Breaking the Granite Ceiling: At Home on the Water
150 miles of paddling over 9 days.
That is how Amy Dorfman kicked off her summer; a feat that anyone who has ever lifted a paddle before would deem rad, very rad indeed.
During the course of their water-born adventure, Amy and her two kayaking compadres covered nearly the entirety of Lake Champlain, from Benson’s Landing all the way north to Missisquoi Bay in Canada. Amy pushed through some of the roughest water and longest consecutive days of her paddling career. Oh, and she planned and executed the entire trip herself, sans guide.
Why embark on such a journey?
To signify her time spent in Vermont.
Amy will be a senior at UVM and is one of our resident paddling experts. Her Lake Champlain adventure is just one of many expeditions that have fueled her love for getting outside and helped shaped her experience as an outdoorswoman in the world of paddle sports. We followed Amy out onto the water and talked with her about this experience.
Watch the clip below for exquisite golden-hour footage and read on to get her thoughts on the industry, her path to paddling, and a pro tip that any aspiring boater should keep in mind.
How did you get into paddle sports?
I was first exposed to paddling on a NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) course, which was a sea kayaking and backpacking course in Alaska. It was the summer before senior year in high school and I had never even camped much before. It was a totally new experience. I went into almost a trance of sorts at some points when I was paddling.
After senior year I ended up working at my local EMS and then decided I was going to lead canoeing trips in Canada, even though I had never even been canoeing before!
Before going to UVM in the fall, I participated in their Whitewater Wilderness Orientation and so I was exposed to these three types of paddle sports: sea kayaking, whitewater kayaking, and canoeing.
Why paddling?
Water has a lot of healing properties and is really restorative. It also speaks a lot to my personality, it can be very calm and glassy, or this crazy raging river. I feel really at home on the water.
What would you like to see change about how women are represented and/or involved in the outdoor industry as a whole? How about specifically in paddle sports?
I’ve noticed a fairly distinct trend in the outdoors. When meeting up with another group of people in the woods or at the crag or the put-in of a river, often people look at men and assume the best of them but a lot of times women are looked at and judged on their size or what gear they have, etc. I’ve seen people almost immediately underestimate their abilities.
This is especially noticeable in the whitewater world. I have friends that are women that just don’t get mentored the same way that men do. They‘re kind of forgiven for a lot more because it’s assumed they don’t have the same skills and abilities.
In sea kayaking, all of my mentors have been men. The people who I’ve been told to look at and learn from are all men. There just isn’t a lot of female representation.
What do think is keeping more women from filling these roles, or even entering into the sport in the first place?
There isn’t always a lot of space to ask for help or guidance in the outdoor world. A lot of times asking questions is viewed as showing weakness.
There are small ways in which men and women are often treated differently growing up. For instance, if a woman was never taught to use tools or she was never expected to do things on her own or encouraged to be totally independent, then now asking for help and reaching out is going to be looked down on in a way. By no means is that true for every situation, but it does exist.
What’s more, men and women’s brains do work differently in some ways. I remember when I was learning to whitewater kayak, I was out there with 6 or 7 guys and maybe 2 or 3 girls. Guys would adhere to this “rule of 5” idea which basically said that if you watch someone do something (i.e. go over a rapid) successfully five times then you can do it too. I remember thinking, “Well my brain doesn’t work like that.” I’m still scared shitless!
In those situations, if there are no women in the group or mentoring, and men are only using tactics that might not translate well for everyone, it can be a major deterrent.
I’ve also done a lot of academic writing on the benefits of kids being outside. I’ve read articles that talk about how on co-ed trips if something needs to be done, boys are more likely to step up to the plate and girls often expect it. However, if there are no boys around, girls are forced to step up to the plate and they begin to understand that they are very capable of doing it too.
So what’s the solution? It’s a mix of everything. It starts with how we’re raised. But it’s encouraging a lot of female camaraderie and empowerment too.
What advice would you give someone of any gender looking to get into paddling?
Just go for it.
Sure, know your limits and have situational awareness, and for whitewater paddling get some instruction…because that stuff is crazy. But other than that, just get out on the water! The best way to learn is by trying different things.
For those trying to get into the industry and do it more than recreationally, get a mentor and then get a job in it. I got a job working at a gear shop and then as a trip leader and learned a lot and met a lot of incredible mentors. Some of my best friends are paddlers and we critique and push each other. Set up a solid foundation of support. And get out there!
Paddling pro tip?
Two words: Wag bag. [Laughter ensues]
Seriously though! On a lot of kayaking trips if you’re in a really high impact area or an area that you can’t dig a cat hole, trust me, you’ll want this. Oh and for the ladies, a Diva Cup! Females in the outdoors should be hitting up the Diva Cup.
Any other experiences, positive or negative, you’ve encountered as an outdoorswoman?
Last summer there were two men who escaped from prison in New York. I was out kayaking with three friends of mine who are females and we were putting in at the coast guard station and were going to go on a short paddle around the breakwater and this reporter comes up to us and says, “Is it just you girls out here? You’ve heard of these felons on the loose? Aren’t you scared being out here just you four women?”
She was trying to play the angle of us being these four helpless women who were going out by themselves on boats while these men are on the loose. It was ridiculous. As we paddled away we laughed and shouted back at her, “We’re not scared of any man!”
This interview is part of our Breaking the Granite Ceiling series. We're taking a look at the state of gender diversity in the outdoors through the lens of some of the raddest athletes we know; women within our community who continue to break the granite ceiling one climb, hike, ride, and paddle at a time.