Outdoorplay
couldn't resist exposing the 43-year-old paddler to our readers. Her
attitude serves as inspiration to any woman who has ever picked up a paddle
and likes to talk about it.
Outdoorplay:Mothra
has become a favorite on the forums. What do you think of all this popularity?
Mothra:
I call it my Andy Warhol 15 minutes of fame.
Outdoorplay:How
would you describe yourself?
Mothra:
Multifaceted, and a bit of a paradox. Strong taste for adventure coupled
with innate need for security. Hard-hearted Hannah on the outside, but
a marshmallow underneath. Silk shoes, three sets of china, sterling flatware
meets boater chick grunge.
Outdoorplay:What
"level" kayaker are you?
Mothra:
I'll dabble a bit with classical Vs, but I am most comfortable on IIIs
and IVs. Top of my game is stuff like the Upper Gauley or Yough. I have
never done an intentional cartwheel.
Outdoorplay:How
long have you been paddling?
Mothra:
Started boating in 1991. Class II stuff in a Mad River Independence. I
didn't want to believe my fellow club members that it was a "lake boat"
despite its lack of freeboard and rocker, but finally bit the bullet in
October of that year and bought a 13 foot Old Town H2Pro with full floatation
and foam saddle and thighstraps.
Outdoorplay:How
did you learn?
Mothra:
Well, I did take canoeing as a gym class back at Penn State, so I had some
basic strokes and boat control when I started some 13 years later. I learned
from my fellow club members, and then took a clinic at NOC with Gordon
Black. He kind of suggested I might want to think about going back to lake
paddling when I had a freak-out on the Cartecay. But I was stubborn and
stuck with it and am living proof that if you just keep at it, you'll improve.
I was lucky enough to be coached along the way by folks like Jimmy Holcombe,
Shane Benedict, Tom McEwan, EJ, Ken Whiting and many others. I love this
about paddling. It's such a small sport! Can you imagine being a weekend
duffer and taking a golf clinic with Tiger Woods?
Outdoorplay:What
made you decide to learn to kayak?
Mothra:
I started knocking around in a used Cruise Control in '96 and got serious
about kayaking in '97. Started out just for a change of pace from canoeing.
I was paddling stuff like the New and Cheat in an open canoe, but knew
that I had not the strength and stamina to push myself to train for harder
runs. Kayaking was a new challenge. New Year's Day 1998 was my last open
boat cruise in my prized Whitesell Whirlwind. I sold it a few months later
to a friend because boats deserve to get wet.
As to why I
decided to learn to canoe, ah -- that has more mysterious origins. Let's
just say that I was meant to come to the river, and that I got here by
a strange and personal journey.
Outdoorplay:What
is your favorite thing about kayaking?
Mothra:
Being in the NOW. No past, no future -- only now.
Outdoorplay:Where
did the name Mothra come from?
Mothra:
Did you ever fall asleep fully clothed with the lights on? On a hot summer's
night, and there's this annoying moth that wakes you up at 3am with it's
incessant buzzing 'round the light on the ceiling fan, and so you grab
a magazine. And stand on one of those bruer chairs -- you know the ones
with the cane seats and metal s-frames. And you swat at the moth. And the
moth moves. And you hyperextend and kill the moth. And the chair rises
up to pitch you over. And you jam your right leg down onto the seat to
rebalance. And you break right through the cane seat and pitch forward
to the ground and make your way painfully to bed. Two months later, you're
in the hospital getting a laminectomy on the herniated disc at L5-S1 and
a buddy starts calling you "Mothra" after the female archenemy of Godzilla
in those old Japanese horror flicks. And you realize that truly the Moth
is your totem, as you are drawn irresistibly to the flame.
Outdoorplay:What
is your favorite river?
Mothra:
The one I'm on. "Home" rivers are in Western Maryland, West Virginia, and
Western Pennsylvania.
Outdoorplay:Who
do you admire and why?
Mothra:
I admire people who are happy with the choices they've made with their
lives, who live without regrets, who are open and full of wonder for all
the blessings this life can bestow upon us. My dad was like that -- perhaps
the best month of my life was spent with him in June of '87 when he knew
he was dying of Lou Gehrig's disease. I had the wonderful gift of being
able to see him as he must have been as a young man, when by happenstance,
we rented a house down the street from someone who knew him during his
bachelor days in the FBI. He met his death a month later without having
done many of the things he would have liked to do with his time here, but
happy about the path he had chosen -- just sorry he had to leave so soon.
Outdoorplay:Are
you as popular on the river as you are on the forums?
Mothra:
Notorious might be the operative word here. And the answer is yes, of course!
Outdoorplay:Are
there certain threads you just can't resist?
Mothra:
You know what I can't resist? Just trying to give some poor sap some basic
information. Recently on rec.boats.paddle there was this thread on how
to choose a proper canoe paddle length. All sorts of really esoteric stuff
aimed at a father and son who had just purchased a recreational canoe.
If I were a newbie, I'd be totally confused, so I just wrote and told him
they could probably get by with something in the 56"-60" range, depending
on their build and that the bow paddler would probably do well to err on
the shorter side of that range while the stern paddler might like to err
to the longer. I got back a message recently saying that based on my advice;
they had bought a 58" and a 60" and were quite happy. askmothra.com!
Outdoorplay:Why
(and when) did you start becoming so active on the forums?
Mothra:
I bought a laptop to help me with my work in '97 and the rest is history.
Outdoorplay:What
forums are you active on?
Mothra:
Local club forums like the MCC page and others. BoaterTalk, rec.boats.paddle,
Outdoorplay.com, Kayakmagazine, Impex, Riot, Soulboating.
Outdoorplay:Which
is your favorite forum?
Mothra:
I enjoy them all, but I've met more real life friends through rec.boats.paddle
than any other forum. So that's my favorite.
Outdoorplay:Do
people give you a hard time about being so active on the forums?
Mothra:
Most don't or are good-natured fun like "askmothra.com". Occasionally,
I've been baited by those who think I should have class V credentials to
post opinions. But I was only hurt deeply by those who alleged that I was
uncompassionate about river deaths. I've needed to work through plenty
of my own river grief in the past two years.
Outdoorplay:You
seem to have a comment about everything; most people wouldn't be that verbal,
what is it that makes you chime in?
Mothra:
Always been that way. Even way back in grade school. I ran into my 5th
grade teacher at a wedding a few years back and she told me our class was
the most memorable one she taught during her 30 years in the classroom.
She astounded me when she revealed that one of my schoolmates that I had
always admired (good looking, super intelligent, quick wit, etc.) asked
her so many years ago -- "How does Kathy Streletzky do it? She's never
afraid to say what she thinks!"
Outdoorplay:Have
you ever stuck your foot in your mouth on the forums? Or posted something
you wish you could go back and erase?
Mothra:
Yes. I've had to admit I was wrong, and I've had to apologize.
Outdoorplay:Do
you think some people are ever intimidated or angered by you?
Mothra:
I suppose so. I'm fairly certain that I'm not challenged as often as I
could be.
Outdoorplay:Are
you ever concerned about being wrong?
Mothra:
No.
Outdoorplay:Do
you have a crew of people you paddle with?
Mothra:
No. Not really. Not anymore. It's one of the things I miss really. When
I just started out, I had a crew we called the "Three Dufuses" and we had
a posse of dufuses joining in. It was fun to do the Thursday night phone
thing and figure out something new for every new weekend. Of course, paddlers
develop at different speeds and some "get a life" or other interests. But
I've got a bunch of different friends/groups that I'll hook up with --
it's one of the best things about the (Washington) DC paddling community.
Outdoorplay:If
there was one person in the boating community whose brain you could pick,
who's would it be?
Mothra:
I was going to say Jimi Snyder, but I do get to pick his brain from time
to time, so I'll pick his friend Doug Ammons instead. Have you ever read
"Old Friends," that remarkable piece he did for the AW Journal a few years
back? About his reflections of the time of when he was young and ships
afire for class V and some of the nuances he might have missed along the
way? Best piece I've ever read into the psyche of a paddler. He recently
wrote of a near death experience on the Payette for Paddler, though it
was covered up as a big water wahoo story. I think Doug and Jimi and a
few other paddling writers like Chip Mefford and Ken Strickland really
get into the life of things. I hope he gets around to publishing that long
awaited book one of these days. Until then, we'll just have to get by with
Pete's Whitewater Page.
Outdoorplay:What
are some of the biggest challenges you think women paddlers face?
Mothra:
Would you believe when I first started posting, I hid behind the "anonymous"
Mothra shield? Even kstreletzk@aol.com revealed nothing of my gender identity.
I didn't do it on purpose, but I kind of reveled in the "right on! Dude"
responses I'd get. I was glad to be gender anonymous as "Mothra" as I felt
I could establish myself on my own merits. When I finally "came out", I
got an overwhelming number of "attagirls" from female lurkers. Back in
97, there were precious few female posters. I think a lot of female paddlers
would like to be "gender anonymous" on the river too.
Outdoorplay:Do
you paddle with other women?
Mothra:
Yes. Last weekend, I paddled with my friend from Ohio, Sue Sexton, and
her daughter Anna. Also with a new friend I met through Sue, Eleny.
Outdoorplay:What
was the biggest challenge you faced when learning to kayak? How did you
overcome it?
Mothra:
My fear of failure. All my life I did things that came easily to me. Graduated
with a 3.9 and a double honors program. Got an MBA in 20 months while working
full time. President's Club. Account Manager of the Year. Easy. I always
did things that I was just naturally good at and I always succeeded.
I needed to
learn that it was OK to fail. That it was OK to suck at something and do
it over and over again and to keep failing until one day, by dint of hard
work and effort, I could do it. What a wonderful lesson. And what a fun
way to learn it.
Outdoorplay:If
you could change something about the paddling industry what would it be?
Mothra:
I'd like it to truly professionalize or to just go back to being paddling.
This "pro-paddler" and "sponsored" hoopla wannabe stuff that's going on
now is truly ridiculous.
But mostly,
I just love it. Don't stop the carnival.
