Try out kayak, canoe today at Paddle Fest at Liberty Lake

You can always go paddle your own canoe.

Paddling someone else’s canoe is A) Not as kinky as some people think, B) the best way to try out a new canoe, and C) Something you can do today at Liberty Lake County Park from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.

It’s called Paddle Fair, and it’s the largest canoe and kayak demonstration in the country that doesn’t charge admission.

“The other really big shows charge something like $40 to get in,” explained Mike Barker, a canoe and kayak expert at Mountain Gear, sponsor of the event.

Barker and various factory representatives will have approximately 100 different models of the Native American and Native Alaskan watercraft available for test paddles.

“I’ll have all the latest boats,” Barker said. “Sea kayaks, recreational kayaks, canoes, solo canoes, pretty much anything you can imagine. I will have them from Current Design, Riot, Necky, and canoes from Wenonah and Bell.

“There will be some definite comparison going on.”

Attendees must sign a waiver of liability, but beyond that can test-paddle to their heart’s content on the lake.

Today’s kayaks are made of super linear polyethylene, fiberglass or composite — a far cry from the seal skin models developed in Alaska. Canoes, as well, have come a long way from the birch bark models that were invented by the Ojibwe Indians and became the workhorses of the fur trade. Or the dugout models that enabled the early Polynesians to explore the Pacific Ocean.

What makes both types of watercraft popular today is the ease of use and built-in stability. And it doesn’t hurt that canoe/kayak is an event at the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

To understand the stability of a canoe, here is a cautionary story about two men.

The first man (we’ll call him Glenn) was a brash fellow who considered himself to be something of a sport. The second man, “Don,” owned a canoe.

“Glenn,” Don said. “I bet you can’t sink my canoe.”

“Oh, sure I can,” Glenn said.

“If you can sink it — get it so both tips of the canoe are underwater — you can have the canoe,” Don said.

So Glenn proceeded to strip down to his bathing suit and took the canoe out into the lake. He spent four hours filling it with water, rocking it back and forth and jumping up and down amid ship.

Don kept his canoe. But now it was a clean canoe.