R I V E R S I G N A L S
Western open-canoe alienation
It’s awesome to read in Rapid that open canoe slalom is growing in popularity (“Sweeping the Nation,” V7 I3). But a successful event or two in Ontario and Quebec doesn’t make it a national trend. When was the last time Beth Kennedy, Claudia Van Wijk, Jacques Chassé or anybody else tried to organize something for open canoes west of the Rockies? Maybe it’s the lack of tripping waters around Vancouver. Maybe the mountainous landscape offers more to class IV kayakers than it does to class III canoeists. Or maybe summer camps around Vancouver don’t teach canoeing. I don’t know. But forget about finding an event or race in the West specifically for canoes—that’s unheard of. It’s hard enough just finding a whitewater canoeing course out here. Sure, from time to time a few C1 canoeists and the odd open boater
may appear at kayak events on Vancouver Island or around Squamish and Whistler, but in B.C. there is no sign of the youth or finesse that are fuelling this growth of OC slalom in the East. And on another note, it was interesting that Rapid’s OC2 slalom
teams decided to race the Bell Nexus instead of a Dagger Caption at the North American OC slalom championships in Jonquiere, Que- bec (“Boat Insider,” V7 I4). However, the comment, “What really sets the hulls apart is that you can actually buy a Bell Nexus,” may lead readers to believe that there are no other 14-foot tandem whitewater canoes available. How can you review a Nexus without at least giving a nod to Mo-
hawk’s Probe 14 and Esquif’s Vertige X? It seems only courteous to mention Esquif, the Canadian manufacturer that has stepped up and filled the void left by Dagger. Patrick Yarnell VANCOUVER, BC
In retrospect, we should have titled the article “OC Slalom Sweeping Significant Portions of the Nation, But not All of it Exactly.” We used the term national loosely—like the softwood lumber dispute being a na- tional crisis, lacrosse being our national sport or the Bloc Québecoise being a national party. Regarding the Nexus review, Mohawk canoes have never been widely available in Canada and Mohawk has recent- ly ceased production of canoes altogether. We chose to compare the Nexus to the Caption because most open boaters have paddled a Caption. The Esquif Vertige X is still fairly new. —Ed.
Flipping the bird
I do not share Ben Aylsworth’s opinion on whitewater canoeing and extinction (“Reactionary,” V7 I4). Not only are we canoeists not extinct, but the dinosaurs he likens us to live on as the evolutionary predeces- sors of all modern birds. I bet that in my 16-footer I can do pretty much anything Ben can do in his kayak. Just look at this move, done in my Evergreenaurus Starburstii, where I wave to the camera after some wild holeriding at the 2005 Festival d’Eau Vive de la Haute-Gatineau. Graceful as a swallow. Martin Mousseau ST-BRUNO, QC
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MARTIN TALBOT
RAPID
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