|
|
|
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LARRY ULRICH
Dories down the canyon
STORY BY DONNA BACON ULRICH
Adventurers have floated down the Colorado River in as many kinds of boats as there are rapids oar-powered rafts, motorized pontoons, kayaks, scows, and even simple life preservers. But the most graceful and peaceful way is by dory.
The dory, a traditional, flat-bottomed boat with a high bow and flared sides, gains praise from anyone who has ridden in one. Custom-made and hand-painted, itıs perfectly suited for a ride through the Grand Canyon. The craft itself lends an elegance that complements the canyonıs marble, shale, and schist towering above. Its sleek design allows it to handle currents and rapids smoothly, with one person rowing from the middle of the boat.
Imagine this: four boats, with sixteen passengers divided amongst them, and a boatman for each craft. (Two cooks, an oarsman, and your gear travel separately on a big raft.) Only the boatman rows, but the passengers are the crew. They help launch the dory in the morning and help keep it upright by highsiding, or moving to one side, in rapids.
The ability of just five people to maneuver a dory, using their strength and wit to face rapids as a team, is what makes the experience so appealing. Traveling in dories is not conquering a river, but negotiating it. Sure, there are faster ways to get down the Colorado, and the cost is higher than most other trips. Dories offer an aesthetic advantage over other watercraft: They donıt plow through waves; they float over and with them.
...
|
|
|
The March/April 2003 Issue is out. Find it at Las Vegas bookstores today.
|
|
marketplace