By Vladimir Brezina
Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge this week is Couples.
Ah, the romance of shared travel by kayak! And what better to ensure that shared togetherness than a double kayak?
Soon arguments break out, and loud words carry over the water, to the secret amusement of other paddlers.
“Shouldn’t you be steering more to the left?”
“I know where I am going!”
“I thought we agreed to stop on that beach over there!?”
The couple have trouble paddling at the same rate and synchronizing their strokes…
and both feel that they are doing all the work
until they both just put down their paddles in frustration
No wonder double kayaks are known as “divorce boats”!
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The last photo features another prominent couple in the background. And a couple of other “Couples” are here and here…
Vladimir Brezina (RIP) 
Johna Till Johnson
Wind Against Current 
Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge & Travel Theme: Couple in Silhouette | Wind Against Current
Poor Vladimir!!! ;) This also happens when talking about laundry….
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In all fairness, Vlad isn’t one of those who goes in for double kayaks… see my reply further down….
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Hmm. . . same thing happens when sharing the covers at night too!
Nancy
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Quite so… :-)
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;)
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Great photos, Vlad. I’m amused to know that you even get “back-seat drivers” in the kayaking world. :lol:
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Strictly speaking, it’s more a “front-seat driver”, because the paddler in the back usually has control over the rudder, and so where the boat is headed, and can also see what the front paddler is doing, whereas the front paddler can’t see the back paddler. So the back paddler has all the power, while the front paddler can only paddle… and talk back! :-)
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Well thanks so much for the explanation, Vlad. :lol:
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Wonderful post – “divorce machines”… ‘hahaha’
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I didn’t make it up…. it’s a term of art in the field ;-)
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Reading Eric’s Keep Australia on Your Left so this is very timely…. Kayak wasn’t mean for two’s..whoever saw a Inuit couple in a kayak?? (this is the closest I guess: http://www.kayakers.nf.ca/sea_kayaking/labrador_kayak/images/macmillan22.jpg) ;)
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Hey Runar, isn’t that an official BCU rescue of some sort??? :-)
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I seem to recall that Eric and the other guy had their own couples difficulties on that trip…
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Does he have a laptop in that middle photo?? My husband and I are both strong personalities, so we haven’t been in a canoe together in quite a long time.
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No, this was in the pre-laptop era… he’s looking at a binder of charts :-)
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Sounds like they have been around the bay a few times… New relationships don’t go there!
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Yes, these are friends of ours who worked out how to paddle a double together a long time ago and have been paddling it successfully for many years… now they act out the “divorce boat” thing mainly for show, and for posts like this… ;-)
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Kind of sad. I love canoeing with a partner, but I don’t think I’ve ever kayaked double.
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Two singles are much more versatile all round…
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My husband and I used to take the kids out in canoes, a kid in each bow and a parent in the stern, and it was really perfect for being out on the water all together.
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With (younger) kids, who can’t paddle on their own in a single, a double (or a canoe) is necessary, of course…
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I love this post- Navigation systems also same relationships- I cannot get over seeing the Twin Towers in this picture. Sad. I wish they would build them back in the exact same fashion.
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More Twin Towers photos are here…
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Good for a laugh this morning.
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Excellent!
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It takes time to work on synchronizing as does a marriage or relationship. :) Beautiful pictures as usual of your posts. I am glad that you were able to get the Twin Towers in the photo. I miss seeing them :( Hey have a great rest of the week and thank you for sharing :)
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More old photos of paddlers with the Twin Towers are here…
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Thank you so much for sharing these beautiful photos of a time, before they were destroyed. ;)
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LOL – try pairing up in a less stable whitewater canoe sometime through rapids & over falls! Ideflex said new relationships don’t go there – trust me, the best way to break in a relationship to see if it will last is a day on whitewater, paired in a canoe! (Hint: Let the least experienced of the two paddlers take the rear & begin this exercise in early spring.) If it ultimately ends in gut-busting laughter (after you catch your breath from the numbing water & can feel your limbs again), things will at least last til the next time around! I’ve used it as a litmus test on more than one occasion. ;)
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Yes, I would think if you can pass that test, you are likely to be good for anything.
Some people obviously failed to run that simple test back home before setting off on their big expedition—see Mike’s comment below…
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That sounds like how my husband and I would be if we ever kayaked on the Hudson.
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With some couples it’s like putting two cats that don’t like each other too much into a very small cage… ;-)
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A former girlfriend and I rowed the Yukon River years back. We each had our own modified double kayak row craft ala Jill Fredston “Rowing to Latitude”. Anyhow, about halfway through the trip we arrived in Tanana,an Athabaskan village where the Tanana R. dumps into the Yukon. We got out and walked into town. Well all the locals came out to see if they could buy our canoe. I said no thanks but why do you ask? The said most couples break up at this point in the trip, sell their canoes, and fly home. We had some good laughs at that. We managed to finish the river and stay together for a year or so after ( I think). Anyhow, the “divorce boat” made me laugh…Cheers from Alaska
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Okay, Mike that’s HILARIOUS!!
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Great story, Mike!! :-)
I’ve read “Rowing to Latitude”. Enjoyed it quite a bit—but I could never get used to not seeing where I was going ;-)
Thanks for following our blog! Loved your moose-hunting story, btw… :-)
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For the record, everybody, that’s NOT Vlad & me in the double kayak.
Our (paddling-related) conversation goes more like this:
“Johna, you might want to watch out for that barge.”
“What barge?”
“Off to the left….No, your OTHER left.”
“Yikes! It’s going to hit us!!!!!”
“No, it’s not. But if you keep paddling out into the middle of the river like that, you might annoy the pilot.”
(Sometimes I keep paddling out anyway, which leads to some interesting outcomes…)
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R and I would paddle straight to the divorce court! Cool post Vlad :-)
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:-)
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This one cracked me up, Vlad! I suddenly remembered the only time I ever went canoeing with my husband and another couple. The other husband and I finally looked at each other across the water in mutual respect and sympathy, and I turned to my husband and said “you never went to summer camp, did you?” This as we were drifting sideways down the river. The next time, I took my brother-in-law along and we had a great time while keeping my husband oarless and happy in the middle of the canoe.
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There you go! Thanks for your supporting evidence, Lynn! :-)
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I have spent more time in a canoe than a double kayak but from such experience I can picture quite clearly how they could be considered ‘divorce boats’ :) I hadn’t thought to use it to test out the strength of new relationships as suggested by humanTriumphant above…I’ll let you know how it works out!
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It definitely tests one’s frustration tolerance, good humor, and interpersonal skills! Don’t say you haven’t been warned ;-)
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