NYCkayaker Captains & Paddlers Day, Saturday May 17

[bonnie13 at earthlink.net]

Note, after having written this entire screed - Please read this ALL the way through, or not at all. I'm balancing my personal problems with the Guild against the fact that this sounds like a useful event. It starts out with a slam but as I wrote, the initial seeing-red response I have when I see the name "Hudson River Paddlers Guild" did fade & the fact that this does sound like a good thing they are putting together comes out - with a few more ideas of ways to get the information that will probably be shared there for those who can't or prefer not to attend. I hope it wasn't a complete waste of my lunch hour. 
************* 

It does sound like a good idea. I'm sorry that I still have reservations about the Guild that will preclude my attendance. 

The Guild was created, under great secrecy, during the shutdown of the barge. They appointed themselves the leaders of the independent paddlers. I'm not going into gory details but in the process, I ended up feeling completely steamrollered. The Guild's stated raison d'etre was that the paddlers didn't have a voice, and they could provide one - I actually ended up feeling like I'd had one but got marginalized because I wouldn't quietly go along with their taking charge. 

In their defense - it was a bad time, feelings were running high, and their approach to things was actually hitting nerves that had been left raw from earlier conflicts with people like Adam Brown (anybody remember him?). Our access to the water was being taken away and they were organizing in the way they thought was most likely to give the most positive results. There wasn't really time for diplomacy (part of why I dropped out when I did was because I recognized that my inability to accept the.   

Now - I have had few dealings with the Guild since then. I do see people whose opinions I trust and respect working with them, and perhaps they have become more open. This event in particular sounds useful and interesting, much like the discussion the Human Powered Boating Group had with New York Waterways (writeup still available on Bruce Taterka's site - http://home.earthlink.net/~taterka/FerryMemo.html ). 

The main thing I'd like to say here is that I hope it's clear to all participants in this (particularly the Coast Guard, Harbor Police, & other non-paddling participants) that the Guild, the organizer of the event, is a small group of enthusiatic individuals working together to come up with ways to make paddlers better & more responsible boaters - not a group that the Coast Guard, harbor police, or any other of the non-paddling participants should regard as one that in any way actually represents all NYC paddlers. 

Even the Human Powered Boating Group didn't do that. There were a lot of organizations that pulled together under that umbrella - but still, there were probably plenty of paddlers out there that never heard about any of the stuff that was going on. 

But I think was very true to the nature of kayakers that that group (which coalesced under the leadership of Jim Wetteroth & Ralph Diaz) responded to the crisis at hand & pulled off a couple of really good projects, then sort of de-coalesced. 

It was great while it lasted, but I think in the end we all really just wanted to get back to paddling...

Long story short - 

Guild, good luck with the event, hope it's productive & everybody learns a lot. 

But please don't use it to set yourselves up as being a new conduit between New York area paddlers and organizations like the Coast Guard. 

That's what Adam Brown did, and it was really too bad because until he started using the Harbor Community Liaison & Oversight Committee as a way of making himself the official conduit by which recreational boaters were supposed to approach the Coast Guard, it was actually a really good forum for the various recreational & professional boaters to meet.

Jeff, Bill - I hope you won't do that. 

For anyone (especially newer paddlers who may still be learning the harbor) - Tom had a really good point. We may not have the scrambled eggs to show it, but we ARE the captains of our craft & have as much responsibility to know & follow the rules of the road as any skipper. 

You can read a full set here:

http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/mwv/navrules/rotr_online.htm

A lot don't apply to us, but knowing the rules that the "big guys" follow will help you know what they are going to do, which helps you stay out of their way

Most of the clubs & shops & outfitters in the area have more concise versions - there's a decal version, and various little booklets.

Another site I stumbled across recently & liked - 

http://www.iboatnyharbor.com/index.htm

Good info about the very specific challenges of NY Harbor. 

And of course, although I'm choking on the words - this chance to talk to some licensed captains promises to be a good chance to learn things from their perspective.  

Funny, I had no intention of saying that when I started writing...but I think it's true. 

Just remember that all the information you need to be a safe & responsible boater is out there for the finding. 
 



-----Original Message-----
>From: Bill Bergeron <bill at hrpg.net>
>Sent: Apr 15, 2008 8:20 PM
>To: nykayak <nyckayaker at rockandwater.net>
>Cc: Raymond Fusco <raymondfusco at optonline.net>, jeff folmsbee <placeboentertainment2001 at yahoo.com>, Marcus Demuth <marcusdemuth at yahoo.com>, David Rhodes <drhodes at sva.edu>, Mike Cook <MCC1939 at aol.com>
>Subject: NYCkayaker Captains & Paddlers Day, Saturday May 17
>
>Dear NYCKayakers,
>
>Back in September there was a thread here about interactions with the Coast
>Guard and other vessels. A post suggesting that it might be good to have a
>face-to-face with the CG and others which was favorably received, and now,
>the Hudson River Paddlers Guild is pleased to announce the first annual
>"Captains & Paddlers Day", on Saturday May 17 (Rain Date May 18th).
>