NYCkayaker A quick note on the watertrail rules -

[bonnie13 at earthlink.net]

The rules weren't created for the watertrail guide - they are just the NYC Parks canoe & kayak rules have been on the books for a long time. 

They are same Parks rules as the Hudson River Park Trust initially adopted for the Hudson River Park, then revised, incorporating the suggestions that were generated by the instant debate on this list (and probably other email lists). 

Ralph mentioned that the original NYC Parks effort to establish kayak launches went back to the mid 80's.

I was in high school in Seattle (wanting to be back in Hawaii) at the time so I don't know for sure but I don't think the water was quite as clean 20+ years ago as it is now. If the rules date back to the original effort at that time, that may be why they read the way they do, they may well have been appropriate at the time - and that's the set of rules that's been on the books since then.