July/August 2010 - GreenList Louisville

Skipping Fish Boat School
“Whenever someone one builds a boat, it’s
an assertion that they still believe in the
extraordinary potential of the present.”
-Skipping Fish Boat School Philosophy
Skipping Fish Boat School, located in
the heart of Butchertown, is committed
to providing adults and youths the
opportunity to build their own kayak and
to learn to paddle it safely on their own
personal adventures on the numerous
lakes and waterways in the state of
Kentucky and beyond.
Owned and operated by Dennis Pidgeon
and myself, it is our hope to facilitate a
meaningfully way for people to discover
the potential that exists within themselves
and rediscover their connection to the
wonders of the natural world. It has been
my own personal experience that the
more time I spent paddling, the more
I cared about the issues effecting our
environment. When I look at the Ohio
River, I look at a river that I have enjoyed
and have gotten to know by paddling
some of its many miles. It is no longer that
anonymous strip of water that I must just
drive along or over to get from one place
to another as I race through the hectic
schedule of everyday living. It has become
a powerful symbol that at its best sparkles
with life, and I feel fortunate to have her
glistening along the edge of our city.
Skipping Fish Boat School and its
underlying philosophy is owed in great
part to the transformation I witnessed
when Dennis Pigeon guided my 13 year
old son, Quinn, through the process of
building his own kayak. Suddenly, a 13-
year-old, whose sense of self seemed to
be the by-product of indoor activities
that revolved primarily around virtual
worlds and electronics, became a young
man who could accomplish something
extraordinary with his own hands and he
had something to show for it! He left the
computer keyboards behind for lengthy
periods of time, learned to paddle and roll
his kayak skillfully, stood a little taller and
seemed significantly more confident about
his ability to be an adult in a complicated
By Kimberley Hillerich
world. How many 13-year-olds can say
they’ve built their own kayak
Presently, Dennis Pidgeon and I are at Bear
Creek Aquatics Camp. Originally called Camp
Bear Creek in the 1940s, it later became a
resident aquatics camp in the 1980s. Situated
along Kentucky Lake in an area referred to
as the “Land Between the Lakes,” the girl
scouts who attend this camp have endless
opportunities to windsurf, sail, canoe, kayak
and swim. At the end of the day they stroll back
to their cabins, tents or sleep in hammocks in
the lush woods that meet the water’s edge.
It is idyllic and since I’ve been here I’ve seen
bluebirds, a scarlet tanager, the elusive
prothonotory warbler, blue herons, several
phoebes wagging their tail feathers, zebra
swallowtail butterflies, a butterfly milkweed
of the most amazing orange (asclepias
tuberosa), several toads and deer. In a place
like Bear Camp Creek Aquatics Camp, it isn’t
hard to connect these adventuresome young
women with the natural world. That part of
our job is easy here.
Dennis and I were invited by the
Kentuckiana Girl Scouts to bring something
new to their 30 year old aquatics camp.
We are in our second day of guiding four
young women ranging in ages from 14
to 15 through the process of building
two traditional Greenland kayaks. We are
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