# Why do we boat - revisited.



## elkhaven (Sep 11, 2013)

Awhile ago Shutzie started a similar thread and he got some great phylisophical responses. As complaints about where this forum has gone grow, I have gotten to wonder who really uses this site.


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## soggy_tortillas (Jul 22, 2014)

*what's your story?*

Are you asking why we boat or why we use this site?
My answers to both:
Boating:
The river has always been one of my favorite places in the world... particularly the Yampa. I can remember when I was a little girl my dad would take me out into the current and show me how to cross the river safely. He'd explain what to do if I got swept away... I can remember how thrilling it was as a 60 lb girl in the current, it was so powerful.
As I got a little bigger my best friend and I would afro-engineer an empty ice cream bucket with sandwiches and snacks to our tractor tire inner tube and cruise the river together- always a true adventure for two little girls, even on the flat water run through Craig. We'd bomb through that little diversion dam (the only rapid) over and over and over until smiles were permanently plastered to our sun-burned faces 
Then I moved to Steamboat and in the spring runoff we'd run a raft down the heavy water. We even did a night run once with nothing but a mag lite and a head lamp, and a pack of PBR, wearing cotton sweatshirts and jeans... probably not one of my finer moments...
In the past few years I've been turned onto kayaking... some days it's all I can think about... I have dreams about it... big water and deep strokes, bombing through big holes resulting in awesome facials. My boyfriend often wakes up to me mumbling (or shouting) some obscure statement about kayaking.
This summer has easily been the best of my life. I've pushed my limits and I've learned so much, my skills have improved exponentially. I've never really been athletic, this is the first sport that has truly peaked my interest...
At this point there's nothing better to me and no place I'd rather be than in my boat on the river. It just feels so good. I've been places that just can't be reached safely any other way than a boat (or private property if you're ballsy). I've paddled through some pretty gnarly waves by my standards (I'm still only comfortable in class III) and survived. I've only swam three times this season (in really silly places), which is pretty good because I've been on the river A LOT! :mrgreen:
Maybe it's conceited to say, but I am damn proud of myself! This stuff is tricky and risky and mentally taxing, but so so so so so very worth it. Very few moments compare to the end of a successful run down the river. So many good feelings and thoughts on the river... memories of my dad, life changes, the beauty of the world, the insane power of water and the amazing treasures it has carved through history, over coming fear and using it to channel my inner kayak ninja ("you're a ninja, you're a ninja, paddle like a ninja")...

Now, why I use this site:
Because all I think about all day every day, even when I'm thinking about other shit, is kayaking... river... kayaking... river... AHHHHH!
And I have a boring 9-5 job where I ultimately end up having far too much free time on my hands...

So, uh, what's your story?


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## elkhaven (Sep 11, 2013)

Thanks, actually my intent was to create a poll so details were to follow, but I had a hard time coming up with a poll that would answer any questions - just way too many variables in boating to sum up in a poll. So I bagged the idea. I had no idea that this actually was posted, I thought I cancelled it. Anyways I'm glad you responded.

My question really revolves around the use of this site but as it pertains to what buzzards actually do on the river. So really both, why do we boat and why do we share our experiences on this forum.

I haven't yet read your post but will as soon as I post this, I just want to clarify my intent/mistake.


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## soggy_tortillas (Jul 22, 2014)

Haha... I'm always good at over-informing...


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## elkhaven (Sep 11, 2013)

soggy_tortillas said:


> Haha... I'm always good at over-informing...


No that's great, I'm writting my story on my other screen.


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## elkhaven (Sep 11, 2013)

At the root of this thread is my distaste for complaints about what this site used to be and how if you're not running huge water you're a waste of time. There's so much ego on this site it's depressing. Don't get me wrong I still post here because there are some great folks here and I've learned a ton, but sometimes I think the shit talkers are 12 yo pimple face punks sitting in their basement. Gotta be the gnar, nothing else...it's just a lame perspective in my opinion. So I guess I was looking for a place to vent or validation... how knows but know that it's running lets see what happens here rather than ruining other peoples threads...

First off, I too am bored with my job. I truly love it but this year has been monotonous...all office and no field work. Drives me nutts! I've spent the entire summer on data analysis, making figures and writting reports, the same thing over and over again. So my mind wanders outside, to the river. My only fix is talking about it... So in a nuttshell I post here out of boredom, to get a river fix and honestly to help people by sharing my experiences. Yes I'm sure I annoy some, maybe many of you but I'm pretty sure I do more good than harm. 

As for boating - I'm very much like you. I've been drawn to water since I could crawl, it's just in my nature. My story starts with fishing, that's what I grew up doing and those are the memories that link me to my family. I got into running rivers (I don't say rafting because it started in a drift boat) to fish. I grew up outside of Portland Oregon a few miles from the Clackamas river. I'd ride my bike down to fish, eventually I got a car and a friend got a DB. We spent the next two years floating every chance we got. ONE of My other passions is skiing and so thinking I could make a career as a skier I moved to bend, got a job and went to school. didn't fish or do much with the river until I took a kayaking class. First quarter went great, I had found a new passion. I didn't have a boat or friends that boated so I could only go when in class. So I enrolled again in the spring and things went great, until I flipped in a no name little rapid, that was only a few feet deep and knocked myself out. I was wearing a helmet but the rock hit me right between the eyes. I woke up on the bank with the class huddled around me, the instructor was white as a ghost and I was seriously confused. I really didn't remember much of what happened but long story short, I was freaked from that point on. I couldn't make my self roll. I was fine in the pool and OK in an eddy but if I flipped it was an uncontrollable wet exit... I tried for the remainder of the semester, but buy then I was so tense it wasn't fun any more, so I quite. My love for the river was still strong and so once that year was over I moved back to P-town and fished my ass off for a few years - like every day for 425 days straight. 

Fast forward for ten years, I'm living in Mt, fishing 120 days a year, hunting 50 or 60 and skiing everyday for work. I meet my future wife on the mountain and our first date is a float, fishing of course. FF 4 more years, we're married (engaged on the river, married on the river) and my first son is born (in a hospital, but probably conceived on the river). At this point floating, fishing, hunting and skiing is what we do. Every free day all year it's one of these things. Colter's first float was at day 8. His first overnighter at 9 months. We slacked with my second son, his first float was day 30 something, first Smith trip at just over a year. FF to now. I have a family that adores the river, my kids now 4 and 6 chose, on their own to go floating instead of the fair! We're somewhere around day 40 this year including 3 overnight trips (Wife and I are heading antelope hunting tomorrow, out of the boat)... Speaking of which I got to go get packed.

So in the end I just love water, especially moving water. No I'm not an adrenaline junkie, especially on water. It's really quite the opposite for me, I like the peace, quite and ideally solitude (though that's getting harder to find).

Thanks for reading


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## mr. compassionate (Jan 13, 2006)

soggy_tortillas said:


> Are you asking why we boat or why we use this site?
> My answers to both:
> Boating:
> The river has always been one of my favorite places in the world... particularly the Yampa. I can remember when I was a little girl my dad would take me out into the current and show me how to cross the river safely. He'd explain what to do if I got swept away... I can remember how thrilling it was as a 60 lb girl in the current, it was so powerful.
> ...


 

Afro Engineer????


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## soggy_tortillas (Jul 22, 2014)

mr. compassionate said:


> Afro Engineer????


Not only do I over-inform from time to time, I'm also incredibly politically incorrect and inappropriate from time to time. Odd that out of that entire post those were the two words that made an impact. Sorry, it was poor word choice, and I didn't mean to offend anyone.... I did after all grow up in Craig, 'Merica.

Guess what I should have said is: My best friend and I would take an old empty ice cream bucket and wrap copious amounts of string and duct tape around it until it was tightly bound to our tractor tire tube. "Secure" and ready for an ambitious trip down the river by two 10 year old blonde little girls.

Did you want to share your story or just criticize mine?


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## henrylightcap (May 11, 2012)

Nice stories guys! Good job! Holy shit!


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## cataraftgirl (Jun 5, 2009)

Why I go rafting......in the rest of my life, I'm a pretty tame person. Not at all an adrenaline junkie. Rafting is the one area of my life where I can push my boundaries a little. Take a chance. Throw caution to the wind. Challenge myself. Add that to the beauty of the wilderness, and the company of good friends. What's not to like.

Why I use Mountain Buzz......to learn new stuff and share what I've learned with others. Simple. As long as your are friendly, helpful, safe, and try your best to protect the resource then you are my River Brother and River Sister. Let's shoot the bull about the river. I don't even care whether you drain your cooler or not


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## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

Everyone out there boats easy water from time to time, its just not as much fun to talk about on the internet...

I started using this site after friends pulled a body from the river and wanted share information about the accident and individual:

http://www.mountainbuzz.com/forums/f11/another-possible-fatality-on-the-arkansas-19835.html

and I was so impressed by the response by the majority of the community that undecided to stick around. 

These days I would say I met 3/4 of my paddling partners on this site and a few of them have become very close, life long friends. That's why I use this forum.

I paddle because it makes me happy. I find a certain level of personal peace and satisfaction from being on the water that I can't seem to find elsewhere in my life.


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## Myka (Jul 10, 2014)

I love you guys that's why I use mountainbuzz. You all grew on me and helped the process. Can't say it enough love you guys! Meet some sweet folks through this place. 

I like to boat gnar bar but sometimes the not so gnar.. Mostly gnar guess I'm a snot I don't really care as long as fun is being had.


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## trevko (Jul 7, 2008)

Why I raft - I have one of the most improbable entries into rafting, but it awakened a long dormant side of my personality. To me, there is nothing quite like the feeling of being one the river, down in the canyons exploring. It puts things into perspective. I met my wife on the river, and I'm sure if we had met anyplace other than the river we never would have connected. Being down in the canyons for days at a time can erase who & what you think you are and allows your true self to come through (of course sometimes this is not always pretty). 

I'm on this site for the same reason. Yes, there are some insufferable egos and opinions here, but there are also some very helpful ideas and great personalities. That, and I am always thinking about the river….


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## Caleb125 (Oct 25, 2012)

I kayak because it gets me outside and gets me to places only a handful of people have ever experienced because it is only accessible via river. It is also amazing because the sense of self achievement at the bottom of a drop or rapid is like nothing else. Kayaking is like nothing else.
I use this site cause its as close as I can get to kayaking while in school haha!


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## catwoman (Jun 22, 2009)

Why do I boat? Cuz' it makes me smile. I like the thrill of running the rapid, the celebration afterwords, and chilling in the flat water and at camp outside with friends. Plus it is great family time. People who are only into it to for the thrill are missing out. My penchant for thrill has waned as I age. 

Why buzz? To learn from others and meet people with similar interests.


Sent from my iPhone using Mountain Buzz


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## Andy H. (Oct 13, 2003)

'Cause I'm a water dog. 



> ...Why is almost every robust healthy boy with a robust healthy soul in him, at some time or other crazy to go to sea? Why upon your first voyage as a passenger, did you yourself feel such a mystical vibration, when first told that you and your ship were now out of sight of land? Why did the old Persians hold the sea holy? Why did the Greeks give it a separate deity, and own brother of Jove? Surely all this is not without meaning. And still deeper the meaning of that story of Narcissus, who because he could not grasp the tormenting, mild image he saw in the fountain, plunged into it and was drowned. But that same image, we ourselves see in all rivers and oceans. It is the image of the ungraspable phantom of life; and this is the key to it all.
> 
> Herman Melville, Moby Dick


I think that wherever I lived, I'd have a boat of some kind. I spent the better part of a summer on Cape Cod for a project once, and reconnected with an old ski bum buddy living in Woods Hole who was working building beautiful wooden sailboats and refurbishing his own fixer-upper. He'd loan me his dory to row around in the harbor after work and got me into the water rat community while I was there. I felt right at home just like I do sitting around camp with a bunch of folks I've known for years, or the folks I've just connected with for a random last-minute trip on MB.

And ditto what Bri said:


> Why buzz? To learn from others and meet people with similar interests.


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## restrac2000 (Mar 6, 2008)

Why the Buzz...not much of a boating community where I live so it gives me a chance to relate and learn in a way that is lacking in my life most of the year. Finally meeting some new boaters and enjoying the new friendships.

Rafting...sold a cross bike and bought a JPW Cutthroat on a whim while living in Moab. Life has never been the same. A friend showed me some basics on the oars and I started exploring solo for a while. Found some other oars people in Cedar and have been on the water more than I ever would have imagined. Love the pace and lifestyle of floating down rivers for multiple days. Nothing seems to compare...well, long distance backpacking but I can't disappear for months at a time anymore.

Phillip


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## Gremlin (Jun 24, 2010)

The reason I raft and why I use the Buzz are the same: to share experiences and learn from like-minded people everything from etiquette to safety, to ingenuity to fun! My ever-expanding circle of river friends have shared in the best times of my life and always get me excited for the next time I can get on the water.


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## snakester (Apr 24, 2011)

I boat entirely for family time and making memories. I have become the ultimate family rafter now that we have five kids. I read the Buzz to live vicariously through others experiences and to dream about the gnarly big water rapids I may never get to do. Thanks for posting the go pro yo.


Sent from my iPhone using Mountain Buzz


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## RiverMamma (May 3, 2009)

elkhaven said:


> At the root of this thread is my distaste for complaints about what this site used to be and how if you're not running huge water you're a waste of time. There's so much ego on this site it's depressing. Don't get me wrong I still post here because there are some great folks here and I've learned a ton, but sometimes I think the shit talkers are 12 yo pimple face punks sitting in their basement. Gotta be the gnar, nothing else...it's just a lame perspective in my opinion. So I guess I was looking for a place to vent or validation...


HAHAHA! What a great image! Thanks for that.  So anonymity on the internet has a tendency to bring out the worst in people... add that to the already over inflated ego of your stander boater personality & voila! Yeah... the buzz can be a pretty vile place... but it can also be very informative, as well as highly entertaining! I have learned to not take anything personally on here... 

As far as why we use it, yup, as was already said... good place to glean information, & we are all obsessive... we think about boating ALL THE TIME... 

I mean, I met my husband on the Buzz... (Really. Be careful what you buy from the swap page!) So good things do come from the buzz!  

Why do we boat? I can't not. The River calls me, pulls at my heart, my soul... Flows in my veins... is, always has been, always will be, an integral part of me... who I am, what I Love... I can't help it, the River IS a part of me. I don't care if I'm on flat water, gnar water, big water, low water... as long as I'm on the water. 

I tried looking deeper into what makes boaters tick once, & I wrote this article about it. Then I discover a fascinating new piece of information... and wrote this addendum. Not sure if they answer any questions at all, but I'll take the slim bit of justification I found there.


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## elkhaven (Sep 11, 2013)

RiverMamma said:


> HAHAHA! What a great image! Thanks for that.  So anonymity on the internet has a tendency to bring out the worst in people... add that to the already over inflated ego of your stander boater personality & voila! Yeah... the buzz can be a pretty vile place... but it can also be very informative, as well as highly entertaining! I have learned to not take anything personally on here...
> 
> As far as why we use it, yup, as was already said... good place to glean information, & we are all obsessive... we think about boating ALL THE TIME...
> 
> ...


Thanks riverMama, I read your article and addendum awhile ago (though some seems new?) and was definitely intrigued! Interesting concepts and I can relate in a way...not nearly so in-depth ancestrally (prob not a word) but boating and woodworking have been on opposite sides of my family as far back as I can trace...and both are integral parts of my life, not out of necessity but out of passion, hobby, rooted desire to do/create... Sorry for the very strange amalgamation of words that imitates a really long run-on!

Anyways, I thanks for putting together that article and addendum and especially for sharing it! I think about it often as I watch my kids grow up - they both seem to have gotten the gene  and will ALWAYS chose a day on the river to any other activity! that makes me soooo proud and happy!


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## soggy_tortillas (Jul 22, 2014)

RiverMamma said:


> HAHAHA! What a great image! Thanks for that.  So anonymity on the internet has a tendency to bring out the worst in people... add that to the already over inflated ego of your stander boater personality & voila! Yeah... the buzz can be a pretty vile place... but it can also be very informative, as well as highly entertaining! I have learned to not take anything personally on here...
> 
> As far as why we use it, yup, as was already said... good place to glean information, & we are all obsessive... we think about boating ALL THE TIME...
> 
> ...



Nice article!!! You and your dad really do have a lot of the same facial expressions. Would be interesting to see if this applies to other river families...


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## CGM (Jun 18, 2004)

I used to come here because there was alot of whitewater related content. From posts of fun trips to good pics, to shit talking and useful river beta, not to mention the numerous and wide variety of users. Now the content is kinda lagging here and FB and Instagram provide way more beta, porn and ways to connect with other river people. And most of the content is related to raft rigging...which ironically has been very useful since I got a raft this summer. 

Mostly I come here out of habit since its generally a much more boring place these days.


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