NSPN Member Roster

[markstephens]

Is there such a thing as a member roster that is available to club members? BSKC publishes an annual roster that includes (by permission only) each member's name, city and state, home phone, email address, skill level and kayak type. This is a very valuable resource for finding other club members in your area, contacting people in the club, or just knowing what everyone is paddling!

As a South Shore resident, and new club member, I know very few NSPNers "Down Under". I'd like to find some more of them.

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On another note, I'd like to introduce the idea of an "NSPN-South" chapter. I'd like to see if we could generate enough interest and a group of folks south of Boston that could bring more official club-sponsored events down this way. A quick scan of last year's club calendar yielded about a dozen official club events south of Boston, basically trips. Pretty good, really, but it would be great if we could get some regular practice sessions, skills sessions, pool sessions, etc. going on the South Shore. (I know the club name is "North Shore" Paddlers Network, but we all know that the activities and membership reach well beyond the Massachusetts North Shore.)

I know some paddlers down here that would love to see an organized rolling clinic in a local pool, for example, and I for one would be happy to help organize and "run" mid-week practice sessions somewhere down this way next summer (schedule permitting). More club trips down this way will open up new paddling opportunities to the whole membership, and we can beef up the "put-ins" page on the website quite a bit, too. If others are interested in this idea, let's hear from you.

Mark Stephens

Hanson, MA

Surge, Teal over White

[stnoonan]

Hi Mark,

I'm a "Southie", too. One of the best South Shore show-n-go (sng)coordinators is Sing (I'm sure he'll post here as well). The main reason many of the trips on the South Shore are limited to sng's, I believe, is because the vast majority of trip leaders live on the North Shore. If we can motivate ourselves to become official leaders, then we can certainly bump up the number of official trips this side of Boston. That said, this is no lack of sng's to the Hingham, Hull, Scituate and Cape paddle zones.

I think the BSKC publishes that list because their message board is not very busy.

[markstephens]

Hi, Sean: I suppose that you are right about the vast majority of trip leaders living north of the city, but the bigger obstacle may be that they don't know the waters down south. I suspect that some wouldn't mind leading trips down our way if they knew where they were going! (I went on one NSPN trip this fall on the South Shore and I don't believe most of the trip leaders had ever been there before. I probably could have at least acted as a local guide, if not a trip leader.) So another approach is to use us locals to scout and plan trips that can be officially "led" by official trip leaders.

But I am more interested in getting something like the skills sessions, now called practice sessions, organized locally south of the city.

I guess I might as well start a "NSPN Southie Roster". I'll email you offline, OK?

Mark

[Guest guest]

Mark -

We met the other night at the pool session-i'm not too good with names but like most of us...I don't forget a boat!

I lived on the south shore for years and have paddled around plymouth, buzzards bay/pocasset, marshfield @ the mouth of the north/south rivers there quite a bit. I think also that pete mclaughlin in the club is from plymouth. We'll do some stuff down there if you'd like - it's just that most of the folks I know are north shore folks! Some more trips down southnwpuld be great - don't give up hope and like most things in the club here, if you want something to happen, make a post...someone will most likely always take you up on an offer to paddle!

See you in the pool

[Guest guest]

"build it and they will come..."

I am Boston based and am still learning my "home water" which extends from Nahant down to Hull. With a weird schedule, I'll paddle and explore whenever I have a window. Sometimes, I know in advance that I have a more definitive and wider window of time, then I'll post a S&G or attend someone else's. I usually can't make the official trips not knowing far enough into the future to book in. Ditto with weekday lake practices.

While a big and great part of the NSPN is the official trips and practices, the tradition and root of it all is still in the S&G's. Post it and they will come. Go practice on a local lake and pond. Have a smile on your face. Emanate good will. You'll be surprised how many folks will come up and ask for help and/or want to work with you on something.

This brings me to my last favorite saying -- "Just do it!"

sing

[markstephens]

Thanks, Rick. Yes, Peter M. and I paddle together regularly. Actually, I can think of plenty of paddlers on the South Shore, but there isn't really any organization that brings them together, whether for trips, practice, training, etc. and it is hard for new paddlers to meet other local paddlers because of the lack of a public presence, I think.

As in my case, it took a while for me to see any benefits to joining NSPN because of my location. I think we might see more South Shore paddlers joining if the club had a stronger presence in the area.

Thanks for the feedback!

Mark Stephens

[Guest guest]

Hi Mark:

Why not organize the skill sessions yourself! Last year, 4-5 of us wanted to have them at Mystic Lakes because we counldn't make the other venues. We organized it ourselves and had a great turn-out all summer, sometimes with as many as 18 kayakers attending. Like Sing says, "just do it."

[cmfos]

Hi Mark. Welcome to the club. I think it's a great idea to try to encourage the membership to explore the South Shore area. I would really like to extend my wings down thataway as most of my trips tend to focus on points Marblehead and north. But as a resident of Jamaica Plain, I'm certainly well-situated for forays to the Southland including Cape Cod and Rhode Island. Hopefully we can plan some stuff for the coming year as I'd really like to explore the Southern Waters

Jim

[donperry]

On weekday afternoons, North and South are divided by a beastie of a commute on the southbound side. Noannet Pond on the Hale Reservation in Westwood might be an agreeable spot for organized skills sessions. Access is easy if you can get off of 128.

http://www.volunteersolutions.org/boston/org/216279.html

http://www.halereservation.org/

Scouting organizations and dog walkers use it year round but most activity is during the day camp months. The kids are gone in the late afternoon and evening, leaving the beach and swim docks vacant. Getting there from the south is typically easier than driving down from the north. I think, for that reason, it would be better for ‘Southies’ to organize and run sessions there. That worked out well on the Mystic Lakes where Cathy, Dave and other locals put a series of skills sessions together. I’d do it if I still lived in Westwood.

Demand for kayaking skills and practice sessions is steadily increasing with every kayak manufactured and sold. I’ve watched the Billerica pool sessions go steadily from only a handful participants three years ago to absolute over-crowding last night.

[Guest guest]

I definitely will come to S&Gs on the South Shore--I grew up in Milton --my adolescent stomping ground was the south shore--so it would be fun for me--always want to paddle the north river but have been hesitant b/c of tricky tides so it would be great to go with people who know the river--also, Adam Bolonsky posts paddilng/fishing trips to Duxbury during the summer--so you may want to check out the calender during the summer for official trips--

To be honest--living on this side of the charles river the thought of getting stuck in SE expressway traffic during the summer--may deter some of us from this side of the river venturing to the south shore for paddling--my suggestion is either post launch times early enough to beat the traffic or later in the day--or come up with alternative routes (backroads) to the se expressway to avoid traffic congestion.

[markstephens]

Thanks, Jim. We'll work on it. I sent you an email on this topic.

Mark

[markstephens]

Hi Cathy: Hope you are recuperating well. I'll definitely work on setting something up down here for next summer, but will be looking for more experienced folks to help out with informal instruction. I'm not qualified to teach anybody anything at this point.

Mark

[djlewis]

Yes, I too like the idea of exploring the south shore more. As we learned last summer, Cohasset, for one, is a very beautiful and viable place to paddle, with some unique attractions.

I once did propose -- only somewhat tongue in cheek -- that NSPN be renamed to mean "North & South shore Paddler's Network". Or, how about "New england Shore Paddler's Network." Or, just say the initials NSPN don't stand for anything in particular, and that members paddle all over New England.

--David.

[B]

Mark

Go visit one of NSPN's original trouble makers @ EMS in Hingham. Braintree resident John Leonard has been haunting the southern waters for many years now. He might need a little roughing up, but you can get him to show up on S&Gs from time to time. Especially if it has anything to do with surf or fast currents. If he shows up in his Pintail, he likes having his rear deck used as a speed bump; look closely, you'll see my mark.

If you have the skills, a S&G in Woods Hole usually brings out the beasts of NSPN, if the water is big and fast that day.

A membership roster was thought about in the early days, but privacy was the important theme back then. We didn't want to be the cause of anyone getting spammed. Times have changed. The club I'm affiliated with now, Washington Kayak Club prints an annual membership roster which only includes members that have their dues in by the 1st of Feb. If you join or renew after that, you lose. Most members don't allow their e-mail addresses to be used either. They're still relying more on paper than the web and they are the oldest/largest kayak club in the country.

B

[markstephens]

Thanks for the reply, Bob, especially with regard to the roster issue, which no one else had addressed. The funny thing is, everyone puts their email addresses on their message board profiles here where anyone, in the club or otherwise, can access them, but people don't want other club members to know their email address?? (I figure I could build a spam list of 400+ kayaker-types from this message board in an hour or so, if I wanted to.)

Oh well, I started my own roster, on a strictly voluntary basis, of folks who paddle south of Bean-town. (Mr. Leonard's name had been given me by another South Shore paddler.)

Wood's Hole certainly is an exciting place to play. I plan to be back "in the Hole" this summer at least once or twice. Maybe I can convince Peter K. to let me tag along on one of his many excursions down there, once I've got my roll down...

Mark Stephens

Hanson, MA

Surge, Teal over White

[Guest guest]

Mark:

The reason I believe that a membership roster is not printed and disseminated is privacy. I can tell you from first hand knowledge as the Membership Assistant, some members get very upset if any of their personal information is disclosed, including their e-mail address. In fact, we have lost a few members as a result of sending e-mails to a group of people with all e-mail addresses exposed.

I personally favor the current privacy policy. All a member who wants paddling partners for a specific day needs to do is make a post to the General Message Board and solicit responses.

[Guest guest]

I'll take you there but it would go better if we had a couple of paddlers more competant than I. But I would go with my peers. We will do this!