Comments on Paddling Otaku: Contact.

Sort of Off topic: Re :Zen in the art of Archery b...

2011-06-23T13:20:45.940-04:00

Sort of Off topic: Re :Zen in the art of Archery by Eugene Herrigal, worth reading the commentory at http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/CriticalZen/The_Myth_of_Zen_in_the_Art_of_Archery.pdf

PO, I have been naming my favorite "big toys&...

2010-04-19T22:20:08.113-04:00

PO, I have been naming my favorite "big toys" for a while.
As long as a have strong "bond" with a vehicle I usually name it.
Motorcycles were named but not cars (I don't have a bond with a car, it's just a tool to me, while a motorcycle... well that's different: my body movements are essential to its riding).
I named my first kayak: Wet Dream.
At the time it didn't dawn on me the secondary meaning of that name (english is my 5th language so it didn't immediately come to me :-)
My other kayaks are/were: Nukka (little sister in Inuktitut), Aukanek (god of the sea that with his movements creates the waves), Kanosak (gold), 3ZUM (in line with the name of my first kayak :-) and Mockpool (to emphasize that I really don't paddle an original Rockpool but a Chinese boat that happens to have starfish decals as decoration on deck).
I have yet to name my newest addition to the fleet: a folding kayak that I will use to travel to remote locations (air travel).
I have named other boats, but those are my girlfriend's...

a valid point, and I have had both responses by pe...

2010-04-06T09:26:38.621-04:00

a valid point, and I have had both responses by people. So, no, I don't name my kayaks. And thinking about how I refer to the way different boats paddle, because surely different boats do paddle differently - even two of the same boats may paddle slightly different - I refer to make and model. My delta paddles differently than my Perception.

But if you look at the way people respond to this topic when talking about non-kayak boats, it;s a very different response. It's bad luck to not name a non-kayak boat. Non-kayak boats are treated as ladies. They are given a persona. For the most part kayaks are not treated as such. You ride on a boat or ship, you ride in a kayak. In all my time in kayaks I have only seen two kayaks with names painted on their bows. And one of these was to differentiate boats within a fleet at a school.

From a martial arts point of view, I want us in unison. Like a staff or a sword.

That said, if I built a boat I think I would be tempted to name it. Time will tell.

As I think about this, and thank you for making me think about this, I need to look into Greenlanders and Inuit, and see if they named their kayaks.

Most importantly, do what makes you feel right.

What are your kayaks names?

PO

hmmm... surely we name our boats, at least I do :-...

2010-04-06T00:07:21.836-04:00

hmmm... surely we name our boats, at least I do :-)
While probably not in tune with my boat as much as you and since I don't have just one kayak I have named mine.
When I talk/write about a kayak of mine I need to refer to a specific one and not just "the kayak".
And since each kayak has a different "soul" (it behaves very differently from her sisters) I can be undestood which kayak I am referring to.