RiverSignals
Letter of the month WINNER! All funked up I am afflicted with the “blue funk.” I'm hop- ing the excellent section on managing fear in the latest issue (Rapid V5 I3 online) will be my panacea. I grew up on the banks of the Ottawa River while my dad pursued a paddling obsession and my mom instilled in me a fear of whitewa- ter. My dad bought me my first kayak for my 10th birthday—a purple Dancer XS. What I wanted was a new Barbie, not some stupid kayak. We went to the lake in front of our house and over and over again he flipped me and taught me my wet exit. I think that was the last time I ever got in that boat. I guided at Wilderness Tours for four years. Never once did I experience the blue funk when I was pushing rubber. Put me in a kayak, however, and you have a completely different person. Gone is the confidence, the cockiness, the bravado. In its place, a scared 10-year-old reliving her mother’s warnings about drowning. This article has given me the tools to hope- fully get over my blue funk. I’m hoping to get over my irrational fears. I’m hoping to hone my skills. I'm hoping to be the boater my dad always wanted and I've always known I could become. Danielle Marquis Evergreen, CO
What About a Picture of Me? I’d like to start by saying how much I enjoy Rapid’s blend of stories and pictures about everything from OC2 to K1 spud boats. I noticed that all of the issues have kayaks on the front. I dug through my photo box and found three shots of a tradi- tional open canoe in decent rapids. You might be able to put a traditional canoe on the cover. Keep up the good work; this is a quality maga- zine that I thoroughly enjoy reading!
Eran on the Petawawa’s Big Thompson. photo Jenn Andrechek.
Eran Andrechek via email
We at Rapid take all suggestions very seriouly, so we did a mock-up of your cover and submitted it to extensive market testing. Sadly, after days of debate and focus-group sessions, Billy “Big Air” Harris beat out your Big Thompson.—Eds.
Mr. Canoehead Speakething Scott, I just found your website and I had to ask about this interesting choice for the name of your editorial column: “Off the Tongue.” I can see where you’re going with this but it could be horribly misunderstood! Perhaps you could change this to something less R-rated like “The Mountain Man Speaketh” or “Insights by Mr. Canoehead.” Mr. Canoehead was created by the Frantics comedy team for the television show Four on the Floor in 1986. It began: “While portaging in Algonquin Park he was struck by lightning, welding his canoe to his head.” Anyway, nice website.
AT4 PLAY
Nylon Matrix Thermoplastic Patented Performance MFG in Canada by Baycomp
We feel your desperation, Danielle. We’re going to send you these Desperado River Socks by NRS, or as we like to call them, “Magic Fearless Kayaking Slippers.” Note that they are orange, not blue, and 100-percent hypofunkagenic. Just slip them on, click your heels together three times and repeat, “I am, I am, I am Super(wo)man, and I can do anything.”—Eds.
Best source for water levels Here is a website that has all the water lev- els for Ontario and the rest of the provinces. As well, there is a secondary overlay on the graphs and weather for any region. I have found this site to be the most comprehensive I have ever come across:
http://scitech.pyr.ec.gc.ca/waterweb/.
Robert Burleigh London, ON
Great tip. By the way, since the year 1867, “Ontario and the rest of the provinces” have come together to form a country called Canada.—Eds.
877.766.4757
atpaddle.com US Patent 5820424
6
www.rapidmag.com
Jon Quade Quadeville, ON
Great ideas, except I’m neither a mountain man speakething nor a guy with a canoe welded to my head.—SM
Write to Rapid and Win Gear! Write to us and you too just might win some- thing magical, such as James Campbell’s old New Wave Cruise Control C1, pictured here. It’s not pretty but it’s fast and it’s free.
Editor, Rapid, PO Box 115, Quadeville, ON, K0J 2G0. Or email:
editor@rapidmag.com. We may edit letters for publication.
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