How
I Became A Rogue by Gioanni PossentiPrinted by permission of the Italian canoe magazine: Pagaiando
Gioanni of Italy found TopKayaker.net in the Spring of 2000 and began a correspondence that inspired him to share this article he wrote for an Italian publication. Over the following decade he would inspire the creation of Sit-on-top Kayak Clubs in Italy and paddlers throughout all of Europe.
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). Gioanni in Torcello
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:
- How to paddle with Eskimo paddles,
- How to save and be saved,
- How to use a paddle-float,
- The Eskimo roll, and so on.
photo
left: Elba Sansone photo right: Venezia: Sixty canoes pouring in the
Canal Grande thru Ponte dei sospiri is something to see 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. photo left: Italy's Ocean K2 or the "Malibu Two"
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. photo:
Me and my wife sailing for the
tour of the Iles Sanguinaires in Corsica
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.
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