NYCkayaker Blacklisted

[jeff folmsbee]

My $ 00.02:

Boycott may be a little strong but I must say, the one recent experience I
had with MIMS is consistent with what this thread has been dealing with:

Briefly: on May 18 I assisted on the Lady Liberty Swim.  Water temp mid
60's, strong adverse wind, race start delayed waiting for current to change
& it never did.  They let the first heat jump in anyway and immediately, 2
or 3 swimmers asked to be taken out, it was too cold. I paddle two large
swimmers to a power boat. Meanwhile, it has become immediately apparent that
no one can make any headway against the current. Morty calls the race. Mike
from DTBH, Orlando & I instantly "assist" about 20 swimmers out.  It is very
challenging, each of us doing at least 5 or 6 rescues in the space of 5 to
10 minutes, in very adverse conditions. And when it was over, nobody thanked
us, or even acknowledged that we had just pulled 20 of their swimmers out of
the drink.

I wrote a letter to mims, suggesting that they get a kayak coordinator so
that next time there are more than 3 paddlers up to challenge of paddling
swimmers to safety in those kind of conditions, and asked the email contact
I had to forward my letter to Morty. She said she did. I never heard from
him.

Needless to say I felt a bit burnt by the experience.  Nobody seemed to
realize or even care what a big job we had done for them. I decided then to
not assist that particular group again.
jf

On Thu, Jul 3, 2008 at 8:09 PM, April Tam <at_nyc at hotmail.com> wrote:

>
> I think this is way over the top!
>
> If you feel strongly about NOT participating in the swim support, fine.
> Voice your concern, good. But to have a "picket line"? Well, I'd be
> interested in seeing it in action!
>
> Let's see, a cardboard hung from the neck (over the skirt or under?). How
> about waving a paddle? Or us it to wack anyone who "cross the line"? BTW,
> what "union" are you representing? The NYCkayaker is not even a "club". It
> has no dues, dude!
>
> Sorry for my making fun of it. It's just so totally out of touch with
> reality I can't help laughing out loud when I try to picture the image of a
> "kayaker picket line" at a open water swim!
>
>
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