Dan Washburn’s Sporting Life

August 21, 2001 — The wheelchair could have belonged to anyone.
It sat alone and empty on a dock, and shifted slightly each time Lake Lanier swelled beneath the [...]

“It’s lovely to live on a raft. We had the sky, up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about [...]

“We said there warn’t no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy on a [...]

August 7, 2001 — The sailboats drifted back and forth before me like targets in a carnival shooting game.
There were dozens of them, [...]

July 10, 2001 — When I walked into Moose’s Poolside Cafe it was lunchtime. Customers sat on stools and enjoyed veggie burgers, cheesesteak sandwiches and waffle-cut french [...]

May 22, 2001 — Forgive me. I’m having trouble concentrating.
I keep looking out the window instead of at my computer screen. I’d rather be out on the Chattahoochee [...]

May 8, 2001 — Gene Teany is beat up.
A lifetime in the Army and three tours of duty in Vietnam will do that to you.
Teany is 65 years old. He [...]

October 24, 2000 — I remember an episode of “Magnum, P.I.” in which Magnum is forced to tread water for hours and hours and hours. He was lost at sea, fighting for his [...]

September 26, 2000 — The fishermen stared at us. That’s about all they could do.
Their once tranquil fishing hole on Lake Lanier suddenly became Atlanta Motor Speedway.
A large flash of purple and [...]

July 25, 2000 — The moon sets. The sun rises. Happens every morning.
It’s easy to take it all for granted.
But not for Alice Adams. [...]

May 23, 2000 — Henry Kannapell and I stood along the shore, studying the sun-soaked waters of Lake Lanier, sizing up our opposition.
We were silent for a moment. [...]

May 16, 2000 — Back. Arm. Shoulder. Side. Backside. Legs.
Did I say back?
Perhaps it would be easier to list the parts of my body that weren’t sore after my first dragon [...]

May 9, 2000 — This day was going to be different. I could feel it.
I could hear it.
A chorus of chimes serenaded me as I sat on the dock, awaiting my third attempt [...]

October 5, 1999 — It’s an awkward, counterintuitive position.
Underwater. Upside-down. Sealed inside a kayak.
Down is up. Right and left are confused. Time [...]

July 13, 1999 — The corrugated steel body of the boathouse amplified the persistent pitter-patter of raindrops striking the structure’s small frame. I stared out the [...]

“You know what I was just thinking? The first explorers saw this country, saw it just like us — in a canoe.”
Lewis Medlock (Burt Reynolds) in the 1972 motion picture “Deliverance”
July 6, 1999 — The Chattooga River is a natural dichotomy. Charming and challenging. Delightful and deadly.
Perfect for paddlers, who often surf the [...]

June 29, 1999 — “If you can’t see the river ahead of you, you know you’re in for some fun,” Gary Gaines hollered back at us with a knowing smile.
He then turned his [...]

June 22, 1999 — I remember when my father first taught me how to ride a bicycle — back in days when kids’ heads were hard enough not to require helmets.
Holding onto my seat, he ran by [...]

April 27, 1999 — It sounded easy enough.
Paddle kayak over to little yellow ball. Pick up ball. Throw ball in goal.
Yes, it sounded easy enough. But there was one small catch — for me, at least.
“Usually, polo requires that you know how to paddle already,” smiled my kayak polo instructor, Brad Carr, after I informed [...]

January 26, 1999 — “You’re not going to throw up, are you Dan?” asked Lake Lanier Rowing Club executive director Sara Nevin — only half jokingly — after I completed 2,000 meters on an indoor ergometer rowing machine, affectionately called an “erg” by those familiar with indoor sculling parlance.
On Saturday, for some reason, I decided [...]