Midwesterners have long had a love affair with wooden caones and paddles. But kayaks put you at bellybutton-level with nature. As for canine companions—they seem to wind up on your lap regardless of which craft you choose.
you’ve ever carried a kayak very far, you know why! If you fit the craft with a canoe-style carrying yoke, your head will be buried deep in the cockpit, with no view of the road ahead. This may be acceptable on a clear trail, but not on a tortuous one where one misstep may mean a broken leg.” Of course Jacobson is a self-described “canoe man.” Cheri Lewis thought she was a “canoe woman” for years. The northwest Wisconsin native now lives in Lake of the Hills, Illinois, and has no plans to abandon kayaking, which she took to 20 years ago and delights in for its low-to-the-water perspective and agility. The 52-year-old is quick to point out her love affair with kayaking is rooted in her past love of canoeing. “One of the reasons I took to it is that it brought me back to my childhood and brought me back to the water,” Lewis says. In the end, maybe the thing to do is not to create tomato-tomahto, potato-potahto scenarios. Many powerboaters, after all, own a cabin cruiser and a fishing skiff. Midwestern sailors are famed for also having sturdy powerboats as alternates. “A lot of people do own both canoes and kayaks,” Marsh says.
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