Our First Cruise Chair, Tony Comer
a Carolina Paddler article
By Alton Chewning
-A couple of CCC paddlers were on a Western trip. While dining at a restaurant, an older stranger approached them and asked if the car in the parking lot with kayaks on top happened to be theirs. They said yes and the fellow said he used to paddle a lot. One of the couple, Kirk, thought, “Oh, Jeez, he’s going to tell us all about his adventures in a aluminum canoe.” Instead, the fellow said, “I helped start a paddling club back in North Carolina, the Carolina Canoe Club.” Now he had the interest of Kirk and Debbie Weir. “We’re from North Carolina,” they said. “We belong to the CCC.”
The gentleman talking to them was Tony Comer, the first Cruise Chair of the CCC and briefly the second President. Back in 1969, a collection of paddlers in North Carolina thought they should get organized to do more trips. Get others involved. And so, they did.
The mission of the organization they formed, the Carolina Canoe Club, was, “For the purpose of getting people together who like to paddle.” Those early founders had a good idea. The Club is still getting paddlers, new and old, together on rivers.
This chance meeting of Tony, Debbie and Kirk turned out to be a wonderful bit of serendipity. A friendship quickly kindled between the folks. The Weirs left to continue their trip but as Kirk recalls, “On our way back to NC on that same trip, Tony and his wife, Kate, hosted us for hors d’oeuvres at their house in Glenwood Springs, CO and then out for dinner.”
While visiting, Tony handed over his collection of the first Paddler newsletters of the CCC, perhaps the only ones still around. He also passed along another treasure, his old CCC jacket.
In 2023, Debbie and Kirk, along with Lee Belknap, were back in Colorado for another paddle trip. They met Tony and Kate again and shared stories and laughs. Tony proved invaluable in another way, as Kirk testifies, “That same day, Tony got us out of a shuttle jam when an intrepid group of CCC kayakers made a mistake on setting shuttle on the Roaring Fork River.” Paddlers helping paddlers.
The First Seed?
In the stack of old Paddlers Tony handed over was a section of the January 26, 1969, Greensboro Daily News. Prominent is an article titled, “Anytime is Canoeing Season.” The article features the Benner family: Bob, Betty, son David 12 and daughter Dawn, 10, and their love of canoeing.
Here is an excerpt from the article:
Bob is a member of the Canoe Cruisers out of Washington, D.C., and the Coastal Canoe club of Norfolk, VA. Most of these members are Virginians, but some Tar Heels belong. Bob would like to see a canoe club formed in the Greensboro area.
“I’m very much interested in promoting canoeing and through the sport of canoeing, promote conservation of our water resources.” he said. “Hopefully, there are many people interested in canoeing whether it be on white water or just river cruising. They might would like to take a greater part in such activities but weren’t aware of the possibilities in the area.”
Less than two months later, on March 16, 1969, 15 people met at the Benner home in Jamestown and the CCC was born. Bob was elected the first President (Chairman), Sheila Massey the Secretary and Tony Comer the Cruise Chair. Paddles were in the water and the CCC was underway.
The Beginnings
The Paddler newsletter was the esteemed predecessor of our current journal, Carolina Paddler. The Paddler was the glue holding the club together in those early years. As Comer said, “It [the Paddler] was so much a part of our early success in growing the CCC. With just a handful of members and constant work to keep those members involved and to get new members in the club, the Paddler was essential to our success.”
The Club was a success. Now 55 years later, the CCC is a strong organization with over 800 members, a thriving Week of Rivers, a respected journal, and a national presence. One sign of our continuing strength is the wealth of talented individuals contributing to make our trips and events well organized and well attended.
Over 600 people participated in the 2023 Week of Rivers. Many were there to see Tom Womble present Jim Mazzola, the Swiss army knife of the WOR, a gift for all his service throughout the event. The gift–Tony Comer’s CCC coat, over fifty years old and looking good.
The first Paddler was mailed in April of 1969, at a cost of six cents each. Sheila Massey, the Club Secretary, also edited the newsletter. An opening note from her explains the new club:
“The CAROLINA CANOE CLUB is organized and ready to roll, and float, and paddle! It is for canoeist, kayakist, folboters and users of similar types of portable boats.”
Editor’s note: See more on “folboters” in the Addendum.
Cruising
Tony lived in Greensboro and was familiar with many of the local rivers. He wrote the first trip report for the May 1969 Paddler. The trip was a two-day event, the first day on the Fisher, the second on the Ararat. Comer writes, “The first day we had seven canoes, all doubles but one. The second day on the Ararat we had four canoes and four solo Folbots–the Sheila and Bill Massey team. Pat Comer, Tony’s wife, was on the trips, her first time in a canoe.
Comer demonstrated a sense of humor: “… the sky promised a beautiful day… for future reference NEVER trust the promise of a morning sky.” “Bob Liles and his son, Paul, took to the water like a couple of ducks; but when your canoe is upside down and stuck against a rock in a rapid your only choice is taking the water like a duck…. Right, Paul?”
In looking through these early Paddlers, one is struck by the fullness of the trip calendar. Almost every week has a paddle or two planned. Tony in the Cruise Chair position was certainly doing his job. River trips are scheduled months in advance. Was the hope to schedule a trip and the water would be there? Some of the trips were on reliable rivers; others were not. Howard Du Bose tells a story of early river hopping. “We might show up at New Hope Creek with ten cars and no water. Everybody piled back in the cars and headed to the Little or the Haw, hoping they had water.” No cell phones in sight. No USGS river gages.
Rivers commonly paddled in the early 1970’s sound foreign or seldom mentioned now: Ararat, Big Reed Island Creek, Fisher, Jacob’s Fork (in Burke Co.), Mitchell, Reddies, Yadkin. But there were also trips on juicier rivers like the Nolichucky, Wilson and Chattooga. Comer wrote a fun January 1971 trip report on the Lower Yough. There’s a report on an epic Savage River trip, also by Comer. The primary leaders of these trips were Bob Benner, Tommy McNabb, Lloyd Rich, Bob Moyer and, of course, the Cruise Chair, Tony Comer.
Changes is a constant
Bob Benner was reelected as President in 1970 but soon thereafter took a job at Western Piedmont Community College. Comer stepped in as President (a fact not noted on the CCC website’s list of past officers) and served out the term. Pat Comer took over as Secretary/Treasurer from Sheila Massey, who devoted her time to editing the Paddler.
Life rolls on. Comer: “Then, in August of 1971 my company transferred me to Louisville. I stayed involved with the CCC for years and as I got the Viking Canoe Club to switch from their flatwater racing to whitewater paddling, we had many combined trips either as a group or as individuals.”
Kirk Weir puts Tony’s history in perspective, “He was part of a group of legendary paddlers making many first descents or first descents in an aluminum Grumman canoe. He has pictures with no floatation and no helmet from back in the early days.”
Tony no longer paddles, electing to spend four or five days a week on golf courses around Glenwood Springs. He still recognizes paddlers when he sees them.
ADDENDUM
Paddler Advertising
In November, 1971, a classified ad for private sales of boats first appeared in the Paddler. Billed as a Trade Page, other commercial ads soon appeared. One of the first, if not the first, was for Pack’n Paddle in Reynolda Station, Winston-Salem. The shop was a factory rep for Grumman, Old Town and Voyageur canoes. They also sold custom built Kayaks and C-1’s. Life vests, camping gear, Masterlite paddles and books like “Canoeing White Water by Randy Carter” were offered. Owners appeared to be Tommy McNabb, Bill Braun and Bob Stehling, all early CCC members.
Folboaters
The first paragraph in the first Paddler has editor Sheila Massey’s announcement:
“The CAROLINA CANOE CLUB is organized and ready to roll, and float, and paddle! It is for canoeist, kayakist, folboters and users of similar types of portable boats.”
Editor’s note: Sheila Massey and her family paddled Folbots in 1969. I own several folding boats for flatwater use, particularly when air travel is involved. Seeing the inclusion of “folboaters” intrigued me. The 1970’s seemed to be a heyday for Folbots (a brand) and folding boats in general. In a later Paddler trip report the writer mentions putting in at Juniper Springs in Florida and seeing over 60 Folbots on the water.