NYCkayaker Anyone doing this Sunday's Governors Island Swim support?

[David Gottlieb]

Yes, I have been discouraged by the way I have been treated, as a paddler,
during some swim events. Kayakers are integral to the individual swimmers
success or failure. The skills of the kayakers to guide their swimmer in the
water can be key to the swimmers time it takes to get to the finish line.
Plus we have to often communicate with police, race officials and power
boaters on our GPS. I have found that it is really a team effort between the
kayaker and the swimmer. If I make a mistake in a Hudson River crossing and
tell my swimmer to move to the left instead of the right I could cause him
to lose time. 

So, yes, we get very little credit, very little appreciation from most
organizers. Perhaps those of us who like to participate in these swims
should go ahead and set up some meetings with the organizers of these events
so we can put an end to this "dis-ing."And perhaps the paddlers who
correctly aide their swimmer can also be recognized as an important part of
the race. 

David


On 6/28/08 7:50 AM, "peter riley" <priley at amnh.org> wrote:

> this is typical of how the race organizers operate. they need the kayakers
> but do very little to support us.
> 
>> 
>> Anyone doing this Sunday's Governors Island Swim as kayak supports? Can
>> one paddle over? If so, where to launch and land?
>> 
>> I've signed up to do the support a while back and had the date freed up.
>> But when the organizer announce the ferry schedule, they wanted immediate
>> responds to reserve a spot! When I blink, I missed the window...
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> service offered to the kayaking community by the Hudson River Watertrail
> Association. Learn more about HRWA at www.hrwa.org
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