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Boarding and boating


rwmaron

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Why alpine boarding is like whitewater boating:

Arrangements

Calls, e-mails, posts - whatever it takes to gather the brethren; getting your kitchen pass punched.

Appointed Day

The flush of pleasure at waking in realizing that today is the day; the building anticipation as zero hour approaches.

Gear

Boating: boat, paddle, PFD, spray skirt, helmet.

Boarding: board, boots, shells, mitts, helmet.

Travel

Meeting place, ride arrangements, vehicle attachments to carry the gear; getting caught up with your companions. Boaters don't tempt the river gods by putting a boat on the car backwards; I carry my boards facing forwards, just in case.

Arrival

Donning the battle armor; making the final adjustments.

The Act

Intensity and challenge to keep the normal stuff cluttering our heads pushed aside; attending fully to the demands of the moment; dealing with conditions (water levels/snow character); the easy stretches and big drops; spending time in killer settings.

Afterwards

Basking in the glow of the day's activities, fueled by food and drink; plotting the next opportunity.

Off-Season

Still thinking about it every day.........

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After posting, I realized that this might not resonate so well with folks not familiar with both pursuits.......

Yes, I'm referring to kayaking, using hard-shell boats. It also applies to the even more arcane realm of whitewater canoeing (except for the spray skirt reference.)

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Right on Bro! Been yakin for about 18 years now. I agree with and enjoyed your analogy except for the "off season" part. I've been out boating twice in the past two weeks, one of which was the ultimate weekend....ie...boating on Saturday and boarding on Sunday! Goretex drysuits are "your friend"!

SYOTR, Miguel

PS Where do you do most of your boating. I'm mostly NY/PA with occassional excursions throughout the SE, West and a couple of times abroad.

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Miguel - Outside of one trip to the southeast, my stomping grounds are nothern Wisconsin (Red, Wolf, Peshtigo, Pike) and NE Minnesota (St. Louis, Kettle). Opportunities to practice both in the same weekend are a bit limited in this neck of the woods........

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#1

Boating - breakthrough days, good days, and days when nothing works.

Boarding - breakthrough days, good days, and days when nothing works.

#2

Boating - keeping your wits about you while holding your breath, upside down, underwater.

Boarding - keeping you wits about you while far outside of your comfort zone for speed.

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I'm from south/central New York so I do most of my boating in the NY/ PA area but have traveled to the SE and out West several times. Been to Moose Fest a bunch of times....always a good time. Maybe we should put together an ECBES (East Coast Boating Expression Session, of course), made op from BOL folks. I'll bet there's more than we think.

BTW Tried to submitt a picture but can't figure it out. How does one do that?

Miguel

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