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"Too old to kayak" (or, in my case, "too old to canoe") ...
Submitted by Oci-One Kanubi on 26/Oct/2015 in reply to Re: 10 reasons to learn about rafting posted by Tom Oehser on 24/Oct/2015 152.11.93.254
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... might better be interpreted as "too old to paddle the class of water you used to paddle." For me, as, apparently, for Gus, that means "too old to paddle the Upper Y or Upper G any more," and, more generally, it means I must stay off rivers on which I cannot self-rescue effectively or swim safely.
I'm 69 and last Spring on the Nolichucky at a medium level (1500 CFS or so) I demoted myself from Class III/IV paddler to Class III paddler (five or six years ago I demoted myself from Class IV(V) to Class III/IV). But still, I'm unlikely to ever get into a raft.
In 25 years I've been in a raft twice, once to... er, ah... hitch a ride from one side of the pool below National Falls to the side where my boat ended up, and once to take my brother and his family down the Class II Tuckaseigee Gorge in North Carolina.
I have no plans to ever get into a raft again, barring the unexpected. If I am in the Northern Rockies with the right paddling pals, I'd rather do a bunch of Class II/III daytrips than ride a raft for a Class III/IV multi-day trip (e.g., unless it is really low, I'll never paddle the Middle Fork again; I still have the skills, but I no longer have the lungs to swim a long turbulent rapid if something goes wrong).
OTOH, I have a friend, the legendary Jim Michaud, who is older than I and still open-boating the Upper G, who runs the Grand Canyon several times a year because he is willing to row a raft. He gets invited to row a support raft for private trips (it helps that every high-level paddler in the United States knows and likes him, of course).
-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty Nothing really matters except boats, s@x, and rock'n'roll
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