If rightly made,
a boat would be a sort of amphibious animal,
a creature of two elements,
related by one-half its structure to some swift and shapely fish,
and by the other to some strong-winged and graceful bird.

--Henry David Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

A man who is not afraid of the sea
will soon be drowned, he said,
for he will be going out on a day he shouldn't.
But we do be afraid of the sea,
and we do only be drownded now and again.
~John Millington Synge

If you want to build a ship,
don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the wood and give orders.
Instead, teach them to yearn
for the vast and endless sea.
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery

...is worth overdoing. That was their mantra.

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I wouldn't believe it either, if I hadn't seen this.

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( all the river-related links off my current computer )

This is silly---but impressive.
https://vimeo.com/43427906

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The rain began the night we got home from our Grand Canyon adventure, and I've been getting out every weekend day. We got on the Sandy Gorge at something just shy of 3000 cfs, and again at 1200 or so, the North Fork Washougal which usually doesn't run in October, Opal Creek at something like 900cfs, and the Tilton at a lovely 1300 cfs.

( notes by river )