Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 17, 1995 TAG: 9504190003
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
So when you come to one of his Appomattox River Co. canoe shops, be prepared to invest considerable time. There is the matter of lengths, shapes, building materials, colors, prices and technical gibberish that can turn one of mankind's simplest inventions - it doesn't have a single moving part - into pure mystery.
And we haven't even mentioned prices or whether a kayak would serve your needs better than a canoe. Or maybe one of the new sit-on-tops is what you should take home.
Sit-on-tops?
Whatever happened to the old, one-size-fits all aluminum Grumman that your dad, or maybe your granddad, owned?
At Taylor's Farmville store - call it a warehouse - there are 600 canoes to choose from.
"I think I had reached a point in Farmville where you couldn't physically sell any more canoes during the hours we were open," Taylor said. "We would leave there dragging on weekends."
So Taylor decided it was time to expand the business he started fresh out of college in 1977. He has opened a second store in Roanoke County along U.S. 221 near the foot of Bent Mountain.
"This area was ripe for a canoe store," he said. "I could look at my sales in Farmville and say, 'Gee! I am getting 30 percent of my business from west of Lynchburg.'''
The expansion of Taylor's business isn't the result of a sudden boom in canoeing; in fact, while the sport is popular, it is in something of a still-water stage.
What sends Taylor home with sore feet on weekends is the reality that canoes have become so high-tech that many buyers feel more comfortable purchasing one from a pure canoe shop rather than a business that also sells tents and tackle. They want to talk to someone who has paddled the product.
"All of our employees are paddlers, averaging over 500 miles per year on the water," Taylor said.
Canoeing is a passport for people to get away from the office, the phone, the headaches, Taylor said. "It is a good stress- reliever. Plus, it is environmentally sound. It is a non-pollution sport. It is a good family sort of thing."
Paddling has been popular with aging baby boomers who are interested in the environment and who climb aboard a canoe for exercise and escape.
"Now I am seeing a lot of second-generation paddlers coming along," he said.
Often the newcomers are choosing kayaks over canoes. These sleek craft now account for 30 percent of Taylor's business.
"Not whitewater kayaking," Taylor said. "I don't see any real, strong growth in whitewater kayaking. I see it in touring, using kayaks to explore coves and lakes and open water, or traveling on the James River from, say, Lynchburg to Richmond."
Sit-on-tops are the newest development in kayaks, he said. The paddler sits on top of the boat rather than in a cockpit.
"They are great for snorkeling, diving, sunbathing and ocean surfing, as well as river paddling," Taylor said.
Even the sit-on-tops don't offer one size to fit all. Some are designed for whitewater, others for stability.
The big difference between kayaks and canoes: With a canoe, it is easier to take along someone you love, or at least someone with whom you want to spend the day.
"Canoes still are the main thrust of paddle sports," said Taylor. "A typical canoe customer is looking for a boat to use on lakes and rivers. He wants one boat to do a lot of different things, from taking the kids out on the lake, from doing a float-fishing trip from Eagle Rock to Buchanan, to an overnight camping trip with his wife."
|VICTOR W. VAUGHN/Staff Bob Taylor of Farmville has expanded his Appomattox River Co. canoe and kayak business to the Roanoke Valley.|
by CNB