#3984 - 05/04/11 05:10 PM
More "Speaking Up" Examples
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Forum Participant
Registered: 04/06/07
Posts: 458
Loc: New Jersey
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1) My first group outing (1984), an October crossing of Barnegat Bay, was hosted by East Coast legend Chuck Sutherland. The day was predicted to begin in fog and calm then morph into sunshine and a brisk SE seabreeze. A paddler arrived with a newly-purchased used Nordkapp, from which he had removed the seat, as he had found the boat too tender with the seat in. Also, he had no sprayskirt. Chuck, radiating quiet authority, took this paddler aside, out of earshot, and persuaded him that he was not appropriately experienced or equipped for the trip. The kayaker took it well, and watched us push off.
After crossing the bay and climbing Barnegat Lighthouse, we returned in a vigorous beam sea, as forecast. We often took large breaking waves over our sprayskirted cockpits that would have quickly filled an open cockpit and sent such a paddler over very quickly.
2) One of the most versatile and reliable kayakers in our local club remembers vividly, as a novice kayaker, being left on the beach by the leader of another club very early in his paddling career: Too inexperienced, and not dressed for immersion. The episode left him steaming for a long time, but, with the passage of time and more exposure to the sea kayaking literature, he determined to become someone who would be at home on trips, and maybe lead trips himself. He is now one of the most capable, experienced, and thoughtful paddlers in our club (and is way better than me).
3) I've never had to turn anyone away from any trip I've led, but that's mostly because I so detail the conditions that might be encountered, that few actually show up at the launch site. So the "intervention" I'm proudest of is a long club message board campaign/debate wherein I successfully halted a proposed transit by club sea kayakers of the Point Pleasant canal here in Jersey. The canal is busy, very narrow, fully bulkheaded, and boasts currents of up to 9 knots--not an ideal place to capsize a sea kayak; we'd get a real black eye, should that happen. Later I led and won a fight to not oppose an ordinance banning manually-powered craft from the canal. Jet skis had already been banned, and manually-powered boats were even less suitable to transit the canal. We were then spared the opportunity to look like morons, had we opposed the ban (which was going to pass, whatever kayakers thought about it). In fact, it was the explosion of kayaks on local waters that had triggered the formal ban; it never had been thought necessary previously.
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#3988 - 05/05/11 06:47 AM
Re: More "Speaking Up" Examples
[Re: Strange_Magic]
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Forum Participant
Registered: 01/18/11
Posts: 86
Loc: Seattle, WA
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I can't say that I agree with a ban on access to a body of water. I think it makes for a slippery slope towards other bans on other perceived "dangerous" bodies.
Not opposing the ban says that it is dangerous, but what makes it dangerous? Currents? While 9kn is fast (where are you coming up with that number, by the way? is that reflective of high levels in the river?) Traffic? There's heavy traffic in many places. The enclosed nature of the canal? While taken one at a time I certainly wouldn't be concerned, but even together - judging as an outsider - I don't see anything that should concern the kayaking community.
If we start limiting access based on the lowest common denominator what will become of kayaking? Would you limit my play areas here in WA, such as Deception Pass (traffic, currents of +8kn, wind, whirlpools that I've sunk to my chest in) or the Columbia River Bar (+11ft seas, shipping traffic and currents, wing dams and more). Perhaps, instead of standing by or abetting the closure of access to rivers, coast, etc, we, the kayaking community, should promote education and skill development.
I know, Strange, that you have mixed feelings about pushing the envelope of kayaking due to the perceived ease of the sport.
I think in this case I would have to side with, I Can't believe I'm saying this, Magooch regarding people being free to do stupid stuff. My question being are they properly prepared to do stupid stuff i.e. skirts, PFDs, immersion protection et al. Perhaps if they're fully prepared they also have the foresight and skill set to manage stupid stuff. I for one, have worked awfully hard at some of my stupid stuff and to have my stupid victory yanked out of my idiotic hands by the hands of the unstupid, not knowing how hard I worked at making my idiocy safe, would be the ultimate insult.
I applaud your drive at preventing the communal blackeyes but the non-kayaking public already consider us fools. Perhaps it's best to let them wag their tongues at one another, crashing their boat into one another while guzzling martinis, wearing shorts with belts and loafers with black socks. After all, shouldn't we take their stupidity into consideration? I think they're just jealous they don't have the stones to be the intrepid explorers/mariners that kayakers (not people who paddle kayaks, necessarily. frequently they also wear the loafers, shorts and black socks) strive to be.
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#3990 - 05/05/11 02:52 PM
Re: More "Speaking Up" Examples
[Re: Mark]
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Forum Participant
Registered: 04/06/07
Posts: 458
Loc: New Jersey
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Wisdom sometimes can be defined as choosing one's battles.
Point Pleasant canal combines, in one package, heavy powerboat traffic, narrow width, rapid currents, and unforgiving bulkheaded banks. It represents the perfect place to test the idea of allowing innertubes, standup paddleboards, canoes, swimmers, inflatables, cement trays, rubber ducks, and sea kayaks to intimately mingle with an endless stream of powerboats. Slippery slope arguments just don't endure well in the real world of authorities making decisions about public policy--there are rules forbidding wheelchairs, horse-drawn carts and bicycles in the tunnels linking metropolitan areas with their hinterlands, rules with which most will agree. To, in my view, foolishly (and futilely) oppose such common-sense strictures on unfettered behavior, is to work to kill our freedom to paddle.
Edited by Strange_Magic (05/05/11 02:53 PM)
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#3991 - 05/05/11 04:49 PM
Re: More "Speaking Up" Examples
[Re: Strange_Magic]
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Forum Participant
Registered: 04/06/07
Posts: 458
Loc: New Jersey
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More about the Point Pleasant canal: it is a 1.9 statute-mile-long canal connecting the Manasquan River (and Manasquan Inlet) with the northern end of Barnegat Bay in New Jersey. It is an integral part of the Intracoastal Waterway. The 9-knot figure for maximum currents comes from the NYNEX Boaters Directory/New Jersey Harbors cruising guide. Some insight into conditions on the canal can be gotten at www.thehulltruth.com/northeast/99232-point-pleasant-canal.html I could well be wrong, but I'm guessing that there may even be places in Washington with similar conditions: massive powerboat traffic, narrow confining bulkheaded margins, swift currents, chaotic boat wakes.......
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#3993 - 05/05/11 06:29 PM
Re: More "Speaking Up" Examples
[Re: Strange_Magic]
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Forum Participant
Registered: 01/18/11
Posts: 86
Loc: Seattle, WA
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the closest is the Ship Canal, no current to speak of but similar in other respects to what the photos I've seen show.
There area few river bars leading out to the Pacific that develop interesting conditions such as Grays Harbor Bar, Willapa Bar, and Columbia River Bar. These are contained by rip rap and, as I mentioned can develop in common conditions at the turn of the tide 11'+ breakers. I've paddled through a few of the river bars and associated tide races and I've had a good time doing it.
Most of the places with swift currents are places like the Tacoma Narrows, Deception Pass, Cattle Pass and a many others. Up north of us we also have Okisollo, Surge Narrows and Skookumchuck to name a few other tidal rapids/races.
Edited by Mark (05/05/11 06:30 PM)
Edit Reason: missing chunk of text.
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#3998 - 05/06/11 06:01 AM
Re: More "Speaking Up" Examples
[Re: Mark]
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Forum Participant
Registered: 04/06/07
Posts: 458
Loc: New Jersey
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Sorry, Mark, but no comparison to the Point Pleasant canal. While I'm sure that an experienced, skillful sea kayaker such as yourself could easily negotiate the canal, were no other craft present, if you actually tried it in normal use, some gun-toting powerboater would probably shoot you, in a fit of nautical "road rage". And a local jury would indite you, not him. Believe me, the ban is a triumph of common sense.
Edited by Strange_Magic (05/06/11 06:06 AM)
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#4349 - 08/25/11 10:26 AM
Re: More "Speaking Up" Examples
[Re: Strange_Magic]
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Forum Participant
Registered: 08/22/11
Posts: 2
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Sorry, Mark, but no comparison to the Point Pleasant canal. While I'm sure that an experienced, skillful sea kayaker such as yourself could easily negotiate the canal, were no other craft present, if you actually tried it in normal use, some gun-toting powerboater would probably shoot you, in a fit of nautical "road rage". And a local jury would indite you, not him. Believe me, the ban is a triumph of common sense. WoW I have to say I question the way you look at things? "gun-toting powerboater would probably shoot you" Really? Show me where a gun-toting powerboater has shot someone anywhere in the USA and the other person was indited. Your argument is really pretty Silly and you should rethink your stand, access to a resource is something that once given up is almost never reclaimed. I have been watching these issues in a number of communities for decades and they always go the same way. If you fail to make a stand you will loose access to the resource. You called this location a "an integral part of the Intracoastal Waterway" to me that sounds like if a person would like to use both bodies of water on the same day without this channel you would have a 1.9 mile portage? why because some wont be able to handle the conditions the channel may have at times? If you ask me that sounds like a poor excuse to limit access to a shared resource. I promise you that that channel is maintained with money from people that dont own power boats. Thom
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#4351 - 08/25/11 04:46 PM
Re: More "Speaking Up" Examples
[Re: Muskyman]
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Forum Participant
Registered: 04/06/07
Posts: 458
Loc: New Jersey
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Thom, when I wrote about a gun-toting boater shooting a kayaker attempting to (illegally) run the Point Pleasant Canal, I was indulging in semi-humorous hyperbole.
I suggest you go back and re-read my arguments supporting the ban on kayaks, rubber ducks, stand-up paddleboards, swimmers, canoes, and people in barrels transiting the Point Pleasant Canal.
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#4849 - 04/12/12 10:45 PM
Re: More "Speaking Up" Examples
[Re: Strange_Magic]
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Forum Participant
Registered: 04/12/12
Posts: 1
Loc: Enter your state here
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1) My first group outing (1984), an October crossing of Barnegat Bay, was hosted by East Coast legend Chuck Sutherland. The day was predicted to begin in fog and calm then morph into sunshine and a brisk SE seabreeze. led strip A paddler arrived with a newly-purchased used Nordkapp, from which he had removed the seat, as he had found the boat too tender with the seat in. Flexible LED Strip Lights Also, he had no sprayskirt. Chuck, radiating quiet authority, took this paddler aside, out of earshot, and persuaded him that he was not appropriately experienced or equipped for the trip. The kayaker took it well, and watched us push off. After crossing the bay and climbing Barnegat Lighthouse, we returned in a vigorous beam sea, as forecast. We often took large breaking waves over our sprayskirted cockpits that would have quickly filled an open cockpit and sent such a paddler over very quickly. 2) One of the most versatile and reliable kayakers in our local club remembers vividly, as a novice kayaker, Outdoor LED Lighting being left on the beach by the leader of another club very early in his paddling career: Too inexperienced, and not dressed for immersion. The episode left him steaming for a long time, but, with the passage of time and more exposure to the sea kayaking literature, he determined to become someone who would be at home on trips, and maybe lead trips himself. He is now one of the most capable, experienced, and thoughtful paddlers in our club (and is way better than me). 3) I've never had to turn anyone away from any trip I've led, but that's mostly because I so detail the conditions that might be encountered, that few actually show up at the launch site. So the "intervention" I'm proudest of is a long club message board campaign/debate wherein I successfully halted a proposed transit by club sea kayakers of the Point Pleasant canal here in Jersey. The canal is busy, very narrow, fully bulkheaded, and boasts currents of up to 9 knots--not an ideal place to capsize a sea kayak; we'd get a real black eye, should that happen. Later I led and won a fight to not oppose an ordinance banning manually-powered craft from the canal. Jet skis had already been banned, and manually-powered boats were even less suitable to transit the canal. We were then spared the opportunity to look like morons, had we opposed the ban (which was going to pass, whatever kayakers thought about it). In fact, it was the explosion of kayaks on local waters that had triggered the formal ban; it never had been thought necessary previously.
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