The Colors of Paddling

Have you ever noticed how some people show up on the river and their gear appears to be  a hastily arranged carnival parade?  Lots of bright colors with no clear idea of coordination?  Like a baby sibling outfitted them?  While others do their darndest to give some scheme to the colors of boat, pfd, helmet, dry suit and so on?  Here we have two paddlers who do try to consider the colors and what they mean and even how they match:  Jim Mazzola and Jasmine Elmore.  We’ll tackle Jim first because he’s the King of Koordination.

Jim pulls into the put-in and right away it appears that Charley Brown’s Great Pumpkin has arrived.  We’re talking Orange, violent Orange, attack your early morning pupils Orange.  You definitely notice him and that’s the point.  Jim said he read a paddling article where some scientists or paddlers conducted an experiment to see which color stood out best underwater. They lined up various pieces of gear and starting submerging them lower and lower in the water.  Low and behold, orange stood out best.  And so an ensemble was born.  Orange was the new black for Jim.  You can’t show up in Orange Crush and be timid about your paddling.  So, I asked Jim a few questions and predictably his answers came back in Orange.

I accused Jim of school alliance, like Clemson or Syracuse but he said, no, he went to Michigan.   “Maize and blue are more to my liking,”  Jim says, and,  “I’m not planning on requiring ‘deep water’ identification but it’s nice to be able to do a quick scan down the river and easily identify a paddler approaching.”  He says it’s just a coincidence that his first boat was a yellow and orange Burn III.

It’s not just his boat, it’s his helmet, his PFD, his dry top and his pickup truck.  Jim gets defensive here; the truck, a Colorado (Spanish for “colored red”), belongs to his wife but nevertheless it’s orange, an orange both GM and Pyranha call “Orange Crush.”

So okay, I can see (clearly) a boat and helmet and truck but almost everything crushingly Orange?  Jim replied, “After 4 or 5 pieces it became a challenge to see if I could keep the orange theme going.  It just got to be fun finding all the orange stuff after a while.”  So does anyone give Jim grief about the color?  Jim:  “Actually no. I probably get more comments on my full face Lacrosse Helmet. The ‘grown ups’ comment positively, the ‘not so grownups’ not so much!”  Oops.  Nice color, Jim.

Jim continues, “We’re all dressed like ‘clowns’ out there on the water. The range of colors is more akin to a rainbow if you purchase your products indiscriminately.  I do like seeing other paddlers and their endeavors to color coordinate or strive to a monochromatic color scheme. I’ve seen some Blues and Green that are pretty eye catching. Waiting to see a Gecko on the water!  Pyranha has what may the most visible color now, Gecko (or Smoky Gecko.)

Finally, is there any “missing link” you’re still looking for ? I actually saw some orange hand paddles last week. I’m on the hunt for those next. I called the company and they don’t make them anymore. I may have to seek out Team River Runners to get some cut from an old Pyranha boat. And my Orange Watershed Ocoee Drybag is on order.

After taking a few pictures, I put the camera and pad away.  Jim wiped his face with an orange towel and went off to cool down with a refreshing soft drink.  His favorite is Orange Crush.  I thought back to when we first paddled together and he offered me a snack, an orange.

Jasmine Elmore takes a different approach to color coordination than Jim’s monochromatic mindset.  She employs a four color palette, combined in two- tone sets.

Jasmine has always had favorite colors and when she started buying outdoor gear, she gravitated to these colors:  blue, pink, orange, green.  She never intended every item to match;  she just loved bright, eye-catching colors.  However, like Jim, she started considering the safety aspects of color.  If she’s wearing something bright, she will be more visible while swimming.  What about swimming through traffic?

Jasmine does a lot of camping.   She fell in love with the teardrop trailer campers that are popular now.  She found a teardrop that she liked and instantly fell in love with the orange color scheme.  It was a lighter orange than Jim’s Crush.  Jasmine called her new camper, “Clem” and the color:  Clementine.

Color naming can be pretty fanciful.  What color is her Machno?  The manufacturer, Pyranha, says, “Jaffa Cake.”  What’s a Jaffa Cake?  Well, a Jaffa cake is a British pastry made with chocolate and orange flavoring.  The packaging of the cakes is a bright blue, hence, “Jaffa Cake.”  Jasmine wasn’t so sweet on the dessert name so she goes with Cobalt for the blue.  So her Machno is Cobalt and Clementine.

Sometimes it comes down to getting the color you want or getting the boat you want.  Jasmine wanted an Antix.  Cobalt or any other blue, weren’t options so she went back to her personal palette and pulled out pink and green.  Voila!, her new Antix:  a half-slice of Watermelon, all pink and green.

Other times, particularly with smaller gear, you have to take what you can get.  Jasmine says, “When I made a decision to buy a full face helmet, I could only find one in black.  I was disappointed to not find a bright color, but I figured I could add a bunch of stickers and jazz it up.”

We ask Jasmine if there were any special dream coloring her future.  Jasmine says, “Yes.  If I ever get a Rockstar, it will be Cotton Candy.” For those of you verbally color blind, Cotton Candy is pink and blue.

And Tagging Along.   The camper Jasmine mentioned, the Boondock Edge teardrop, was purchased in January of 2020 right before Covid hit and prices skyrocketed.  It’s the first teardrop she’s owned.  It requires little maintenance,  is easy to tow and more comfortable than a tent in the rain. Air Conditioning in the summer is a bonus.

There is a problem.  Her dog, Clyde, is a bed hog and thinks it is one large dog bed.  Jasmine prefers to think of the camper, called Clem, as a queen bed on wheels with a kitchen in the back hatch.  Lastly, the teardrop’s bright Clementine color warns traffic to stay clear.

A Coda on Color.  Normally Carolina Paddler tries to avoid mentioning brand names, preferring instead to give model or generic names.  With this color article it became very difficult to avoid saying, “Pyranha.”   We will take consolation in the fact that the British company is making boats in a color scheme to support the war effort in Ukraine.  It’s a two-tone yellow and blue, called “The Flag of Ukraine.”