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Shelby Johnson was a Pot Head
Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 8:29 pm
by shelbyjohnson
1992, Tellico River near Ducktown, Tennessee. I had forgotten my helmet. A gent named Mike Beard pulled this thing out of the trailer and said I was welcome to use it. Everyone else laughed... hard. Seeing as how I was bound to paddle that day I took him up on the offer. Some safety was better than none. The biggest problem with the design was there were no drain holes in it. When I rolled I had one heck of a time rolling back up with a 3 quart sauce pan full of water lashed to my head.
Stuart... Thrasher's story was true!
Thrasher... thanks for all of the most excellent mentorship and memories!
Re: Shelby Johnson was a Pot Head
Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 9:20 pm
by A Savage spanke
Love the tellico, nice pic, thats pretty awesome
Re: Shelby Johnson was a Pot Head
Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 9:52 pm
by canoe
gawd almighty, never thought I would ever hear the names Mike Beard and Shelby Johnson mentioned in the same sentence, much less on the river at the same time. Gawd, how old am I, dale
Re: Shelby Johnson was a Pot Head
Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 10:54 pm
by Ryan Center
OLD!
Re: Shelby Johnson was a Pot Head
Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 9:24 am
by panicman
lol, that is great. You look like the tin man from the wizard of oz.
Re: Shelby Johnson was a Pot Head
Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 9:36 am
by Tmuse
I guess that was not a teflon coated pan.
Re: Shelby Johnson was a Pot Head
Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 5:58 pm
by Eric Esche
Well that is one way of keeping your head down until the last part of the roll. If you get too nostalgic, I have a Norse kayak paddle in the basement you can borrow, although it is patched on both blades. Some of my old photos show me wearing a Sears Craftsman life jacket, and I still do use a Spaulding base ball batting helmet although with new foam.
Was that a Red Hollowform? That color was really rare. Susan still paddles my black one.
Eric
Re: Shelby Johnson was a Pot Head
Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 8:54 pm
by George Locke
Quote from a sage I should remember and I do remember Mikey but this was not his-
"Nostalgia is like a grammar lesson... Past perfect-Present tense."
Geo.
Re: Shelby Johnson was a Pot Head
Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 9:36 pm
by dai479
Hehehe!!!! That ROCKS!!!!
Re: Shelby Johnson was a Pot Head
Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 10:27 pm
by shelbyjohnson
Eric Esche wrote:Was that a Red Hollowform? That color was really rare. Susan still paddles my black one.
Eric
That boat was a classic Noah Jetti - the first real creek boat designed about a decade and a half ahead of its time. People complained they were slow boats which was true but they were very safe.
Re: Shelby Johnson was a Pot Head
Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 5:24 pm
by dog
Shelby, that's big-time pot abuse!
Re: Shelby Johnson was a Pot Head
Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 5:35 pm
by RandyJ
Still not sure it should be legalized.
Re: Shelby Johnson was a Pot Head
Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 10:20 pm
by dthrasher
I believe that Newton White was the pot distributor rather than Mike Beard. Even so, the pot was supplied by a true icon. I appreciate the kind words concerning mentorship and memories. It's been a blast and it has especially been rewarding to see so many young bucks like Shelby turn into such great paddlers.