UGLY BUT DELICIOUS. PHOTO: JON LEAVITT
Instead, the word dirtbag caused a kneejerk response. “Neither
PAINFUL BITE Jon Leavitt’s Snakehead Bite video (
www.rapidmedia.com/0299) got Kayak Angler readers fired up about what to do with the invasive species kayak anglers love to catch. “Every snakehead caught needs to be killed,” advised Tom S, in a comment on
Kayakanglermag.com. “Don’t throw it back alive.” Chris Prescott warned kayak anglers to be cautious though,
writing, “If the public sees fishermen killing fish with no intention of consumption, it will turn public opinion against sport fishing.” Rick K played devil’s advocate, adding, “Largemouth bass aren’t
native to the Potomac River and I don’t hear anyone calling for their eradication.” Some people just let the action in the video be: “Awesome video!” wrote 38 Live Bait on Kayak Angler’s Facebook page. Editor’s Note: We think if you kill a fish, you should take it home to enjoy. Besides, snakehead is delicious.
MISSING THE POINT When we shared Neil Schulman’s article “You’re Richer Than You Think,” from Adventure Kayak’s Summer/Fall 2014 issue on
Adventurekayakmag.com (www.
rapidmedia.com/0300), some paddlers were outraged, but not, evidently, because they actually read the essay on why the dirtbag image is an inaccurate and damaging stereotype in kayak culture.
I or any of my many kayaking friends would ever be considered a dirtbag or bum. The writer is an idiot and completely out of line,” surmised Christy Kurtz on Adventure Kayak’s Facebook page. “Who wrote this crap? A ridiculous cross section of the paddling public is professional, wealthy and brilliant,” added Alex H McGruer, inadvertently agreeing with Schulman. If this were the arena of freely hurled insults that is social media, we might add: opinionated, obnoxious and quick-tempered. We received equally misguided responses at the other end of the
spectrum: “The dismissal of kayakers without a lot of money was in poor taste,” said Bill Shockley via voicemail. “My guess is Mr. Schulman is not a kayaker. Next time you talk to him, ask him to kiss my ass.”
A lone voice of reason, Steve Dawson tried to set the rabble
straight back on Facebook: “There’s lots of comments from people who clearly didn’t read the article,” he wrote. Unfortunately his thoughtful summary that followed went unnoticed. Little wonder paddlers can’t muster a united voice for conservation, since we don’t recognize real issues even when they’re clearly laid out in 1,100 words. Schulman rocks the boat again on page 169.
COOL IT When we asked Rapid’s Facebook fans how they’re staying warm on the river as the temperatures dropped we received lots of clever solutions. “Paddle faster,” advised fitness guru Heather Herbeck. Jorge
González-Dévora had a similar plan: “Paddle for a while against the current.” Beth Cornwall had a different strategy in mind, suggesting, “Cud-
dle a cute kayaker.” Corey Anderson simply replied, “Rumplemans!!” Given the en-
thusiasm, we think he was referring to Rumple Minze, a 100-proof peppermint-flavored German schnapps. While Anderson definitely sounds like fun, we were pleased with the safety conscious attitude of the majority, who preferred drysuits to drowning. Check out reviews of the newest whitewater drysuits at
www.rapidmedia.com/0301.
• FI ND US • Email
editor@rapidmag.com editor@canoerootsmag.com editor@adventurekayakmag.com editor@kayakanglermag.com
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PADDLING BUYER’S GUIDE |
www.rapidmedia.com 19
ROCK BOAT
HITCHING A RIDE BACK TO REALITY. PHOTO: VIRGINIA MARSHALL
YOU’RE RICHER THAN YOU THINK The kayaker dirtbag image is dishonest and a disservice to the places we love
I’M TIRED OF THE JOKES. What do you call a kayaker wearing a suit? The defendant. What do you call a paddler whose van is in the shop? Homeless.
Kayakers are often portrayed—and we portray ourselves—as the aquatic equivalent of itinerant ski bums. Every outdoor sport has its stereotype of impoverished, scruffy, mildly Kerouackian vagabonds: surfers mi- grating between beach parking lots or climb- ers squatting in Yosemite’s Camp 4. Fitz Cahall’s popular podcast, The Dirtbag Diaries, renewed the old myth for the Internet age. It’s time to ditch the dirtbag image. First of all, it’s not true. Like most outdoor recre- ationalists, paddlers are relatively rich. And I
don’t mean the “rich in spirit” sort of rich. I mean fat stacks of greenbacks rich. Second, and even worse than being false, the dirtbag stereotype is actually hurting us, and hurting us where it counts.
According to a recent analysis by the Out- door Recreation Industry, $646 billion was spent on outdoor recreation in the US in 2012 alone. That’s billion with a b. It’s a phenom- enal amount of money, as much as Americans spend on cars and gasoline combined. Outdoor recreation is larger than the total economic activity in Switzerland, where wealthy Europeans vacation in St. Moritz and Mafiosi and kleptocrat dictators stash their money in numbered accounts. Outdoor
recreation even approaches the GDP of Saudi Arabia. We dirtbags are as loaded as an oil Sheikh.
The outdoor industry also creates six million jobs in the US, ten times more than Apple, the darling of Silicon Valley. In corporate terms, we’re twice the total assets and revenue of General Motors and Chrysler combined. They got an $80 billion bailout when times got tough. Now who’s “too big to fail?”
Kayakers are also individually wealthy. Most are professionals with college or advanced degrees. Fifty-five percent of kay- akers make over $75,000 a year. Time is a bigger barrier to
—Continued on page 30
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