the dharma blog

Randy Cunningham explains the difference between the descending canoe culture and the ascending kayak culture on the web site Canadian Canoe Routes:

Canoeists wear their baseball caps with the bills facing forward. Kayakers wear theirs facing backwards. A canoeist will call you a guy. A kayaker will call you a dude. A canoeist will react to something he or she approves of with polite, or, at best, enthusiastic applause. A kayaker will react like the audience of the Jerry Springer show, with whoops and high fives. Canoeists won’t admit it, but they identify with Homer Simpson. Kayakers identify with Bart. A canoeist reads a good book or takes care of the unexciting business of maintaining society while not paddling. A kayaker is publishing an E-zine, jumps around in the mosh pit, goes skateboarding, or is diving into a chasm attached to a glorified rubber band. A kayak is your boyfriend or girlfriend. A canoe is your spouse.

Me, I’ve always naturally deferred to canoeing, it was never very conscious and I’ve never put much thought into differentiating between people by what kind of boat they paddle. As Mr. Cunningham points out, “I sure as hell have more in common with them than I ever will with those who motorboat. (We will not even discuss those barbarians on jet skis).” But, he does raise some interesting points and I agree it’s too bad in a way that everyone is jumping on the kayak bandwagon when there is so much to get from canoeing.

I think the biggest thing about canoeing is the tandem aspect of it. It has always blown my idea how much of a cooperative effort paddling a canoe is. There is no other experience that comes close to it. Maybe it has to do with the fact that my almost full-time canoeing partner happens to be the woman I love. But, it even made it into our wedding vows how intrinsically linked two humans are when they paddle a canoe.

Sure, there are tandem kayaks, but most kayaks (and certainly the ones Mr. Cunningham describes) are in small little boats all by themselves. All well and good, but there is something fundamentally different about going out by yourself to cheat death and going out with someone you are close to to enjoy life in its fullest.

No more rambling. Like I said, I haven’t thought much about the difference before so I won’t shoot my mouth off too much now. Just something to think about.