person is going to do without even thinking
about it. It can really be great fun.

Actually, come to think of it, in my experience it can go one step
further: when paddling my TopoDuo with Yakmom (Sheila Shapelle) in
Austria and Slovenia, I was pleasantly surprised by how well we managed
to paddle the boat together, even though I had never been in a tandem
boat with her before.

We both had several years of paddling with other tandem partners (in her
case, in a C2!), and it seemed that a lot of the moves and cooperation
where automatically working out very well. :-)

--
Wilko van den Bergh wilko(a t)dse(d o t)nl
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
---Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.---
http://wilko.webzone.ru/

A question from a new paddler...
 

That was an awesome day - I hope I can get back to Europe someday and
do it again - plus some kayaking also. mothra just posted a link to
this group - being pretty computer illiterate (sp) i figured i had lost
rpb .... I have an old RBP tshirt hanging on our boating wall
upstairs..

Back to topic - my husband and i have paddled tandem many times on and
off over the years - and i paddled tandem with my dad before that.....

sheila

A question from a new paddler...
 

Solution to Divorce Boat topic.

Rent the movie "Nanook of the North", circa 1930s, from Netflix. If
you've ever even touched a kayak, you should anyway for the beauty of
it. When you get to the scene where Nanook grounds his kayak and the
whole family emerges from their prone positions inside the hull, you
will see that we're making a cultural error trying to force our women
to share the paddling. Good historical research will help us correct
our ways.

A question from a new paddler...
 

wrote in message
oups.com...
Back to topic - my husband and i have paddled tandem many times on and
off over the years - and i paddled tandem with my dad before that.....

And you make it seem so effortless. I sure miss paddling with you folks.
How are the kids doing you can reply privately if you'd like.

Rebecca Lightning

A question from a new paddler...
 

in article , !Jones at
wrote on 2/9/06 9:52 PM:

On Tue, 10 Jan 2006 22:55:47 -0500, in rec.boats.paddle KMAN
wrote:

Nonsense. You can paddle "together" without being locked into the same
paddle craft. They call them "divorce boats" because spouse x wants to
paddle up the east shoreline while spouse y wants to paddle up the west
shoreline. While this group is hardly an elitism-free zone, you are (as
usual) way off in your thinking.

A tandem is about the experience of doing whatever it is together.

That's like saying you can't have a healthy marriage unless you are never
apart. You can paddle together without actually being physically joined.

A question from a new paddler...
 

They call them divorce boats because often times BOTH are ALWAYS right? The
hobie thing you spoke of....is that the boat with bicycle pedals?
"!Jones" wrote in message
...
On 10 Jan 2006 21:28:47 -0800, in rec.boats.paddle "riverman"
wrote:

I think they call them 'divorce boats' because spouse X and spouse Y
both wanted to stay dry,

They call them "divorce boats" because spouse X is an abusive
alcholoic and spouse Y is having an affair when spouse X goes out and
buys the damn thing thinking it'll help... then gets ****ed when
spouse Y isn't real interested. It neither helps nor hurts their
marriage; however, it gets blamed for their subsequent problems...
which had their roots *long* before they acquired a tandem kayak.

Jones