eidsvolling

Honey, my friends would like to meet you in this secluded parking lot, while I haul your boat across town to the Hudson: "Graswald, who is Latvian and uses several aliases, according to authorities, was remanded to jail after her arraignment Thursday and is due in court next week."

You probably know this already – the Tsunami has the reputation of having one of the most comfortable seating arrangements around.

If you're usually a solo paddler or accompanied by someone in a similar hull style, the Tsunami would be fine for your described purposes. Many, many people have bought it for that reason. However, if you're likely to paddle often with folks who are in longer, leaner hulls, you may find it dispiriting to try to keep up. You may also know that it is available in lengths up to 17'6", but the longer you go, the harder it may be to find a used one. The vast majority are sold in the 140 and 145 versions.

I've used the BugBaffler Hooded Shirt (referenced in Suz's link above) for years. It's very versatile, as it fits over anything including a PFD and a wide-brimmed hat, and relatively cool to wear.

The only way I can make sense of this tragedy is that these people were virtually oblivious to the hazards of ocean kayaking:

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/kayakers-killed-at-dungeness-bay-werent-prepared-for-storm/

Unrelated to kayaking, several years ago I tried to use a GPS to get to Edaville Railroad in Carver, MA. Following the GPS directions led me to an empty parking lot that had a cardboard sign saying "YOUR GPS IS WRONG. THIS IS NOT EDAVILLE RAILROAD." Of course, I had been blindly following the GPS directions so I had no idea where I actually was, making it that much harder to find my way out with a road map.

That is probably completely irrelevant for your purposes, but after I finished being really mad I started to think it was pretty funny so I thought I'd share it.

One of my wife's favorite sports is to watch as people attempt to "navigate" their way along a road across a swamp where she walks her dogs. Extra points when it's a honking big Benz.

The least serious I've encountered was a guy who returned a "defective" GPS. He'd been clicking wildly for a while and the screen went dark. It only needed an adjustment to the setting for the display. I then spent a few minutes getting him started on the quick reference card ...

Probably one of the most serious I've ever heard of arrived today in the news:

Truck driver has GPS jammer, accidentally jams Newark airport

An engineering firm worker in New Jersey has a GPS jammer so his bosses don't know where he is all the time. However, his route takes him close to Newark airport, and his jammer affects its satellite systems.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-57597971-71/truck-driver-has-gps-jammer-accidentally-jams-newark-airport/

Some good news -- a temporary bridge section has been installed and traffic is again using I-5 in Mount Vernon:

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2013/06/19/3059270/traffic-returns-to-skagit-river.html

FWS proposed delisting the gray wolf across the Lower 48 last week. I'm wondering whether someone has made a retaliatory strike ...

Oh man. For the State to prevail in its efforts to have a broad public right to use the intertidal zone, the lower court's order must be reversed to the extent it limited the public's right to a specific set of "ocean based" activities. The lower court's order is consistent logically with the basic premise of the "fishing, fowling and navigation" standard, but does not include what are likely the most common and numerous activities by the public in the intertidtal zone. You gotta love the distinction between snorkeling and swimming. And you still have the questions arising from what happens if the surfer or kayaker decides to have lunch on the beach, etc. The shadow of one bad decision can be long indeed.

Ed Lawson

Who dreams of being a recovering lawyer

Yep, we're having some kind of fun now. I'm going to track this one and try to attend the oral arguments on the appeal if at all possible. For any who are interested, the docket number at the Maine Supreme Judicial Court is Yor-12-599.

Might not have to wait until the 2014 election. McGarvey was a 3-3 tie, with Justice Silver recusing himself for reasons I don't know.

I suspect but do not know for certain that will not be the case when Almeder v. Town of Kennebunkport comes before the Court this year. The Superior Court tossed this hot potato at the Supreme Court last fall, and it's been appealed this spring. (It has a procedural history faintly reminiscent of Jarndyce v. Jarndyce, and that sideshow continues with the appeal.) Stay tuned:

http://www.preservegooserocksbeach.org/uploads/4586-565_2012101709391398850.PDF

It used to be my job to parse this stuff, so I will urge all participants here who have not done so to actually read the McGarvey decision and the subsequent law review article - "MCGARVEY V. WHITTREDGE: CONTINUED UNCERTAINTY IN MAINE’S INTERTIDAL ZONE " by Benjamin Donohue at http://mainelaw.maine.edu/academics/maine-law-review/pdf/vol64_2/vol64_me_l_rev_593.pdf - before you comment further here. Mr. Donohue's summation of the situation should be copied and pasted onto your charts and your calendar, as a reminder to check the state of things some time after the next Maine gubernatorial election:

"Although scuba diving is now expressly permitted, the public’s right to access and use the intertidal zone has changed little as neither Chief Justice Saufley nor Justice Levy managed to muster the necessary votes for a majority. McGarvey demonstrates that at least part of the Law Court is ready to expand Maine’s public trust doctrine beyond those uses envisioned in 1647 and the restrictive holding of Bell II. The Saufley separate opinion should be seen as a clear indication of this, while the Levy separate opinion is a reminder that part of the Court remains bound by the past, and Bell II’s errors.

I lived north of Seattle for six years in Snohomish County. If I had to make the trip to or through Mount Vernon this summer, I'd do my dead level best to time it for the middle of the night. Here's the WA DOT detour map:

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Construction/PugetSound/detourmap.htm

BTW, I just spoke to a store owner at the intersection of SR 534 and SR 9. "Lots of traffic." I'd think long and hard about relying on WA DOT's advice to bypass Mount Vernon on SR 9. It really isn't engineered for high volumes. Here's a pic that I would keep in mind when choosing routes:

http://www.goskagit.com/news/truck-tips-over-near-lake-mcmurray/article_17a99d3a-035d-11e2-873e-001a4bcf887a.html

You're going to need a longer vacation ... and not for the usual reasons:

Bridge collapse to cause holiday travel headaches - http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2021045847_bridgedisruptxml.html

The hard cover version arrived here two minutes ago. I urge any of you interested in this book to drop what you're doing and go buy a copy. Don't wait for an electronic version -- you want this one on a shelf. It's an amazing work and the author should take great pride in it.

I cover a lot of different material from Gooley's and in different ways, too, mostly informed by the students I've been teaching, FWiW

Best,

John H.

Which is precisely why a copy of yours is on its way to me already. Looking forward to a good read and learning some things!

Seems like a couple of Englishmen have been channeling their inner Luddites. I haven't even finished this one yet - http://www.naturalnavigator.com/natural-navigation-book/ and already I need to buy another.

(Thanks for the tip!)

I started poking around the other day for NH webcams as an aid on this subject. These lists may duplicate some listed already:

Weirs Online http://www.weirsonline.com/webcamindex.htm

NH Tour Guide http://www.nhtourguide.com/live_web_cam_nh.htm

My thanks to Bill Voss, in particular. I gained some very useful knowledge ... and even managed to avoid bleeding out, which is always a good thing.

The bow tie and the stern tie are what will keep the boat from killing someone when "something" goes wrong. That's why the rack manufacturers all recommend you use them, and it's also why I do. Even long before I heard first-hand the story of a boat coming loose on the Piscataqua River Bridge on I-95. If you need convincing, perhaps these other stories will help: http://tinyurl.com/cj5gdv7

Having driven many tens of thousands of miles with bow lines in front of me, I am far more comforted than distracted by their presence.

Ahem. As the instigator of the aforementioned "Winter Tent Challenge '13", may I offer some lessons gleaned over forty years of winter camping in dry snow, wet snow, wet snow with rain, and yes, the worst of all: no snow.

1. In winter, Mother Earth is not interested in your welfare or happiness. She will do her dead level best to suck the heat from your body all night long. Having no snow is worst because it deprives you of the insulation otherwise available. As a corollary: Do not clear snow away from where the tent will stand. Go very easy on any tamping with snowshoes or boots - only do as much as necessary to prevent the tent floor from sagging badly.

2. This will be hard for kayakers to accept, perhaps: Water is your enemy in winter. Be fussy to the point of annoying others about snow getting in the tent. Brush all snow off your clothing as soon as possible. Make absolutely certain you're venting moisture-laden air from your tent at night. Take your sleeping bag out in the morning and shake off any frozen condensation. If weather conditions are favorable, hang it out to air. On days 3 through X, you'll understand all this fussiness.

3. Buckminster Fuller was the smartest man who ever lived. If you doubt that statement, go back to spider's link to my tent challenge and watch my video repeatedly until you accept this truth.

1.21 gigawatts!

But only at the "stroke" of 10:04 p.m.

These guys will take care of the job: http://www.logbookwa...chases-dog.html

NASA has published a list of the top five LANDSAT images of "Earth as Art" in celebration of 40 years of the program. The one chosen by voters for the top of the list depicts an algal bloom off the shores of Gotland Island in the Baltic. It's a vivid reminder of the havoc that "the restless sea" can cause to an intended transit from point A to point B:

http://www.nasa.gov/..._from_space.jpg

The whole list is at http://www.nasa.gov/...earthasart.html

How high is your roof? How high will you have to lift the boat to clear the bottom of the rack while you're lifting the boat into place? These are not big issues if you have someone to help load. But doing this solo can be challenging and potentially hazardous to the boat, if your roof is too high and/or you're "vertically challenged". Find some vehicles like yours that have such racks on them and try to guesstimate before buying. A saddle with a rear roller/slider is often best for the frequently-solo paddler.

I have the Thule Slipstream on my Honda Element. The crossbar spread on that vehicle is only 27 inches center to center. That's the primary reason I bought the Slipstream, so I could haul my CLC Chesapeake 17 LT with the boat being supported adequately. I first used it last August to race up to Mount Desert Island to fetch the boat from its seller the day before Irene arrived here. I was very pleased with the arrangement and remain so.

I'm a very green kayaker. But I've been tying boats on top of vehicles for forty years, even got paid to do it for a while. The Slipstream is a product I can recommend without hesitation.