JohnHuth

A possibility for me for Monomoy. I have a house in Harwich Port, so it's pretty close. Let me know.

John Huth

Sounds good. I found out that Shirley Gomes, who introduced the bill, is running for reelection in my district.

I'll pay her a visit, I think my message will be that there are some very thoughtful and experienced kayakers out there, who are eager to help her craft something better in terms of promoting safety. If she is interested in hearing from someone in NSPN, who should I steer her to?

Thanks!

John Huth (who just got back from a lot of business travel and is finally working on his offside sweep roll again)

Good points. Concretely - how do you pass legislation that encourages education on hypothermia? This goes far beyond kayaking. I don't think a winter goes by when we don't hear about three or four separate fatalities in the White Mountains from hypothermia. Maybe cotton outdoor gear should have a warning label? "you are wearing the fabric of death"?

I'll let you know when I contact people on the Ways and Means.

John

Let me add:

inflatables require a decision to deploy them - in many cases, having that floatation available in a passive fashion is desirable (you whack your head).

Also - I find that the added buoyancy makes rolling easier in a foam vest (but I'm a wuss compared to y'all).

I know some places - outfitters and guides - who won't allow you to use an inflatable. Still, the CG rates them as type III's.

John

I contacted some people in the Ways and Means committee. I'll probably set up a meeting. I don't know what precisely I will say, but I'll be checking this thread before I do.

John

Thank you for the encouragement. I'd be willing to follow up on this and am happy to work with some of the more veteran members.

First item of business - I'll try to find out where it stands in the legislative process. I believe it's before the Ways and Means Committee. The obvious next step would be to contact the relevant principal on the Ways and Means committee.

The next step would be to schedule a meeting - but before doing so, I think you (North Shore) have to have a collective decision on whether you speak as an organization or as individuals. As an organization, you carry more weight, but then you also have the burden of forging a representative consensus, which has its pluses and minuses, clearly. Since I'm new to your organization, I don't feel that I can speak on this last matter.

By the way - I don't view myself as an expert on kayak safety. As I said on one of my previous posts here, I was in the same water at the same time as the two girls who died. I know Tom Leach and some of the background of the bill. Because I was in close proximity to their deaths, I've become more conscious of my own kayak safety - largely because I paddle solo so much (one of the reasons for learning about your group was so that I could find people at approximately the same skill level and increase my own skills - which, to me, is the bedrock of safety).

If you wish to form an "interested party" e-mail list, I'd be happy to help on that too.

I'll dig in on the Ways and Means Committee issue (who is introducing the bill), but await other commentary on how you, as a group, would like to handle this.

Best,

John Huth

If you feel strongly about the subject, contact the people in the Senate:

http://www.mass.gov/legis/

and the actual e-mails for the senators are:

http://www.mass.gov/legis/memmenus.htm

Although I'm new to the group (and sure feel the heat in posting), I assume that if, as a group, you advocate a certain position in which you are undoubtedly both experts and an interested party, then your views may very well prevail.

John H.

I asked Tom Leach about the bill. Evidently they stripped out the whistle and compass requirement, but kept the PFD. In my understanding, there is already a PFD requirement for roughly Labor Day to Memorial Day - the only effect of the bill would be to make it year round.

Don't shoot the messenger....I'm just reporting!

Finally, I did take a lot of Brian Nystrom's suggestions to Tom. I'm awaiting Tom's reply.

John H.

Quotation to follow:

----------------------------------------------------------------

Hi John, Thanks for asking. The bill is back in the Senate. Nop whistles and

No Compass! Tom

Kayak safety bill moves on to Senate

By Scott Dalton/ sdalton@cnc.com

Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Less than a year after a kayak tragedy took the lives of two young women,

the state Senate is poised to require that all kayakers wear a personal

flotation device at all times.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee will now consider the bill in

anticipation of a review by the full Senate. Harwich Harbormaster Tom Leach

said the bill has received backing by harbormasters throughout the

commonwealth.

The House of Representatives unanimously approved the Mary Jagoda/Sara

Aronoff Kayak Safety Bill Aug. 18. The bill is named after Mary Jagoda, 20,

of Huntington, N.Y., and Sara Aronoff, 19, of Maryland. The pair disappeared

on the afternoon of Oct. 12, 2003, after launching their kayaks off Ayer

Lane Beach in Harwich Port. They were reported missing an hour later.

Searchers later recovered Jagoda's body. Aronoff's body has not been found.

State Rep. Shirley Gomes sponsored the original legislation less than a

month after the tragedy. The bill would require that kayakers wear life

jackets all year, rather than only between Sept. 15 and May 15, as now

required by state law.

"The Harwich harbormaster requested this legislation after the terrible

tragedy," Gomes said at the time. "It is my hope ... that people become more

aware that safety on the water is not just for larger motor boats and

sailboats, but for canoes and kayaks as well."

Although kayakers are required to have a life jacket in their vessel at

all times, the existing legislation only mandates that they wear it between

Sept. 15 through May 15. It is unknown whether Jagoda and Aronoff carried

life jackets with them when they set out. Leach said the families of the

young women are in full support of the bill.

In addition to keeping the person above water, a life jacket can also

slow down the effects of hypothermia because the person does not expend

energy attempting to stay afloat. Leach said more than 100 kayakers die each

year, adding the Coast Guard estimates that 84 percent of drowning victims

would have survived had they been wearing a life jacket.

I think Tom would like nothing more than to actually hear from kayakers. I'll pass this on to him.

There's an interesting parallel here, if you'll allow me: the Maine lobster industry was in trouble for a while. Rather than to craft legislation from afar, the state spent a lot of time working with the lobsterman's union to devise sensible regulations. This has worked reasonably well.

If there is an interest effective ways to prevent deaths in ocean kayaking, I think it does necessarily involve people who are experienced. I've tried to talk with Tom about this, but he was already launched on this particular bill before I was able to get to him. It's worth taking another shot.

Thanks for your comments!

John Huth

I kind of had a feeling this would create responses along these lines.

I was out in the same time and place as those girls and was having a great old time fishing for striped bass. I was out of sight of land serveral times, and never had any problems. When I talked with Tom Leach, who searched for the girls, and "created" the bill, I pointed out all these arguments. He said "yeah, but you're experienced".

I wouldn't call Tom "sleazy" or "bad" or "gutless". He's a well-meaning guy, who is trying to do something in the wake of a tragedy.

This kind of bill is a bit like a seat-belt law in the minds of many.

You could imagine passing a law that requires pedestrians to carry compasses because they might turn into hikers in the woods. Obviously there is an absurd limit to all this.

On the Cape, there are a ton of outlets that sell cheapo kayaks. The people who sell them don't really think about potential dangers of inexperienced people going out in conditions over their heads. I've had to rescue a number of people out in Nantucket Sound.

I guess I'm an agnostic on the bill, but that's because Tom Leach is a friend of mine, and although I sympathize with the point that you can't legislate intelligence, if I put myself in the position of SAR personnel, you can't but try to see it from their perspective.

John Huth

I spoke with the Harwich Harbormaster, Tom Leach about this last spring. He said that it had gone through a lot of changes, but I *think* is close to being voted on. One legislator objected to the inclusing of a compass because she had no idea how to use a compass. Her logic prevailed for a while and the compass requirement was stripped out. I think it eventually got put back in.

I have an e-mail into Tom to find out about the status of the bill. I'll post to the list then I get a reply.

BTW - I was out in the fog at the same time, within 100 yards of where/when Sarah Aranoff and Mary Jadoga went out. It was a very rattling experience to hear of their deaths. Tom was involved in the search. This upcoming Columbus Day marks the one year anniversary of their deaths. I have to say that I was spurred on personally to become much more vigilant about my own kayaking safety because of this accident.

John Huth

The week before Labor Day, I was out around HarwichPort in Nantucket Sound.

Being the nerd that I am, I keep my VHF on to listen to the harbormaster channel (68) and 16. There was a guy on an inboud fishing boat to Chatham (Stage Harbor), who reported seeing a Great White in the "Chatham Roads" area. I'm assuming this was the same shark.

The sighting last year was also around this time. I'm guessing that the sharks go after the bluefish and striped bass that both congregate around Cape Cod this time of year.

BTW - if you're interested, in the book "Deep Trouble", there's an interesting true story about a guy who was kayaking off of California and was attacked by a great white - tore off a chunck of his kayak, but he was ultimately unharmed. Probably the shark thought the kayak was a juicy morsel, and thrashed it around quite a bit.

I'm a new subscriber to NSPN, and to get in the spirit of things, I'll post a few recent trips that may be of interest.

Down east lakes in Maine (this one)

Outer Cranberry Isles in Maine

Fly fishing for blues and stripers in Nantucket Sound

Down east lakes -

June 20-24 2004

There are some great trips in the down east region (demarcated by lines from Bangor to Vanceboro, Bangor to Ellsworth and up the coast to Calais) in both flat water and river running. This is one of the least traveled regions in Maine, except for the headwaters of the St. John, and surprisingly accessible.

I took my son's Boyscout troop (Troop 205 in Newton) on a five day trip in this region. We rented canoes from Al LaPlante, who runs Chet's Camps in Grand Lake Stream. I used a simple plastic Wilderness Systems Pamlico kayak for myself (we had an odd number of people, and I figured I should be the lone person).

The route was nominally to start out from Pocumcus Lake, from Elsmore Landing. This is about five miles west of the town of Grand Lake Stream (which has excellent trout fishing and a hatchery). The Ellsmore Landing campsite is owned by a local timber conglomerate, but the people who camp there are pretty kind and were very helpful to allow us to temporarily use spaces from the regulars.

Unfortunately, in the morning when we were scheduled to shove off, there was a 15-20 knot wind out of the northwest, and this was straight down the long axis of the lake, causing large white caps. We went out around a point to see how the lake was, but the boys (and the other scoutmaster) couldn't really handle the wind condition. I stood by to help in a rescue, if needed, and we beat it back to the camp.

We lay around most of the day, waiting for the wind to subside. Finally around 5 PM, the wind dropped. I scouted around the point with my VHF and radioed back that the conditions were definitely canoeable. The boys were ready for some forward motion, so we took off across Pocumcus. We made it to some narrows which separate West Grand Lake and Pocumcus.

NOAA forecast strong wind conditions for the next day, so I set my watch for 4 AM (sunrise was at 4:30), so we could catch the flatwater at dawn. We were up and off by about 5:15, made our way do a short portage from Pocumcus to Sysldopsis Lake. By about 8 AM, already, the wind was picking up and the boys had a bit of difficulty with weather cocking. I showed them how to paddle to combat that, and they did fine.

We made the landing of a portage around 9 AM and had breakfast near a place called "The Pines", and refilled our water jugs (I don't like the drudgery of pumping through a filter, if I can avoid it). We portaged about 1.3 miles to Fourth Machias Lake, mostly over dirt roads. Some Lady Slippers and bolete mushrooms dotted the more shaded portions of the portage.

Fourth Machias is a wonderful lake - reasonably remote - with perhaps three or four cabins on the entire lake, very limited access. We camped on a sandy beach about halfway down the lake. On the beach, I found the hoof prints of a large moose and a small moose, and surmised that it was a mother and calf.

The next day, we explored Fourth Machias and paddled up a stream that drains a large swamp, called "Dead Stream". This is a marvelous trip. On the approch to Dead Stream, we saw the cow and calf feeding in the swamp. They didn't seem terribly alarmed by our approach. Further upstream, we saw a juvenile male bound out of the water and into a copse of trees. There were a large number of pitcher plants in the swamp, and they were just in bloom at this point. The flower resembles a tulip a bit, but has a deep crimson/maroon color. The pitchers were still undeveloped.

On our way back downstream, we startled a large bull moose, with a gigantic rack. It also bolted for cover when it saw us coming.

The next day was a long one. We were up again at 4 AM to beat the wind, and paddled to the outlet to Fourth Machias Stream. There was a short portage around a dam at the head of the Stream. When I was a boy, I went both up and down Fourth Machias Stream to practice poling, but the water level was somewhat higher then, due to dam policies.

The stream was scratchy, but passable. Unfortunately there was a large mosquito hatch, and some of the boys left their bughats buried in their packs. After a few miles, the stream levels out into a swamp, where we saw numerous and very large beaver lodges. The beavers are making a huge rebound in this area, as it turns out.

Fourth Machias stream empties into Third Machias Lake. Third Machias is a long lake, with a rocky bluff on the east side of it. It was quite foggy and this gave a very majestic image to the paddle. We had lunch about two thirds of the way down the lake on a nice sand beach.

Our next "turn" was to go through the Getchel Lakes up to Wabussus Lake. The stream that drains the Getchels into Third Machias Lake is basically unused by canoeists. When we scouted for the outlet of Getchel Stream, which the topo said was at the edge of a swamp, it was nowhere to be seen. The other scoutmaster got nervous and thought we should portage, but my son spotted an odd stick that was plunked upright into the swamp - very unusual, and obviously out of place. I looked closer and saw a tiny trickle. It was no more than 20 inches wide and about three inches deep. I told the boys to wait and I dragged my kayak up about a quarter of a mile and found a huge beaver dam, and a large pond behind it that had recently flooded the woods.

The boys dragged the canoes up the trickle and over the beaver dam. They loved canoeing through the drowned forest, with live trees poking up through the water.

We dragged over a second dam and into the first of the Getchel Lakes. We made an accidental detour into a side stream, but this proved to be providential because we saw a loon's nest with eggs in it, and also more pitcher plants.

The next connector into the second Getchel wasn't as nasty as the first, but we did have to haul over a timber road to make the second Getchel. We finally camped at the outlet of Wabussus Lake, where the Grand Lake Stream Snowmobile Club maintains a campsite. It was a bit trashy, so being good scouts, we picked up the garbage and packed it out.

This, too, proved an interesting site. We saw a large hatch of dragonflies that were roaming around in the lowering sun. There must have been 500+ dragonflies. It reminded me of the scene in Harry Potter where the keys were flying around.

The next day was our take out day - rather uneventful. We paddled across Wabussus Lake in the fog, and Al LaPlante met us there and we toured the fish hatchery in Grand Lake Stream.

I got the bug to kayak the St. Croix river. This is a great river with class II and some III and can be run all summer-long (unlike many Maine rivers - e.g. the Machias and St. John can only be run in the spring). It's a real seldom advertised gem, and I would do this one over the Allagash, hands down (Allagash is way too crowded) I intend to try this, either solo, or if I can find a willing partner. Other rivers on my list are spring runs down the entire Machias and the St. John.

My only regret is that I didn't pack any fishing gear, as we saw a lot of fish rising - lake carp and smallmouth mostly, but there are also an isolated species of land-locked salmon that the Grand Lake Stream hatchery specializes in.