If it's just a block on kayaking, but you still love rivers and the outdoors, why not see if someone you know has a raft they'll let you borrow? Getting on the river a different way -- as bkp77 mentioned -- could be a means of doing river stuff with other folks who aren't as interested in doing real intense water, but are still good company.
Besides, think how decadent you can be with a raft. The material compensation can be well worth the scorn you'll receive from your former buddies.....
If you're interested, contact me off-list and maybe I can steer you in the direction of a rig to use for a while. I think I know sombody who might be willing to drop you a loaner rig for a tryout.
My story is a little different......but, for what it's worth.....I left kayaking in my "prime" for a job a thousand miles away from any river worth mentioning. I tried to convince myself that I'd find something to replace my love for rivers. I discovered after missing the first season of my life how impossible it would be.
I can't tell you how painful it was to visit the Buzz everday, "watch" the rivers start to rise, read all the excited posts, and not be able to do a damn thing.
I realized in my time away that it wasn't just sitting in my boat that I missed (although that was HUGE), it was a piece of me, rivers had helped make me the person I am today. And at the risk of sounding cheesy, rivers feed my sole.
I like the other guys ideas......shelf the kayak for a few and hop in a raft. It's how I spent my weekends from the age of three (thanks gramps!), when I finally sat in a kayak, I felt like I was born again. I'd bet you find your kayaking mojo before you know it!
Hey man, do what makes you feel good. Learn a new language, write a book even if it sucks, bike more, buy a paraglider, open up a brothel whatever. But it aint fun, don't do it. It's not like you have some responsibility or some obligation to fulfill. When you feel like boatin, go boatin.
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I hope in the future Americans are thought of as a warlike, vicious people, because I bet a lot of high schools would pick "Americans" as their mascot. -Jack Handy
quit crowding my rivers and sit home drinking highlife. I think your problem is you are probably not doing enough overnighters. It's not always about the rapids, it's about sleeping next to the wonderful sound of a river next to your tent on a warm summer night. I enjoy my class V's, but I enjoy a calm water float trip that lasts 3 days just as well. buy a raft if you don't have buddies with one. Sitting in a kayak and cooking in flatulents all day can cramp anybody's style, esp. on flatwater stuff. kicking back on a raft floating and camping out in the desert and drinking highlife in the sun is the summation of evolution. Kayaking's fun too.
Maybe the Buzz is contributing to your burnout. I'm no slouch but with 450 posts, you must be close to leading the league. Stop posting, start floating. Sure wish I could do that.
Jerry Rice once said after entering his 87th season that he still gets butterflies before every game. He said if he didn't then he knew it was time to leave. Do you still get butterflies? Now I can't say that I am getting burnt out on kayaking as I have only been doing it for three seasons, but I have been burnt out on other sports and activities in my short life so far. Mainly College. All I know is I quit a sport before I needed to and have regretted it ever since. You have been kayaking longer than I have been born and the fact that you question feeling burnt out makes me think there is a flame waiting to be extinguished by running some good ol whitewater, but it is like one of those trick candle that you get on your seventh bithday that just keeps coming lit again and again.
Anyhoo I'm one of those young wippersnappers that wantws to be on the river every day so let me know if you want to run together, I'm sure an old dog like you can show me some new tricks.
The same thing happened to me with skiing. I worked at a ski area for 10 years. Now, unless theres a foot of fresh I dont even bother. After a couple of seasons video boating in WV it began to happen with boating. My solution was to buy a raft and start doing multiday trips. Now I sit back in my highback seat with a diet coors and a cheap cigar and gawk stoopidly at the canyon walls.
Try to remember those things that really got you stoked when you were just starting to paddle, and see if youv'e lost some of those things. Take a look at your current lifestyle, and your current group of friends. Have there been any large changes there?
It could be that you simply need a little break from it. It could be that you need to readjust some of your personal goals, and possibly find a different set of paddling partners (if they don't share your own set of goals). If you do take a break however, keep active in something. Turning into a couch potatoe is not the answer.
I'm kind of going/went through the same thing with climbing. Over 30 years of climbing, I never was a *great* climber (was doing 5.9's when the world was doing 5.11's, doing 5.11's when the world was doing 5.13/14's). As I have gotten older, I found that my body can't quite do the things that my mind would like it to do (I suspect that at the moment following a 5.9 might be pushing it..)
Several of my recent climbing partners have all been younger and newer to the sport. Some have different climbing goals (ohh.. let's go hit the sport climbs, or lets see how fast we can climb this), or there is enough of a generational/experience gap (one friend recently started a new family with a new baby, while my youngest kid is finishing up a 2nd year at college)
I basically took a little time off (I got out maybe 3, 4 times in the last two years), and am now trying to get back into the swing of things. I've tried to change my attitude to try to match some of the original things that really made climbing fun for me when I started. To take a more of a "lets just have fun with what I can do" attitude.
I am burnt out on skiing. After doing it for 22+ years, I just don't have the desire to sit in traffic on the weekend so I can go and ski sub-par conditions. My friends don't seem to understand but that is OK. I know that for me, some easy groomers with my girlfriend is going to be enough... more because I like being with her than I like being on the sticks. With that said, a good foot of freshies and my old crew never sounds like a bad day if you follow my drift. I guess my advice is to love what you do, where you are and who you're with... if any of those three things aren't being satisfied it's time to pick up and move on. There are plenty of other amazing hobbies out there just waiting to be had.
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