Discussion: Big shout out!

Big shout out to DVOA for hosting their first two orienteering events since covid hit. Yesterday at French Creek - from a participants perspective it went off without a hitch. 105 registered for the event - all done online (fees and waivers), maps on floor when I arrived and air turned on for sportidents. Last week - kayak orienteering - no charge for the event, map on desk prepackaged for pick up. Also went great. I felt completely safe the whole time. Would love to see more in the future. Per Wyatt PA parks are encouraging these sorts of events on the theory that more folks outdoors means less folks indoors which makes sense to me.

I am also very impressed of how DVOA handle everything and set a quality event! Thank you! Many happy people!

Thank you Jeremy for your nice words about the Canoe-O. That was not an official DVOA event, just cobbled together with an OOM map and from stuff in the closet. And no municipality seems to care about flags in the river itself, so there was no permission to obtain :) It's just a shame the rentals cost so much.

Where was the Canoe-O held?
On this side of the state, the closest Canoe-O was the one scheduled by Northeast Ohio (NEOOC) but it was cancelled.
How much to rent a canoe or kayak? out here in Western PA, it varies from $12/hr to $20/hr, or $30 to $50 all day.
The least expensive boat rental in North America, in my humble opinion, is the row boat rental in Central Park, New York City.
Btw, in the theme of "first meet event since covit", WPOC is having its first meet of the year this Sunday, to be held in a state park, with a DCNR permit. We're all excited about it.

The canoe-O was in Phoenixville, PA on the Schuylkill River. It took most people about three hours, I would guess. I didn't track results this year, just handed out the maps and wished them luck :)

Kayak: $44, Double kayak: $55, Canoe: $50 - these are all day rates. I guess I'm spoiled by DVOA's normal $7 rate :)

It has enough islands to make it interesting once. I did it again this summer because I am locked out of Canada and needed something to do....

Presumably more affordable for people who brought their own boats?

What about those who swim?

Recent news article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Thinking about buying a kayak?

It's a sellers market right now. Friends have sold their older used kayaks now when one year ago it would have fetched half. It is pretty amazing to see that all the retailers have "out of stock" posted on their websites.