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9/10/2020 8:08 pm  #1


Chat or No Chat?

If you meet another canoeist at a put in\take out, portage, on the water, or paddling by a site do you chat? or no chat?  ex.  How long you've been in for? How long you going for?  Where you headed?  How do you like that canoe? etc  Or do you find those general inquiries intrusive or disturbing?  The reason I ask is that I found this year there seemed to be a lot of 'no chat' canoeists.   Maybe a Covid thing.  Maybe an age thing.  Maybe a lot of first timers out on the water.  Maybe a lot of unfriendly urban people.  Or maybe I just ran into a whole lot of unfriendly people.           

 

9/11/2020 7:05 am  #2


Re: Chat or No Chat?

Depends on the feel, eye contact, etc.  I normally at least say hello and have a quick exchange if they seem amenable; I have only had one group ever not respond in any fashion.  Boaters in general, whether on the ocean, a bay, a river or a lake, will exchange at least a wave at a distance to acknowledge one another and often a verbal exchange in closer proximity.

Your list of hypotheses could be accurate or completely unrelated to the situation but is purely speculative.  There seems to be a bit of bias in several of those such as age, experience and area of residence...you could be missing out on interacting with a number of wonderful people with valuable insights if you allow those generalizations to limit your engagement.  I'm not implying you are bigoted, but those factors are ones we should all be aware of to limit their influence on our judgement upon meeting or working with others.

 

9/11/2020 7:26 am  #3


Re: Chat or No Chat?

Always, or at the least a quick hello and how's it going.  If they don't want to engage that's fine. 
My dog seems to make friends pretty quickly on my behalf anyway. 
 

 

9/11/2020 10:06 am  #4


Re: Chat or No Chat?

That kind of thing is always hit or miss with people who want to engage and people who don't, plus the COVID thing I'm sure is a factor.  I fall into conversation with other travelers at times, but sometime they'd rather not, and sometimes I'd rather not.  For me, during those "rather not" times, it is generally because I'm feeling the fires lit under my heels to keep it moving on a travel day.

 

Board footera