R I V E R S I G N A L S
Small but beautiful
Look, I know at 53 years I’m older than most of your readers. But I still enjoy your maga- zine and read it cover to cover as soon as it arrives. Are you trying to keep your read- ership young by making the print size too small for old folks to read without a mag- nifying glass? Keep up the good work, but make it a little easier to read.
Peter Boyd MONTREAL, QUEBEC
Roll This
I think Scott MacGregor has dubious mo- tives in suggesting that single-blade pad- dlers switch to a high brace roll. I suspect he’s trying to thin his OC competition on the river by sending gullible paddlers to shoul- der rehabilitation. I’m willing to wager that a low brace roll will get one’s frozen face out of the water just as fast as a high brace roll, unless you tip to your onside, and who does that? Michael Bain TORONTO, ONTARIO
I wanted to let you know that there is a hardcore group of paddlers hitting the rivers every winter weekend here in Nova Scotia. We’ve been lucky that we’ve had a lot of rain days just before weekends and the temperatures have been unusually kind. The photo above is James Wildsmith paddling Bears Falls on the Medway River on February 25th. The air temperature was zero degrees celsius and the water was just above freezing. It’s a good way to cool down after trying to read your new, small print size.
Mike Taylor LUNENBURG, NOVA SCOTIA
First of all, I suggested trying the high brace roll as an alternative or a comple- ment to the low brace roll. Secondly, the high brace roll is just a kayak roll and if done properly—keeping your elbow below your shoulder—works in a canoe just as it does in a kayak. Finally, this reluctance to trying new things might just be why open boating, to quote the original article, has been frozen in time.—SM
Coming Unglued
I must confess that being busy either ski- ing or paddling no one sits around here and keeps an inventory of which issues arrive, but Rapid issues seem to arrive sporadi- cally. The current issue just showed up with the mailing label nearly peeled off. Is this a common problem? Sarah Schillemore VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA
No.—SM
Sporting Response I just finished reading Ben Aylsworth’s ar- ticle “I’m Not a Rower” (V7 I3) and for the most part I could not agree more. It is al- most laughable and sometimes frustrating how ignorant most people are about white- water paddling. Although I must admit it is satisfying to
WRITE US
Rapid welcomes reader comments and letters to the editor. Send correspon- dence to: Editor, Rapid magazine, Box 70, Palmer Rapids, ON K0J 2E0. Email:
editor@rapidmag.com. Letters chosen for publication are sub- ject to editing for style and length.
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participate in an activity that is not strewn about the mainstream, one thing about the article struck a nerve. Aylsworth writes, “Lame sports like rafting and sea kayak- ing take the same tools we use but apply them to something altogether different. Sea kayaking is not a sport, it’s speed walking on water.” Some of the most challenging and ex- hilarating conditions I have experienced in a boat have been in a sea kayak. I would like Aylsworth to reaffirm his statement after surfing a sea kayak in an inlet on a rough day. You think getting airborne in a 6-foot playboat is a rush, try doing so in an 18-foot sea kayak! I’m not saying sea kayaking is more chal- lenging than whitewater, or that it is more fun, but it certainly deserves some credit as a sport and is certainly not lame.
John Gannon FRANKLINVILLE, NEW JERSEY
RAPID
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