Page 226 - 2022-08-01 Paddling Magazine

RECIRC

NEVER TRULY
HUNG OUT TO DRY.
PHOTO: RYAN CREARY

Well-Worn Memories

by scott macgregor

ONE OF THE BEST PARTS of our job at Paddling short sleeved ripstop nylon training shell. I traded it good gear lasts. And because it lasts we wear it a lot.
Magazine is testing new boats and gear. Courier trucks for my Kenwood car audio cassette deck. Patagonia Because we wear it a lot we get attached to it. We
deliver boxes of the year’s latest and greatest apparel stopped making paddling gear in ’99 and cassettes develop systems. We know what pieces layer well
and gadgets. died with Avril Lavigne’s debut studio album in 2002, together at what temperature and in what boats. But
It’s one thing to have access to the latest models, but I've yet to replace my favorite shell. we know layered deeper in our brains or maybe in
fabrics and colors, but it’s another thing entirely for Through winter, spring and fall I wear on my feet our souls, there is more to it than that.
new gear to find a permanent home in my gear bag. a holey pair of original Five Ten Water Tennies and As a couple of seasons turn to 10 and then to 20, I feel
In my first 20 years on rivers I’m only on my second come summer I switch to a pair of resoled Teva Alps. the same way about paddling gear as I do about pad-
drysuit. Six years ago I reluctantly upgraded to a new For more than 10 years I’ve been racing open canoe dling friends. The more rivers paddled together, more
Kokatat Meridian, not because my original Gore-Tex slalom. If it weren’t for longer hair, shorter hair and finish lines crossed together and more great memories
suit was worn or leaked, but because I was logging facial hair there would be no way of sorting photos created together, the more good gear and good friends
more river days in my suit than without it and I wanted taken from 2003 to present—I’m even using the same become part of our lives and who we are.
sewn-in feet and a pee zipper. Underneath, I’m still lov- boat and paddle.
ing my original threadbare-in-the-elbows-and-knees The Paddling Magazine gear review closet is full This article was first published in the Spring 2014
Stolhquist fuzzy fleece onesie, originally reviewed in of newer and snazzier versions of these items. The issue of Rapid magazine. Recirc celebrates the best
the very first issue of Rapid. technology today is drier, stickier, warmer, smarter columns from 20 years of Rapid, Adventure Kayak
When the water warms I switch to a retro Patagonia and more protective. But the undeniable truth is, and Canoeroots.

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