NYCkayaker NY Watertrail guide - NOT !!!

[Craig Poole]

>sandy sobanski <dragonsandy1 at yahoo.com> wrote
>Subject: NYCkayaker Watertrail Guide Question....
>So- I just have a question for the guys involved with
NY watertrail 
>guide...I know it's NY so that makes sense...But-Do
you guys think >it's a good idea to -not --inform
kayakers- (especially ones that are >not familiar with
the area)-that if they skip across river-in about 10-
>15 minutes they can land, rest, eat, pee at alot of
spots.....?   When >I'm paddling-I go by what's easy
to land or launch at... or what's 
>entertaining coming up next...Maybe a very very small
footnote here >and there for stuff nearby would be
helpful. Especially things so >dramatically close to
NY.Believe me....I'm used to Jersey being >ignored >or
dissed...And sadly--I enjoy it in some perverse way...
>But  I kind of >don't get it this one as a kayaker
guide in this >paddling zone...   
>Sandy

Sandy,  I can assure you that NJ has never been left
out of the planning nor inclusion of the "Hudson River
Watertrail Guide".  You'll note that it is not the NY
Trail guide.   I lived in downtown Jersey City at the
time and was always on the lookout for places to
paddle or launch.

    Just a bit of history,  I was involved with the
development of both the guide and the organization
that produced it - The HRWA - way back in 1992.     We
learned very quickly that we could not publish
information about specific waterside locations unless
we had verified the inclusion with the owners and had
their permission to include the information,
specifically that a kayaker could land at that
location....not an easy task.   What we tried to do
within the text was to give some hints of nearby
"locations" so maybe you could find an access point.
An example was the japanese market and sushi in
Edgewater??

      In 93 or 94 I was able to make contact with some
of the senior planning felllows from the NJ DEC and
HRWA proposed water access inclusion along the NJ
side.  

This involved the communities of (1) Jersey City, (2)
Hoboken, (3) Weehawken, (4) Union City, (5) West New
York, (6) Edgewater and 
(7) Ft. Lee along with the Palisades Park Commission
(PIPC) & NJ State Parks.   Forget the private property
owners, whom own I was guess about 90% of the Nj
waterfront.   

Now, I'm sure you've had the pleasure of dealing with
DMV (anywhere),  well imagine that 15 fold.   A
frequent response from "Officials" was that kayakers
didn't go out on the Hudson River,  or it was unsafe
and we can't be liable so no you can't include "Our"
property in your book.

It took multiple meetings, lots of arm twisting, lots
of persuasion, finding the right friends with the same
common agendas and an organization that was respected
enough to act as a voice for Hudson River Kayaker,  to
get what we have at this point.     

 I can laud Hoboken as a pioneer in including
wateraccess to their waterfront planning.    I was
invited to make a presentation to the Hoboken City
Counsel regarding water access somewheres along 1995
or so,  they had no idea of the recreational nature of
kayaking and the Hudson River.   With local support
and sponsorship, the council was amenable and what you
see today at the Frank Sinatra park was the result of
being added to the planning phase.   I took about 5
years from planning to production and  It's probably
not the best design but you have access.    Even the
NJ Governor paddled from Sinatra park to Liberty Park
to help celebrate wateraccess.  

Try that in Edgewater, where the park and only water
access is restricted to strictly residents.    There
was supposed to be access in Jersey City at the old
canal opening,  but that was nixed by Developers.
As such the only water access is at Liberty State Park
trailer area and even then you had/have to move your
car to a different lot since the closest one is
restricted to "trailered boats" or go try to get a
permit to park in that area.
At one time, kayakers were restricted from using the
trailer launch site directly under the GW bridge in
Ft. Lee,   we were able to persaude the PIPC to allow
hand carried boat launches both there and at the
Edgewater beach further north.    Approaches to land
owners or other towns along the Nj shore were ignored.
 

So, through this long ramble, I hope you see that an
organization like HRWA cannot publish information
without going through a lot of hoops.   You as an
individual though can use the HRWA sponsored
NYCKayaker portal to spread information:  Like hey, I
know this neat place where you can get in and out of
the water and trek over to some local place for ice
cream.    

Craig Poole, Ex-President, HRWA


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