djlewis

Outstanding!

Yup. IMHO It's crackers to go out on the ocean without at least one VHF radio in the group, especially a small group (or solo). If something happens that leaves a paddler immobile, it is the best way to summon rapid help, and for solo or pair paddling, maybe the only viable way. What happens need not be related directly to kayaking -- a heart attack or some other debilitating physical event. As for tow belts -- I will never forget the tale of one very experienced paddler who decided to leave his home one day, only to be confronted by a sudden storm that made a tow belt essential, and he was helpless. Luckily, someone else had theirs along, and all was well in the end.

Seems to have worked -- thanks, Rob! Unfortunately, my window for posting stuff is gone for now. But stay tuned for a lot of good gear, cheap.

So what's the story? Do I need too be a member to post a classified? Is that the issue with this glitch and will signing up for membership solve it? Is that official NSPN policy, or just somehow got embedded in the message board setup? Or something else? Thanks. --David

Also -- create->topic->select forum dropdown has classified option greyed out!

Yup... that's where it is supposed to be!

I cannot see a button to post a personal classified. Do you need to be a member to do that? I searched everywhere and found some discussion of that idea, but no actual statement of policy. I am happy to sign up for membership, even though I am no longer an active sea paddler, especially since I will be posting a number of items in the near future, as a result of that very transition. But I may not want to spend the $15 if that's not what's stopping me from posting something for sale. Re the end of serious kayaking for me -- nothing specific -- age has just caught up with me.

From the article -- addressing the crucial questions about how Tompkins was dressed (in 38 degreee water)... “(Boyles) was holding him by his clothes, and I could see his skin. It was clear he had no neoprene diving suit,” said Reuter. River and sea kayakers often wear neoprene or dry suits, which help preserve body temperature in the event they capsize in cold water. Canoe and Kayak Magazine reported that in a photo taken at the beginning of the trip, Tompkins is pictured wearing a Patagonia dry top. Since Boyles was reportedly holding Tompkins by his clothes, it’s possible that the garment was pulled up around his neck, exposing his skin to the cold water. It is unclear what type of clothing the other men were wearing or what Tompkins was wearing on his legs. What is known is that Tompkins was a very experienced kayaker, as were all the members of the group.

Wow -- just logged in to see my old float plan resurrected -- thanks for the memory Liz! If you are wondering why it was so detailed, all I can say is that back in ancient times we took float plans quite seriously -- maybe too seriously Was that one reason the old intensive trip leader training and execution system died? Anyway, it's too bad Liz's trip did not run -- it's a lovely level 2 paddle that I ran annually for many years. But I did usually announce it well in advance, and had a number of regulars that always signed up. There are generally two (sometimes three) opportunities a season when the tide is right on a Saturday or Sunday, one before and one after greenhead season (you do not want to be there in greenie season!) Plus, there are a couple of things worth mentioning that did not make it into that early version of the plan. One is that on the return, the strong following/quartering current pushes you toward shore as you emerge into the main Sound near the yacht club. One year, despite posting myself to guide folks, it swept the assistant leader into a dock (yes, assistant -- like, I said, we took things seriously). In case anybody wants to try, here is the route from Pavillion/Ipswich to Rowley and back, including the neat leg up Lord's creek to an outlet to the Rowley River that looks ambiguous on the chart but is actually very navigable near high. Another variant is, instead of retracing your route back, wend your way east through the marsh to the Sound and head south from there, or even cross to the eastern bank first, thus avoiding the quartering hazard. http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6719055 Also, a graphical marine GPS is especially handy on this trip to help navigate the confusing maze of channels at a couple of points, and also help where the scene looks nothing like the chart because a lot of those "islands" and marshy areas are submerged at high. But that's part of the fun!

Hey, Leon -- do you have a formula for the price of a mega-yacht in terms of its length -- is it linear? quadratic? something else -- maybe k*L^1.5? Have you run a regression? --David

I suspect most of the current NSPN membership did not have the pleasure of knowing or working with Armand. So I want to post something, both in his honor and to illustrate what kind of a guy he was. Mark Jacobson reminded me that I wrote this on the NSPN board in September 2012... As my roll was deteriorating in the last couple of years -- my good-side roll was ragged and I couldn't even get up on my not-so-good side with any certainty -- I decided to get a tune-up. I chose Armand Mikune-Santos because I had admired his coaching skill on a number of occasions. So I plunked down the money at CRCK where he was working and we paddled out of the dock and down the Charles. Well, for the first 15 minutes all we did was paddle slowly and chat -- about life, interests, activities, then a bit about kayaking, and then we got around to rolling, that is, chatting about rolling. By the time we got to a spot where he pulled over and said "how about here" I was so relaxed that I ran off three perfect rolls on both sides. Armand looked at me with a quizzical smile and asked what I needed him for! I said -- whoa, I do have a problem. So I kept going with the both the offside and onside rolls, and sure enough they started to deteriorate, and he gave me several good observations and pointers. Then we paddled back, and despite having paid for an hour of instruction and only gotten maybe 20 minutes of actual work, I was quite satisfied.

For compressing soft stuff -- sleeping bags, fleece clothes -- the only bag that actually works (or did, as of a few years back) is the OR (Outdoor Research) Hydroseal-Drycomp. Here's my Amazon comment from -- gee whiz -- over 6 years ago. http://www.amazon.com/Outdoor-Research-Hydroseal-DryComp-Sack/product-reviews/B0007PR966 For soft, compressible things -- like fleece clothing and sleeping bags -- this is the ONLY combination dry bag and compression sack that actually works to compress and keep the contents dry. So, it's the one that kayakers, for whom space is a premium, should use for their clothing and sleeping bags. Why? In a nutshell, it has two separate chambers. The inner one is like a standard stuff sack with a drawstring. Then there's an outer extension with a dry bag roll top. Outside of the inner chamber are four good compression straps (five straps would haven been better, but that's a minor point). You compress and seal against water in separate steps. First fill the inner chamber with your sleeping bag and/or clothes and cinch it with the drawstring, leaving the outer/upper extension chamber flapping open. Next compress the inner chamber with the straps until it's rock hard. Finally, roll down the outer chamber and seal it against water in standard dry bag fashion. With all other, single chamber bags (including OR's) you are simultaneously compressing and sealing, and it just doesn't work -- you will get good compression OR a good seal, but not both. Trust me -- I have a box full of them.

http://www.saundersdwyer.com/Obituaries.htm-- click on Mattapoiset From his daughters on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sierra.santos/posts/10152983134704712 https://www.facebook.com/keanna.santos.9/posts/10152975975270040 Many of us knew him as a gifted coach and genuinely nice guy. Condolences to his family and friends. --David

Excellent observation! I had a similar experience at my first 3* (old style) assessment many years ago. At the after-assessment interview Steve Maynard delivered a rather long list of my specific shortcomings. Interestingly, I didn't take notes, which I usually need to do. Instead, they were burned into my memory (strong emotions will do that!). I went home and wrote them all down, and for the next few months that list was my systematic training guide. Result -- passed with flying colors the next try. For 4* you have a more difficult problem, since you need others to be led for your leadership training -- you cannot do it alone. But you are going about it very nicely -- organize cooperative "incident management" trainings. My only suggestion is to try to bring along at one or more who have already passed the 4*, even if they are not official coaches -- they will be able to spot and correct flaws and make suggestions, and your improvement (and that of the others working with you) will go a lot faster. And, of course, do some training with good coaches.

Dynamite! -- now duly bookmarked, right under the NOAA graphical forecast. --David PS -- I notice that the water temp maps at wunderground.com have stopped updating as of early June, for example... http://www.wunderground.com/MAR/AN/251.html So I wonder if the table and map Rob points to are intended as a replacement for the prior data and maps. If so, it may be a significant net loss. Can anyone find other copies of the wundergound map and/or data that may be more up to date, in case it's their problem and not NOAA's.

I see wind -- it's in a drop down menu -- both speed and gusts. But I don't see anything marine -- wave height or water temp. Am I missing something? --David

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Quick-thinking-fisherman-credited-with-rescuing-overturned-kayaker-208586501.html?tab=video&c=y

Glad you brought this up Leon -- I've been wondering too. How would you analyze purely inertial issues -- neglecting drag? A heavier (more mass) object requires more force to accelerate even in "empty" space, so I assume a constant force would accelerate a heavier boat/paddler/gear load less. It seems to me that this effect is particularly pronounced when starting a boat from standing still. But I am not sure how to apply this to the steady state, once cruising speed is reached. I'd guess there is always some slowing (due to drag) and consequent need for acceleration, so the inertial effect would still apply, but how big is it relative to the drag issues? Is it small because it's linear, vs a square effect for drag? Of course, as you point out, the effect must account for total weight, so a 160 lb paddler with 30 lbs of gear and a 50 vs 65 lb boat is only about a 6% increase in total weight (mass) due to the boat. But 6% slower or faster is not insignificant (15 minutes over 4 hours).

Wow -- sounds like a fun trip -- unhooked from all the certainty we try so hard to cultivate but that never quite happens, thank goodness.

I love this animation. Makes it apparent Nantucket Sound is basically a huge eddy off of the Gulf of Maine. Here it is without scrolling (or context)... http://fvcom.smast.umassd.edu/research_projects/Nsound/movies/tide1.gif

Unfortunately, if I read that editorial correctly, those "Deep Trouble" articles are exactly one of the things that got the magazine in trouble. Especially if they are paying for things, advertisers don't like anyone publicly admitting that this sport is anything but a walk-in-the-park. It says a lot for the integrity of the editors that they kept on publishing those articles anyway. And I agree -- they were almost worth the cost of a subscription on their own. But just a side note... Usually my initial gut reaction was something like... those dump a**es... ***I*** or the folks I paddle with would never do anything stupid like that, with our clearly superior skill, training and judgment! But when I suppressed that dysfunctional reaction, I learned a lot -- and always reinforced my determination not to exceed on the water the first two of those endowments, and to work even harder at the third -- in fact all three. I will miss them -- and the whole magazine.

My "mnemonic" is non-verbal -- visualize the north magnetic pole somewhere north of Chicago or Minneapolis on a map or globe of the northern hemisphere. That tells me that magnetic north is to the left of (numerically lower then) true north, which is at the North Pole. Of course, on the west coast you get the opposite result, but that's what you want. Actually, the visualization tells me exactly how to adjust course more or less directly, without much verbal processing, which I find distracting and prone to error, especially in bilaterally symmetric situations (yes, I am bilaterally challenged). So, for example, if I want to head true (chart) north, I know I need to point the boat to the right of what the deck compass says is north (that is make the deck compass read the actual declination) just as the north pole is to the right of Chicago. Now that I think about (and visualize) things, it might be simpler just to imagine magnetic north at the top of the chart but slightly to the left of center. This all probably sounds tricky, but remember that I am trying to verbalize a fundamentally non-verbal process, which always makes it sound harder than it is. Anyway, chacun à son goût.

The way I've heard that is -- In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice; in practice there is Attributed variously to Yogi Berra and Albert Einstein. But in practice it was Fielding Mellish.

I knew I should have removed the stuff about the web sites. The first sentence of that paragraph... USGS-authored or produced data and information are considered to be in the U.S. public domain.... is the relevant one. The stuff about web sites is an exception to the general rule, and not relevant for charts. I wish they had put that sentence into a paragraph of its own, in large, bold type. Anyway, I was offering that page as a way to deal with copy shops -- maybe print it, highlight that sentence and show it to them. Or give them the URL. But if it fooled Ed, it will probably not satisfy them. As John said, they are just Covering their A**.

From the USGS web site -- http://www.usgs.gov/laws/info_policies.html ... Copyrights and Credits USGS-authored or produced data and information are considered to be in the U.S. public domain. While the content of most USGS Web pages is in the U.S. public domain, not all information, illustrations, or photographs on our site are. Some non USGS photographs, images, and/or graphics that appear on USGS Web sites are used by the USGS with permission from the copyright holder. These materials are generally marked as being copyrighted. To use these copyrighted materials, you must obtain permission from the copyright holder under the copyright law. When using information from USGS information products, publications, or Web sites, we ask that proper credit be given. Credit can be provided by including a citation such as the following: Credit: U.S. Geological Survey Department of the Interior/USGS U.S. Geological Survey/photo by Jane Doe (if the photographer/artist is known) Additional information on Acknowledging or Crediting USGS as Information Source is available. Policy - For relevant USGS policy on copyrights and trademarks, refer to the Survey Manual chapter entitled, “Use of Copyrighted Material in USGS Information Products.”