Bob's Paddling Page
Featuring "My Journey Down Foggy Rivers"
(scroll down)
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Nature Trail Over Bantam River
Litchfield Ct
Sancho, My Canoeing
Cat
a partly true story
by Bob Cork
1972 Olympic
Trials
1972 Olympic
Team
River Music of The
Night |
Bob Cork's famous one-dollar hat, with
custom owl feather trim, originally from
Cabbage and Kings in Vail, Colorado,
bought by Bob at thrift store in
Owego, New York. Soaked, shaped, worn
with pride, unappreciated by Mrs. Cork,
never worn in her presence.
e-mail to Bob Cork
Bob Cork on Palma Sola Bay
Photo by Bob Aiosa
Bob Aiosa on Walker Bayou
Photo by Bob Cork |
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No, this is not Bob and Willie. Our former neighbors in Connecticut,
George and Sally Hine, were married in 1948, and a friend made this card
as a wedding gift. |
This is Bob and Willie, enjoying a romantic interlude on Connecticut's
Farmington River.
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Grandson Andrew Cork and his father, Bill, in Texas....
and look here to see what happened later
The Texas Paddling Corks
The Dream Trip
Surprise fullfilment of a lifelong dream,
a trip that became a celebration of family
New feature...July 2007
Link to Terra Ceia Preserve State Park
Miles and miles of mangrove tunnels
and tracks of the Tocobaga
Link to Frog Creek
page
Link to Hillsborough
River page
Link to Rainbow River page
Click toVisit
Braden River
featuring
Lost Creek and Lakewood Ranch,
A recent adventure about
a young man growing up. |
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My passion for paddling started when I was a Boy Scout at Camp Krietenstein
in West Central Indiana. I enjoyed paddling on Sugar Creek, Otter Creek
and the Wabash River. Here I am in 1958 in the bow of Dudley Brown's canoe,
on the first day of our trip from Terre Haute to Vincennes on the foggy
Wabash. The next day, March 30, was my 15th birthday, and we celebrated
by finding the body of a man who had disappeared in December. |
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After three days on the river we had our pictures taken at the local
television station, and pictures of the local heroes were aired. From the
left: Bob Cork, Dudley Brown, Paul Von Leer, and Bob Bondurant. Paul later
became known as Hunter Von Leer in Hollywood. |
Front Page of Robinson, Illinois, Daily News March 31, 1958 |
 In Dudley's Kitchen |
 Terre Haute Start |
Vincennes Finish |
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| That summer of 1958 my older brother Joe and I restored
and fiberglassed an old canoe that Dad picked up for thirty dollars. It
was a lot of work, but we had great times together. On Sugar Creek we nearly
got washed off a sandbar when it rained hard during the night and the creek
came up quickly. On Otter Creek we tipped over because we both leaned the
same way to avoid a branch. On Little Rocky we were in awe of a dozen ugly
turkey vultures that were perched not more than twenty feet from the bow
of our canoe. Ten years later I finally had a chance to get our father into
the old canoe he bought for us to restore. Joe and I are thankful Dad taught
us how to work with tools. |
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This picture of me at a Faithful Fly Fisherman's outing was taken by Jack
Kerins, who was a host, along with Jack Ennis, of the TV Sportsman's Show
in Terre Haute. I gave the show notoriety in 1973 when I wrote a piece for
TV Guide that praised Jack and Jack for integrity, while The American Sportsman
had "faked" the catching of fish for an Indiana episode featuring
Hoosiers Chris Schenkel and Hoagy Carmichael on Sugar Creek, lifting up
cane poles to pull in fish that had already been caught and worn out by
Bob Bensinger . |
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Near Rockford, Illinois, I enjoyed the Kishwaukee, Pecatonica, Sugar
and Rock rivers, as well as Pierce Lake in Rock Cut State Park, where I
was the primary local coordinator for the 1972 Olympic Trials for flatwater
canoes and kayaks. See Team Pictures Here
Here is my friend Marcia Smoke, three times an Olympian, paddling leisurely
in 1989. If you would like to read River Music Of The Night, an article
I wrote about a unique paddling experience that connected me to the story
of Donald Dodge, Marcia Smoke, and Greg Barton, click HERE. |
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Tired of watching,
I got involved in racing.
I picked up this black Olympic class "Hunter" design kayak
from Tony Ralphs . I had to try to paddle it ten or 20 times before I could
move it five feet. and it took me a week to be able to paddle it around
Pierce Lake withouit tipping over. By the next summer, after fixing the
boat up over the winter, I looked pretty good afloat, but I never paddled
very fast. My best performances were 14th out of 32 kayaks in the 19-mile
Des Plaines Marathon, and 4th out of nine in the 7-mile Kishwaukee River
Race.
I had this yellow Kevlar downriver kayak for a few years too. If it looks
crooked, that is because the bow deck was really banged up from wildwater
racing, but I was able to fix it up. These pictures clearly show the differences
in two types of kayaks.
The black boat is Olympic flatwater specs, 20 1/2" wide by 17 ft.
The downriver specs for racing are 24" wide by 14' 9" long. Both
of these boats have their widest points at the wings that are midway between
midship and stern.
My current kayak, once blue but now yellow, as you will see, is also
Olympic flatwater specs, but it is a symmetrical hull and deck, so the 20
1/2" width is at midship. It was made in 1960 and the first wing style
boats, like the black one, came along a few years later.
The Story of the Crooked Patch
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Sometimes a guy in a
raft has to pull over to
let the fast boats go by.
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I was not in this canoe.
I took the picture. |
.I still have a flatwater kayak, similar to the
training boats used by Olympic sprint paddlers.
Thje original hull was made about 1960, and in 1987 it was given to me
by Frank Dallos. It fits
Olympic sprint specs of 17' x 20 1/2" .
In 1999 I made a new cockpit, so my legs fit under the deck and I could
use a standard spray skirt. Of course then my little boat looked like a
pregnant submarine, but who cares?
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Submarine on the Bantam River
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Special feature
The Great Wing Paddle Test
April, 2001
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Newest Feature
Click Here to see
Renovating my kayak
to a "Sit-on-top" Boat
November, 2002 |
Now I am back to yellow,
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and I love my rebuilt boat |
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And then...
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My good friend Ray Burelle gave me this old canoe in 1995 . All the wood
was black, the gunwales were infested by ants, the seats were without cane,
and the deck plates were rotting. Because of broken ribs, it had already
been fiberglassed. I didn't have the time, patience, or money to restore
it to original canvas, but I spent many hours restoring the wood, making
new gunwales and deck plates, and caning the seats. I also designed a contoured
wood solo seat which is comfortable and great for fishing.
The canoe is 17 feet long and was made sometime between 1916 and 1948
by the E.M. White Canoe company , which was later sold to the Old Town company.
The approximate date of manufacture is because of the brass plate, without
serial numbers, which was on the canoe. Plates after 1948 simply said the
White Canoe Company, and were serialized.
I made my beavertail paddles out of 1 1/4" pine or by alternating
one-by-two strips of poplar and maple. You can't beat a beavertail for solo
paddling and quiet control. In 2001 I was given a pattern of an authentic
Iroquois design and I now make my paddles from spruce with thicker shafts.
The pattern gift was from Doug Andrews, expert paddlemaker who is acknowledged
often in"Canoe Paddles," the book by Graham Warren and David Gidmark.
In the summer of 2000 I took out the carrying yoke
and made a combo yoke and solo seat. I love it!
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| Willie and I took a trip on the Farmington with Ray and Fern Burelle. Ray
took the picture at the top of the page, and we had a few laughs. |
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| Ray and Fern also showed us how to relax and enjoy the scenery. |
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"The water rat said to the mole, "Believe me, my young friend,
there is nothing---absolute nothing--half so much worth doing as simply
messing about in boats."
From "The Wind and the Willows" by Kenneth Grahame |
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Sancho, My Canoeing Cat
a mostly true story
by Bob Cork
Fuzzleduck
a story more true than Sancho
By Bob Cork
Peggy's
Paddling Blogspot
from North Florida...great
trip reports and pictures.
Life in Mayberry
including a paddle page
with trips from Virginia
through North Carolina
The Braden River
an embarassing experience
e-mail to
Bob Cork
~ ~ ~ All this
for Reepicheep ~ ~ ~ |
