Gioanni of Italy found our website in the Spring of 2000 and began a correspondence that inspired him to share this article he wrote for an Italian publication. Since then he started the first Sit-on-top Kayak Club in Italy. Visit his own Sit-on-top website: Go to Italy by clicking here. Enjoy!
How
I Became A Rogue, by Gioanni Possenti
Printed by permission of the Italian canoe magazine: "Pagaiando"
"Tell
Tom that he doesn't know what it means to be 'the sit-on-topper in a sit-inside
world' until he tries to paddle in Italy. I don't know anyone except one
who uses something remotely resembling a SOT. So I wrote a desecrating
article for the canoe magazine 'Pagaiando' to beat out of the bushes all
fellow sit-on-toppers or people interested. The editor says that I'll
burn in hell for all I wrote but appreciated and published it."
|
|
I
was born and raised religiously a catholic and a sea
going kayaker. I'm not writing a new version of "Asparagus And Soul's
Immortality ;" where the humorist Campanile, after a long discussion
says : "There's no resemblance between asparagus and soul's immortality."
In my case there are some analogies. As a boy I was serving Mass; but growing up as an Italian catholic I became wary of every type of religion serving dogmas and revealed truths. Now I happily live as an agnostic at the opposition, but behaving well as a human being. (I hope). |
|
As for the second part of the opening statement my approach to sea kayaking was : "Never sit on a boat without a sail looking for something like land trekking on the sea." I
was the first pupil of the first class held in Elba island by ultra
orthodox sit-insiders and I was taught everything:
|
|
|
|
Being
a new born baby I suffered some violent poetry-fits and seriously
considered to have an electric bilge pump in my kayak-to-be. (I say
having a poetry-fit when someone with a new toy can't see reality;
i.e. a mountain biker doesn't realize he's carrying on his shoulders
for miles a piece if iron full of biting things and really enjoys
it...I did it.)
After the class ending I borrowed the school's boats in idle days to continue learning all by myself. |
Soon I realized, after a short nautical trek, that those boats where too fiber-glassy for me and my character and mainly I was not so sure that : alone, rough sea, wind, nearby reefs, all the skills l 'd learnt under ideal conditions where really within my reach.
Know perfectly well "never go alone" but sometimes I feel an unleashed dog. So … I continued land trekking for two years.
|
|
In
April at a sailing boat fair in Viareggio I had a vision in the front
of Rotomod's stand with some sit-on-tops made in France under license
by Ocean Kayak.
I was with my wife and I said "Look at those beautiful holes in that "Thing" to let the water out!" The "Thing" , I still can't be at ease calling it a kayak, looked like a sort of a plastic gasoline jug, fluorescent green, with a lot of bumps recesses and straps where to locate and secure your bottom, your feet and various gear. Talking with the man at the stand I was assured that the "Thing" could float , go single or double, and permit easy ascent after a dive. After the end of the fair the Ocean K2 was in my garage in Lucca. |
| This
accidental purchase was last years best. I was the only one having
such a boat. I could sell it six times a year 'cause, when someone
sees me and my wife loading or unloading it from our little car; landing
and embarking; simply sitting up and down; or getting a bath offshore,
they want to buy it on the spot!
I took my friends and acquaintances as non-kayakers and converted them into heretics like me, who have no respect for rough seas and fear almost nothing. They simply jump on board after a fall in the water. After three years of absolute happiness the old yearning to travel woke up. |
|
I contacted again Rotomod and now I'm the happy owner of another yellow "gasoline jug" with black big hatches; the name: "Scupper Pro."
I'm still learning the pros and cons but after three long trips: Cinqueterre, Venice and the 69 ml tour of Elba, I'm well ahead.
Weighing The Pro's & Con's of the Sit-on-top Kayak:
Pro's:
- Beginners have no fears and learn easily.
- You can take a bath (it's warm here) everywhere and every time towing your boat like a scuba signal.
- In rough conditions (sometimes we have them) water gets in and out without unbalancing the boat.
- Getting in and out is outrageously easy.
- Being in polyethylene you can park them on the rocks then throw them in the water and finally dive to embark from the water.
Con's:
- You must have a dry suit for winter in rough seas.
Maybe Good, Maybe Bad:
- Being a sit-on-topper among sit-insiders you are always late when paddling in a group.
- You see a beautiful sea bottom . You start snorkeling.
- The good-for-nothing of your friends leave you alone paddling like devils till ,and if, they reach a beach where they can have their bath.
- Alone on a sit-on-top, out of Capo Bianco, talking of work on my cell , stark naked, no paddle float.
- You become a heretic.
 |
Ciao GIOANNI |
Gioanni of Italy found our website in the Spring of 2000 and began a correspondence that inspired him to share this article he wrote for an Italian publication. Visit his own Sit-on-top website: Go to Italy by clicking here. Enjoy!
