RIVERSIGNALS
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Still having fun, almost 40. PHOTO: TANYA MACGREGOR
A PADDLER LOOKS AT FORTY OFF THE TONGUE
I have a lot of Jimmy Buffet on my iPod. I can sing along to more than Margaritaville and I’ve read all his books. In 1998, when Jimmy turned 50 and I was toying with the idea of starting a whitewater mag- azine, he wrote his autobiography, A Pirate Looks at Fifty. On the jacket of my hardcover copy Buffet summed up his life in 400
words and I thought I’d try to do the same someday. Looking down the losing end of 39, here are my 400 words, in case I don’t make it to 50. I survived my small-town youth of motocross, snowmobiles and
four wheelers. I drove an 18-wheeler hauling gasoline for awhile, grad- uated high school not being able to spell, and went off to university to become an engineer. I did my first canoe trip, wrecked my grandfather’s cedarstrip, sold
all my things with motors, dropped out of school and protested the first Gulf War. I got a job at an outdoor center, learned to paddle white- water, grew my hair and got back into school in an outdoor program. I became an open boat instructor, got a job as a raft guide, swam a lot and drank too much warm beer. I re-met the right girl (she was in my kindergarten class and I kissed
her in grade two), went on to teachers’ college, graduated and sea kayaked 1,600 miles through the Great Lakes. We learned to snow- board, blew off to the mountains, slept in my truck, ran out of money, missed warm rivers and drove home. I helped start the Paddler Co-op, a non-profit paddling school, and got the idea to start a magazine. I left the paddling school, broke up
10 RAPID EARLY SUMMER 2011
with the right girl and moved to a rented shack by the river in Palmer Rapids. I got lonely, proposed to the right girl, bought my first computer,
racked up every credit card that arrived in the mail, and launched a 16-page trial issue of Rapid. I paddled every day, learned to use spell check, ate too many frozen pizzas, married the right girl and started a sea kayak magazine and, a year later, Canoeroots. I hired an editor, started a paddling film festival, built a house in the
Valley, moved out of the shack, drove a Corvette, had a little boy, cut my hair, took over a paddling festival and bought another magazine, for a dollar—Family Camping. I bought a good camera, took a photo of a friend running a dam, ran
the photo in Rapid, almost got arrested and nearly lost my business to the hydro power company—the owner of the dam. I launched a kayak fishing magazine, had a baby girl, lost the fight
to save national river navigation rights, bought property on the river and started a web-based paddling television show. We became the magazines of the American Canoe Association, I cancelled a family paddling trip, realized it was time to slow down a little and gave up the paddling festival. I took my kids paddling. When I realized I’d be 40 this year, I stopped drinking coffee, found
my running shoes, ordered another boat and booked my first northern river trip. Now I’m trying to figure out what comes next. —Scott MacGregor
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