The Phatwater On The Natchez Gauge today, August 30, is at 23.7′ with two more rises followed by a week of falling water.  Melissa and I plan to make a full tour next weekend.

Many have been kind enough to add me as a ‘friend’ to their Facebook pages.  I don’t really know what this means.  I think I’m supposed to click the facebook link to acknowledge your invitation, but I haven’t had the time to figure this out yet.  I admit I am inept.  I was once ept, but now I am inept.  I’m in search of eptness, however, so maybe in time I will figure out this fascinating vehicle of the social workflow we now depend upon know as Facebook.

We are hoping to be joined this year by our first Stand Up Paddler, Andy Kennedy, from Baton Rouge.  If Kristian Gustavson can get the bus fare from Chicago, perhaps we’ll have two.  It would be good to see them compete, perhaps drawing blood in the process.

Stand Up Paddling, essentially paddling while standing on a surfboard, has become wildly popular in Hawaii, and other ragged surf zones around the globe.  The world of water sports continues to discover latent athletic ability of the kind that requires no balls.  The Phatwater, as we’ve come to know it, requires no balls.  Boats and paddles, yes, but no balls.

In the early 90s, whitewater kayakers also began paddling and modifying river running whitewater kayaks for offshore surfing, attaching fins, engineering chines into the hulls, pumping up the volume and shortening the length to make them more acrobatic.  It will be interesting to see how the reverse trend toward downriver Stand Up Paddlers evolves.  For all the wailing we read about concerning double digit unemployment and job losses, there are apparently quite a few entrepreneurs investing in these specialized kayaks, boats, paddles, and all the requisite fashion items necessary to bring to new sporting ventures the appropriate  measure of cool.  Let’s grow the recreation potential we’ve been ignoring now for a couple of centuries.  Get in a boat, or on a board, and start paddling.  There may even be a job in it for some of us.  Locally, we’ve got a guy who is giving it a go.  See:

www.blackwaterpaddling.com

For more information on Stand Up Paddling, contact Andy Kennedy in Baton Rouge at Multisport Fitness, LLC, 225 505-9129.