I recently visited my favorite canoe dealer, Carl at Carl's Paddlin in Lone Rock, Wisconsin. Carl told me a story which you might enjoy.

Carl had recently spent a day in the hospital due to anemia. He asked the doctor if he could participate in a race on the Wisconsin River the next day because he wanted to race with his 90 year old father in the same race they had done together 50 years earlier. He was told he could race as long as he didn't push himself too hard.

Apparently there are three races; the longest is over twenty miles and there is one around 15 miles and one is 8 miles and restricted to aluminum canoes. Carl and his dad did the 8 mile race and used an aluminum canoe like they had 50 years earlier.

Towards the end of the race they were in second place. Carl told me that he was pretty confident that they could have caught the leader but he didn't want to over-stress his dad. After the race was over Carl's dad told him that he thought they could have won but he didn't want to over-stress Carl.

Haha although both are true that could also be an excuse for each of them at the same time instead of actually saying they were tired.

Great little story!

LOL! Classic stuff. 90 years old and he didn't want to stress the youngster in the boat. :)

Great story. Thanks for tellin' it. In 45 years, I can imagine BeaV and KendrA each explaining after the race that they could have won the long distance paddling gold in the 2064 Olympics, but each was worried about stressing the other, so they settled for silver.

O Henry!

My kids never believed in " old man strength" until they started paddling and portaging with me.

Love this story!

Carl was one of my favorite stops while hauling boats. I could tell he had one of those big hearts. I hope he is feeling better... glad he could race with his dad, that way his dad couldn’t beat him. Haha!

nctry: "Carl was one of my favorite stops while hauling boats. I could tell he had one of those big hearts. I hope he is feeling better... glad he could race with his dad, that way his dad couldn’t beat him. Haha!"

Carl also told me that the longer race was what got him started as a canoe dealer. Apparently he came in second in the 1970's in an aluminum canoe and the boat that won was a Sawyer Cruiser so Carl called Sawyer about getting a Cruiser but there were no local dealers and he was told he could become a dealer if he ordered 4 boats.

Carl had other good stories that I can't share in public. :)

Up until a couple years ago, Carl's dad lived 2 houses from me. I miss seeing the Sawyer Cruiser hanging under the garage lean to.