: I also get the Parking Lot Syndrome, which I don't really mind as it is
: flattering in a way, and I can usually carry on preparing the boat, etc,
: while talking. However, I do have one gripe. At least curious bystanders
: ask you if you made the boat. Being a short, elderly female, the questions
: directed at me are "Who made your boat for you?" "Did your
: husband (brother, nearest bystander, guy who is borrowing your other boat)
: make the boat for you?" I even had total disbelief from one guy who
: told me that women just couldn't do that kind of thing! Sexism is still
: rampant in the parking lot.
Liz-PLS can be pretty cool; it's gratifying to be complimented on something you've taken time on (I've seen pictures of your boat- you must get that a lot). Here in Baltimore, where road rage is not unprecedented, I once pointedly ignored a car next to me, honking it's horn as I drove down I-95, for as long as I could, only to turn around to see, rather than an enraged thug waving a gun, a man in a Lexus giving me an enthusiastic thumbs up and pointing to my Osprey. As for the whole sexist thing, this last September at the Newfound Rendezvous, one of the most beautiful kayaks there was built by a woman with grey hair (whose name I have unfortunately disremembered); it was a Caspian Sea, as I remember, with stripes running the length of the deck, and carried over the coaming and repeated in the beautiful contoured seat she'd made. I remember her telling me that she and a friend had cut down the tree, milled the boards and strips, the whole nine. I hope the North Ster I will hopefully soon start ends up half as nice.-Greg