This is not a dig at play boaters, I "try" to be one. But today I witnessed 2 scarceness on the the South Platte that made be proud to be a boater and one that made me feel disgust of 2 guys representing the sport of kayaking.
Scene 1:
Traveling North on the South Platte Bike Trail I saw 2 slalom boaters practicing on the 20th st gates. I was stoked that some folks were out playing in the water. I Stopped took some pics and had a short chat with them. A sign that the season will be around the corner.
Scene 2:
Traveling over the Cherry Creek Tail bridge I saw 2 guys "playboaters" making their way down the drops. Then I saw an angry guy on another bike yell at them. I noticed they were not in the eddy just chilling, but ripping down a set of slalom gates. The guy yelled, I as well commented to the boaters on the disrespect.
The 2 gentleman in boats replied: "I don't care, were ripping them down, this area is for play boating, not slalom, they can go down to 20th st. We're play boaters".
These gates could have been moved away and not destroyed with little effort.
The water was so low and the gates were in a insignificant place, it was shocking to witness these 2 guys destroy the practice gates.
They threw the destroyed gates to the side and left them as "trash" on the side of the river. I don't know if they packed them out or not.
This being view by non boaters could be viewed as kayakers being destructive to property.
I hope the 2 play boaters I saw read this and get a clue. The river is for all, not your closed minded breed. Take that locals only crap back to the beach.
Pick up a copy of this months AW and read the article about Jesse Whittemore and the Snyder brothers.
Racers and slalom boaters birthed squirt boaters. Squirt boaters started "controlled tricks" and birthed playboating.
Respect the roots of the sport.
Karma is a bitch.
Go ahead, start the flamefest.
__________________ "When the going gets weird, the Weird turn pro" -HST
Idiots are being pulled into the sport. I blame Nissan Xterra commercials.
You should have thrown rocks at them.
__________________
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
Dude, that sucks. As someone who has to care for slalom gates here in Salida, I can attest to how much work it takes to keep them up. I am a playboater at heart but I can say that slalom paddling is one of the best ways for any level boater who is interested in any sort of paddling to get better. In fact if anyone wants to run some gates please feel free to make us of ours.
Quote:
Boaters have enough battles to fight (access, etc) without one boater or group of boaters dis'in fellow paddlers.
This is where the scene at Golden kind of redeems itself. Several times I have been down there and it is cool to see how the racerheads and playboaters work together. Most times the racer people find ways to get in a work out without interfereing with the play boaters. On other occasions I have been there when this girl wanted to work the eddy at corner pocket in her race boat. Every time she came through everyone got out of the way and watched her go through. If i remember right some of the boaters were even kind of cheering for her..... Maybe it was more about her being a girl than anything else. But none the less I am kind of proud about that.
In all actuallity I kind of like having some gates hanging here and there, it makes for some fun when trying to make the gates in a play boat.
If there was anyway to recognize these guys it would be great to get them to do the work required to replace the damage that they caused. It's the only way to get jackass punks to realize the stupidity of their actions on others and the effect on the community. A little humble pie is usually hard to swallow, but the taste is not quickly forgotten.
Don't mean to sound too much like Chuck Bronson here, but honestly, that crap is so lame. My temper is a bit short with that type of bs of late.
It would be great if someone could identify them.
Regardless, thanks for bringing this up. We all need to be protective of the access we have...
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"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body. But rather...To skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming... WOW !!!! What a ride!!!!!!"
I recognized one of them for sure. Don't worry, I will say something next time I see them down there in and eddy. I did have a camera but it was stuffed in my pack and I was kinda fixin to get home after a 2 hour ride on the mtn bike. In retrospect, taking pics would have been as funny as the "Busted Johns" pictures in the Denver Post.
Imagine your picture being posted on the Buzz ripping down slalom gates. The horror!
So these folks don't think I am hiding on the "board", My name is Jamie, on the water I am usually in a Green Pyrahna S6 - black IR jacker, black German Helmut, black PFD, bald head, blonde goat.
__________________ "When the going gets weird, the Weird turn pro" -HST
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