“What else do I need to get down the river?”
“Many folks who come into CKS focus on the five essentials— boat, paddle, PFD, skirt and helmet—forgetting about the other necessities such as a dry top, floatation, rescue gear and outfit- ting,” says Kloberdanz. Te list can be daunting and you don’t have to buy it all at once, but experienced paddlers know that there’s a lot more to a kayaker’s kit than those five basic items. Whether you’re wet behind the ears or a seasoned whitewa-
ter paddler, Kloberdanz will always remind his customers that along with good gear, “good instruction, good physical fitness and a good attitude all contribute to progressing your skills on the river.”
CANOEING
If you’re in the market for a canoe, you’ll want to find a place like Rutabaga in Monona, Wisconsin. It’s family owned, it has a mas- sive inventory of boat options, staffers identify themselves as pad- dlers first and employees second, and it’s right on the water—all the ingredients of the ideal outfitter. Owner Darren Bush is known around Rutabaga as Chief Pad-
dling Evangelist. He grew up surfing and body boarding out west, chased a girl east and got into paddling because there was no local surf. “It turns out I like paddling better anyways,” he says, “so it all worked out.” After 20 years in the business, he’s seen it all, so we asked him what every customer should think about before buying a canoe.
“Am I focused on what really matters most?”
“Folks come into my shop all the time saying things like, ‘What’s it made of?’, ‘Why doesn’t it have a keel?’ and ‘My uncle said I should get a Sports Pal’,” says Bush. It’s great to have a little knowledge of how different boats perform, but by focusing on preconceived notions, you can get lost in the specifics. “Tis of- ten leads people to ask for things they don’t necessarily want,” he points out. Sometimes you need to let go of the details and focus on what really matters most—getting a boat that does what you need, not what you think you want.
“Where am I going to be paddling 90 percent of the time?”
For Bush and his staff, the best approach to ensuring you wind up with the right canoe is to know thyself. By getting a sense of where the canoe will be going, how much stuff it needs to carry and how important weight and durability are, it becomes more straightforward matching paddler to canoe. It’s important to un- derstand that you’ll get the most out of your boat if you focus on where you will be paddling most of the time. “Otherwise it’s like buying a moving van to go to the grocery store because you might move someday,” says Bush. “It’s smarter to buy something built for your intended use.” Any reputable shop will carry a variety of boats that will match
your specific needs. “I’ll offer a few options and we’ll narrow it down to the best one,” says Bush. Now it is time to start considering the finer features of the
boats, comparing how different attributes perform on the water. “People may find the features they originally felt were so impor- tant don’t even matter at this stage,” he says. “Being open to op- tions will ensure you wind up with the right canoe. Tere are no bad choices, just compromises.”
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