H. Roger Corbett - Intrepid 16

    

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H. Roger Corbett was a canoe enthusiast (his canoe of choice was a Mohawk Intrepid 16) who authored several canoe guide books, including his most popular guidebook titled "Virginia Whitewater". Two Mohawk Canoe owners, Chip Walsh and Mike McCrea, shared their memories and thoughts about Corbett and the legacy that he left:

From Chip Walsh: 

"Roger Corbett was my canoeing mentor, and the author of "Virginia Whitewater". His knowledge of rivers in Virginia and surrounding states was encyclopedic. He was able to tell me what was around the corner on every river we paddled. Sadly, he passed away in 2003. Corbett paddled a 16’ Intrepid."


From Mike McCrea:

"The cover photo of Corbett on my 1988 Virginia guide is different than latter editions, more of a straight on shot of Corbett, still in what looks like a Whitewater or Intrepid, but the canoe is green with a white under-gunwale stripe.

I’m thinking Corbett, who led a lot of group trips, added that stripe so his canoe was follow-the-leader instantly identifiable. I had not deliberately copied Corbett when I started adding white under-gunwale stripes, but now see the wisdom.

I did begin to copy one Corbett mannerism on group trips. When Corbett led a trip he would organize “We are meeting here, dropping shuttle here and launching here at X O’clock". Corbett grew to have little patience for folks dawdling at the launch, so he would put his canoe in the water, get in, say “I’ll be waiting in the first eddy downstream” and paddle away. I adopted that practice too.

Corbett was a towering figure in guidebook style; he taught Ed Gertler (guidebooks for NJ, PA, Maryland and Delaware, and now a revised VA guide), and Ed Ferguson duplicated that style with guidebooks to paddling NC and SC. Having guides written in the same user friendly style from NJ to SC is a huge boon.

Corbett's publisher described his book "Virginia Whitewater" this way

"Virginia Whitewater" is a description of more than 200 rivers, creeks, and runs throughout Virginia. These descriptions include technical data, river/road maps, gauging information, and a narrative of the river trips. The streams vary from swift mountain creeks to large Piedmont rivers, from the Appalachian Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean. All watersheds in Virginia are covered in this one volume, providing paddlers with a wide range of river experiences from which to choose float trips, whitewater trips, and camping trips.

To purchase H. Roger Corbett's "Virginia Whitewater", including options to purchase a signed copy, click here


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