JMo

This was sponsored by Senators Barnes, Gallus, and D'Allesandro. In the committee meeting, Gallus and D'allesandro voted to send this to the Senate, Gatsas voted against. Gallus is from District 1 (Berlin), D'Allesandro is District 20 (Manchester), Barnes is from District 17 (Raymond) and Gatsas (the good guy, who voted to reject this in committee) is District 16 (Manchester). If you want to email State Senators about this, here are the 24 email addresses: john.gallus@leg.state.nh.us; deb.Reynolds@leg.state.nh.us; joseph.kenney@leg.state.nh.us; kathleen.sgambati@leg.state.nh.us; peter.burling@leg.state.nh.us; jacalyn.cilley@leg.state.nh.us; harold.janeway@leg.state.nh.us; rpojr@aol.com; sheila.roberge@leg.state.nh.us; molly.kelly@leg.state.nh.us; peter.bragdon@leg.state.nh.us; david.gottesman@leg.state.nh.us; joseph.foster@leg.state.nh.us; senclegg@aol.com; sylvia.larsen@leg.state.nh.us; Ted.Gatsas@leg.state.nh.us; jack.barnes@leg.state.nh.us; betsi.devries@leg.state.nh.us; robert.letourneau@leg.state.nh.us; dalas@leg.state.nh.us; iris.estabrook@leg.state.nh.us; michael.downing@leg.state.nh.us; maggie.hassan@leg.state.nh.us; martha.fullerclark@leg.state.nh.us

I did this last summer with a friend (his report is at http://www.nspn.org/htdocs/dcforum/DCForumID5/486.html). We timed the tides so that we were paddling over and back in slack current (spent about 4 hours on the island while the tides shifted). We carried a VHF radio, GPS, compasses and current ocean charts. Things to consider: parking at put-in; there is NO parking in Falmouth/Woods Hole during the summer. None. You will need to pay to park, and you will need to scout a put-in within walking distance of a parking lot. Put in location; I would not start in Woods Hole. You are adding unneccessary distance to your crossing and you will have to play with significant boat (big boat) traffic getting out of Woods Hole. We put in at the beach next to Falmouth Yacht Club and parked off Grand Ave about a 1/4 back towards down-town Falmouth. Good Luck, JMo

Great points Brian! Here are a few things that also might be worth mentioning: Registration laws increase the operating costs for organizations. Thus the overhead increases for church and civic organizations, university programs, tour operators, commercial angling outfitters and whitewater outfitters, which might chill participation in the sport and the market. Registration does not increase or improve paddlesports safety. For instance in Connecticut, a bill was introduced in 2003 under the premise that it would improve safety; however, a study by the American Canoe Association found that the number of paddlesports fatalities in Connecticut has averaged 1.6 over the past 6 years. A registration requirement will not reduce the number of fatalities below 1.6 from the entire population of the state. Further, in a 1998 study, American Whitewater found that there were less than 2 fatalities per 100,000 participants. Again, registration will not reduce that rate since it is below the threshold for legislative efficacy and response.

I don't know if this is legitimate or not, but I heard that there might be a proposal in NH to charge a $10 per boat annual fee for "for all nonmotorized boats" for use in the state: http://tinyurl.com/yeuv8k Anyone know who to contact to lobby against this if it is being proposed? ******* After minimal research: apparently this was attempted in Maine and shot down due to a concerted effort by paddlers. It looks like this is an effort to relieve burden on hunters and fishers for services that cater to hunters and fishers. From the "what's in it for kayakers" perspective ... you can check out the Biennial Report of the N.H. Fish and Game Department (http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Inside_FandG/Biennial_Report_2003_05.pdf) to see how much of their work benefits paddlers (basically none) as opposed to hunters, fishers, off-road vehicles and hikers (all). Also, the charge looks like it would be $10 PER BOAT as opposed to a license fee per fisherperson. How many moterboaters own a different polution-spewing device for each type of marine forecast? How many kayakers own one boat for expeditions, one playboat, one old boat for banging around on rocks, etc. You would have to pay $10 per year to use each boat in NH.

Chris and I have been trying to get down and test the current in Woods Hole for most of the summer, and last Sunday we were finally able to make it happen. After some research, I determined that the best place to put-in would be a beach next to the Woods Hole Yacht Club. With nothing more to go on than a mention in an MIT student orientation site and the WHYC address, we took off from Boston. As it happened the put-in was just about perfect, and there was free parking (tow zone from midnight-6 am) right there. Obviously, traffic and parking would be significantly more difficult during the summer season, but I suspect if you are willing to get up early enough to arrive at 6am, you could use the put-in and parking area even at peak season. According to the Woods Hole current chart in Eldridge, the ebb current started through Woods Hole at 12:20, so we hit the water right around noon. We ferried across the 2+ knot current to Nonamesset Island where Chris pulled up on the beach for some last minute equipment adjustments, and I practiced rolling and bracing in the eddy. After a few minutes, we ferried back out into the current. Now, most of my experience with current has been at the mouth of Little Harbor north of Cohasset, and I had been expecting conditions somewhat more severe at Woods Hole. As max-ebb approached, it didn’t seem much different from Little Harbor. The current got up to about 4+ knots, and there were plenty of standing waves to play in, but nothing that extreme. After playing around in the current and what waves we could find, we spied a couple of dories attempting to ferry the heaviest point in the channel so we paddled up to watch (crossing the channel in fast current appeared much harder in a dory than a kayak). At about this time a large motorboat came chugging through the channel against the current. We decided to ferry across once the boat had passed. As my friend Cuffy says, “at that point, stuff got weird.” Good weird. My plan was to cross behind the boat and surf its wake across the channel. This worked better than I had expected. Much better. I caught the wake just past the boat’s stern, and after surfing it for a while I noticed that it lingered far longer than usual. After dropping off the wake, I spun around and the channel was still churned up, well after the boat had passed. I crashed through the waves to get back into the turmoil, and then surfed back up through these new, and rather extreme, standing waves. After some crazy rides, and a few desperate braces, I had made it all the way through the standing waves again. I spun another quick 180, and low and behold, the waves still lingered. They had mellowed to the point of reasonable sanity, but were still very surfable. After three runs through the waves, the waters had pretty much calmed back down, and our idiotic grins were giving way to exhaustion. We kept checking for another yacht that might be heading for the channel, but we felt pretty lucky that we had been in the perfect location when that one had passed. Eventually we gave up on another getting another big boat coming through, conceded that the best of the day was behind us, and fought the current back towards the beach. Final Score: Woods Hole at Max Ebb – good, with the potential for quality craziness; Beach next to WHYC – perfect during off-season or at 6am in season. If anyone has any suggestions on things we might have missed at Woods Hole, or things to look for during the flood current, please drop me a line.

Planning to go kayaking off Hampton Beach Sunday morning from the Seabrook/Hampton Harbor put-in described on the nspn site. Looking to arrive at the parking lot before beach traffic gets unbearable and depart early afternoon to beat worst outgoing traffic. Plans include general touring, maybe rolling practice and hopefully surfing if I can find waves and avoid jet-ski's. Let me know if you want to meet up at the parking lot or Harbor-side beach. ADDITIONAL INFO: TIME CHANGE!!!! I had a change to my afternoon schedule so I will be getting to Seabrook Hampton Harbor parking lot at 8:15 to 8:30 am. Sorry if this is inconvinient. Anyone interested can contact me via email (hugh at bostonmoon NOSPAM com) or 617-592-8785 . I will also email anyone who has expressed interest when I have details. Directions on the put-ins page are very good. BTW: I am not qualified as a trip leader or rolling instructor. However, I have paddled this area before and I am experienced in assisted rescues if rolling fails.