No, this is not Bob and Willie. Our former neighbors in Connecticut,
George and Sally Hine, were married in 1948, and a friend made this card
as a wedding gift. |
This is Bob and Willie, enjoying a romantic interlude on Connecticut's
Farmington River. |
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
My Journey Down Foggy Rivers |
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My passion for paddling started when I was a Boy Scout at Camp Krietenstein
in West Central Indiana. I enjoyed paddling on Sugar Creek, Otter Creek
and the Wabash River. Here I am in 1958 in the bow of Dudley Brown's canoe,
on the first day of our trip from Terre Haute to Vincennes on the foggy
Wabash . The next day, March 30, was my 15th birthday, and we celebrated
by finding the body of a man who had disappeared in December. |
| That summer of 1958 my older brother Joe and I restored
and fiberglassed an old canoe that Dad picked up for thirty dollars. It
was a lot of work, but we had great times together. On Sugar Creek we nearly
got washed off a sandbar when it rained hard during the night and the creek
came up quickly. On Otter Creek we tipped over because we both leaned the
same way to avoid a branch. On Little Rocky we were in awe of a dozen ugly
turkey vultures that were perched not more than twenty feet from the bow
of our canoe. Ten years later I finally had a chance to get our father into
the old canoe he bought for us to restore. Joe and I are thankful Dad taught
us how to work with tools. |
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This picture of me at a Faithful Fly Fisherman's outing was taken by Jack
Kerins, who was a host, along with Jack Ennis, of the TV Sportsman's Show
in Terre Haute. I gave the show notoriety in 1973 when I wrote a piece for
TV Guide that praised Jack and Jack for integrity, while The American Sportsman
had "faked" the catching of fish for an Indiana episode featuring
Hoosiers Chris Schenkel and Hoagy Carmichael on Sugar Creek, lifting up
cane poles to pull in fish that had already been caught and worn out by
Bob Bensinger . |
|
Near Rockford, Illinois, I enjoyed the Kishwaukee, Pecatonica, Sugar
and Rock rivers, as well as Pierce Lake in Rock Cut State Park, where I
was the primary local coordinator for the 1972 Olympic Trials for flatwater
canoes and kayaks.
Here is my friend Marcia Smoke, three times an Olympian, paddling leisurely
in 1989. If you would like to read River Music Of The Night, an article
I wrote about a unique paddling experience that connected me to the story
of Donald Dodge, Marcia Smoke, and Greg Barton, click HERE. |
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Tired of watching, I got involved in racing. |
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I always looked pretty good, but I never paddled very fast. My best performances
were 14th out of 32 kayaks in the 19-mile Des Plaines Marathon, and 4th
out of nine in the 7-mile Kishwaukee River Race. |
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Sometimes a guy in a
raft has to pull over to
let the fast boats go by.
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I was not in this canoe.
I took the picture. |
.
I still have a flatwater kayak, similar to the training boats used by
Olympic sprint paddlers. Last year I made a new cockpit, so my legs fit
under the deck and I can use a standard spray skirt. Of course now my little
boat looks like a pregnant submarine, but who cares?
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Soon after we moved to Connecticut in 1982 I made a cedar strip racing canoe.
Building it from a blueprint was a challenge. Here are my sons Bill and
Rob on the Concord River in Massachusetts. After about eight years the boys
had other interests, and the canoe was always heavier than it should have
been, so I sold it, and immediately regretted it. |
And then...
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My good friend Ray Burelle gave me this old canoe in 1995 . All the wood
was black, the gunwales were infested by ants, the seats were without cane,
and the deck plates were rotting. Because of broken ribs, it had already
been fiberglassed. I didn't have the time, patience, or money to restore
it to original canvas, but I spent many hours restoring the wood, making
new gunwales and deck plates, and caning the seats. I also designed a contoured
wood solo seat which is comfortable and great for fishing.
The canoe is 17 feet long and was made sometime between 1916 and 1948
by the E.M. White Canoe company , which was later sold to the Old Town company.
The approximate date of manufacture is because of the brass plate, without
serial numbers, which was on the canoe. Plates after 1948 simply said the
White Canoe Company, and were serialized.
I make my beavertail paddles out of 1 1/4" pine or by alternating
one-by-two strips of poplar and maple. You can't beat a beavertail for solo
paddling and quiet control.
In the summer of 2000 I took out the carrying yoke
and made a combo yoke and solo seat. I love it!
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| Willie and I took a trip on the Farmington with Ray and Fern Burelle. Ray
took the picture at the top of the page, and we had a few laughs. |
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| Ray and Fern also showed us how to relax and enjoy the scenery. |
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"The water rat said to the mole, "Believe me, my young friend,
there is nothing---absolute nothing--half so much worth doing as simply
messing about in boats."
From "The Wind and the Willows" by Kenneth Grahame |
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Click Your Mouse
and Paddle
To My Favorite Foggy Rivers |
The Bantam River
Litchfield County, Connecticut |
The Silver River
Marion County, Florida |
|
Other Paddling Links |
Click on either world to go to the best Canoe Racing site
on Earth!!!
 Welcome to the
World!
~ ~ ~ All this for Reepicheep ~ ~ ~
|
