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Copyright 2005
Go Paddle 4 Fun, LLC
all rights reserved

Paddling With Granny Annie
by Jim Thaxton

I don’t recall the first time I met Ann Dwyer aka Granny Annie. In some strange way it seems that we have known each other all our lives in the way a brother knows his sister or the friendly neighbor on the street where you grew up. More likely we met at one of the paddlesports annual conferences in the early 80’s.  In those days the trade organization was called the National Association of Canoe Liveries and Outfitters (NACLO). The name reflected what we did. We rented canoes. Most of us knew little about kayaks and those of us that did saw little opportunity in renting them to the public.

Then along came Ann Dwyer with her user friendly, stable, and colorful Kiwi Kayak and soon nearly every manufacturer of plastic kayaks was copying her design. As of 2001 an estimated 350,000 people owned one of Ann’s kayaks or one of her competitors copies.

If you began tracing the popularity of recreation kayaks back through the decades one thing is for sure sooner or later you end up at the door step of the prime mover of recreation kayaks, Ann Dwyer.

It is as easy to spot Ann on the highway as it is on the water. Her Volvo wagon carrying up to 12 kayaks was impossible to miss! Check out the following web site for a picture of her car with 9 kayaks already to go http://www.marincanoeclub.org/photos.htm.

At 65 Ann paddled one of her kayaks down the Grand Canyon. At 75 she paddled 120 kilometers on the Omono River in Akita Prefecture. This trip took her from the headwaters in the mountains all the way to the Sea of Japan.  Now in her young 80’s she teachers “Kayaking for Timid Souls” at a local community college near the Russian River in California.

After a full day of paddling, my campfire stories are sure to contain vignettes about my paddling experiences with Ann Dwyer. If the topic turns to snakes and spiders I chime in with a story about our trip into the Everglades. There are stories about encounters with bears, seals, alligators, sharks and all sorts of two legged creatures you might meet on the water. There are also great stories about the wind, waves, and even earthquakes.

If you hang around the campfire long enough, sooner or later someone brings up sex and/or religion. I tell them about the time that Ann once deliberately put me into a pink Kiwi Kayak with a matching pink Dragonfly sprayskirt and pink pfd.  I thought my colors were just the luck of the draw until we paddled passed a nude beach of gay men sun bathing. When they saw me they started calling out all kinds of obscene invitations. Ann, all too familiar with my homophobia, could hardly contain herself and encouraged the catcalls and whistles. Contrast that experience with ancient Shinto Shrines and Buddhist Temples we visited along the Omono River in Japan. These sparked lively conversations about our natural world and the positive influence paddling can have on an individual’s spiritual development. All this is great grist for the campfire story mill.

Known as an outfitter, author (see the following web site for information on her books http://www.marincanoeclub.org/easy_waters.htm), and for her kayak designs, Dragonfly accessories and paddling adventures, Ann is foremost a paddling instructor. Her popular Kayaking for Timid Souls class is always full. She seeks out the “wannabe” kayakers and turns them into competent paddlers.  Because she has such a natural way to impart her enthusiasm for kayaking, graduates of her class go on to enjoy a lifetime of human powered recreation on our waterways.

The Kiwi Kayak remains one of the most versatile and user friendly kayaks on the market today. It is a great beginners kayak. It stores in a closet or under a bed and transports in the trunk of most cars. It is also a great fishing boat that can also serve as a wading pool for toddlers.