Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

a recent article in Outside magazine analyzes the decline of whitewater kayaking.
http://outside.away.com/outside/culture ... ion-1.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
any opinions?
jim

I'm sure that people are buying fewer new boats, and in some parts of the US, people are less willing to drive several hundred miles to paddle.

But there seems to be an active market for used boats. There are very few boats on our message board that don't get sold; most sell in a couple days.

And when I go to the rivers around AR I see just as many, if not more, people. There are usually some new faces so it's not the same people who have always paddled.

My take is that paddling in our area is not growing by significant numbers, but it's not dying out.

i think those stats stink i dont think they really know whos out there getting it done not everybody posts a trip report every time they go boating

A lot of interesting points in that article…

The boom cycle really took off in 1997, when designers at kayak manufacturer Wave Sport popularized a radical new boat, the X.

That makes me want to get my X out of the barn and paddle it again. But to narrow it down to one boat model seems like an oversimplification…

High schools like the roving World Class Kayak Academy sprouted to hone the country's top talent… For elite kayakers coming of age in the past few years, the meltdown led to tough times even before the recession struck. Bradt and other recent graduates of the World Class academy, like Rush Sturges, Lane Jacobs, and Ian and Evan Garcia, feel like they missed out on the party.

"Tough times"??? OK, I’m really happy to see an Oklahoma boy many of us have paddled with do well and grow into a world class paddler. But many of us thought we were lucky in high school or college if we got to take a spring break trip to Florida. At the same age, Lane was travelling the world with other world class paddlers, having a string of adventures that will keep his campfire stories interesting for the rest of his life. Outside Magazine shouldn't ask us to feel sorry for them if the gig didn’t last into old age… (I guess this is the boater's equivalent of "When I was your age, I had to walk to school in the snow...")

I don't know anybody who's bought a new boat in a long time," says Moss. Indeed, many top kayakers acknowledge using models that are now five years old.

Well that makes me feel a little better about my five year old boat…

Heath points to the ski industry, which focuses on groomed cruiser runs, as a good model, and notes that one benefit of kayaking's boom years is the resulting dozens of urban whitewater parks.

Still hoping for a piece of that action…

And there are still the classic Class III floats through the wilderness. On that score, even Bradt agrees: "We just got off the Middle Fork of the Salmon and had a killer time."

NOW YOU’RE TALKING! And therein lies my own personal conclusion: I’m much more concerned about whether or not I’m still enjoying the sport, than about the “stats” on what percentage of Americans are enjoying it with me or think it’s “cool”.

The only reason I would care if white-water kayaking were to "die out" would be if the numbers got so low that they quit making boats and gear. As long as there are enough paddlers to keep a company or two in bussiness and run shuttles all is well.

More room in the eddy!

It was an interesting article, but to me was focused on the decline of professional whitewater kayaking & the down business cycle of companies that make whitewater kayaks. The analysis of why this has occured was interesting as well as the ecomonic forces driving some of these professional paddlers to push the limits of waterfalls & film themselves to get paid for kayaking.

I don't think any of that applies to the general interest in whitewater kayaking as a hobby...especially in Arkansas where one doesn't have to drive very far in the Spring to hit some very nice class 2-4 rivers.

Mike P.
Rogers