Joseph Berkovitz

Hey Andy - paddling with you is dangerous too! 😉

This sounds very interesting and I wish I could be part of it; I hope someone takes notes! Here is what it is: create your own kayak symposium Are you interested in upping your kayak game? Join members of the Casco Bay Kayak Intensive via Zoom as they discuss how they created an individualized sea kayak symposium in 2023. Regardless of your current skill level or what kind of paddling you intend to do, the learning structure developed by the Intensive paddlers can help you achieve your goals. Members of the Intensive will discuss how their year-long series of meetings and paddles culminated in a four-day skills- and team-building on-water event. We will answer your questions, helping you to develop your own version of the Intensive for the goals you and your paddling partners share.

After various unsuccessful attempts to clean and repair my original Kokatat/Hydrapak bladder (the quick-release connection to the hose was failing), I just bought an entire new Osprey bladder (designed for biking) from REI and stuck it in where the old bladder had been. I have to say it is a superior product to the Hydrapak. The slider closure is way easier to operate and the quick-release is located in a much more convenient location.

Let me share a timely story that hope will be of aid to others. This is partly about spray skirts but at least as much about wet exit form and practice. Last week I decided to practice my roll, since it had been a while. I did in fact roll up on my 2nd try and continued on my merry way. I was in calm shallow water near a beach and had never, ever missed a wet exit out of what feels like hundreds. At the end of the paddle I was moved to roll again (same safe location), but I was tired and this time it didn’t go as well. After three blown rolls I decided to bail. But… for the first time ever, in decades of paddling, I could not find the grab loop by swiping for it with my free hand (my other arm held the paddle.) I concluded that the loop must be trapped under the rim, although I’m always careful to check. At this point I was afraid because I was running out of air and there was no one to help me or notice something was wrong. (Side note: If you’re thinking of blaming this mishap on paddling solo, consider how long it could take to notice and hand-of-god-rescue a capsized kayaker on a typical group paddle - also a dangerous situation. Of course I accept that solo is more risky, but let’s leave “never paddle alone” responses out of this if you don’t mind; it’s a different topic than the one I want to illuminate here, and it wouldn’t eliminate the problem.) Back to the situation. I was using my IR Klingon skirt which is very snug and tight. I tried but couldn’t release it with my knee. I semi-rolled up again to grab a breath, let my paddle go, and then used my feet and both arms to brute-force myself out of the cockpit. I can’t tell you exactly how I did that but I was very, uhhh, highly motivated. At the end of this improvised act of survival I was swimming with my head above water, with the spray deck still completely attached to the boat. I flipped the boat - and there was the bright yellow grab loop, staring me in the face. It had been there all along, waiting to be grabbed. Thought-provoking, eh? I’ve been thinking hard about this episode, one I don’t ever want to repeat, and here are some reflections: - in a high consequence situation like a failing wet exit, the first response had better be the one that has the highest probability of success. - I had fallen into a habit of using an improvised technique (the one handed swipe for the loop) that worked nearly always, but turned out to have a rare mode of failure. When it failed, I didn’t immediately revert to the tried and true technique (running both hands up the coaming to find the loop), the same one that I would teach any novice. - when you are afraid and struggling for air is NOT a time when it is easy to stop/assess/plan/execute. There has to be a learned and practiced sequence of actions and fallbacks that don’t have to be thought about. But instead, I flailed. I went to plan B (knee release) and plan C (force body out any old way) before even trying plan A (find the grab loop in a reliable two handed way). Plan B did not work with this skirt, and I had never tried Plan C. Fortunately I can report that Plan C, to the extent that one can even call it a plan, can actually get you out of a boat. And if you did bury the grab loop, which I hadn’t, that approach might be your only recourse. Perhaps my single biggest takeaway is this set of recommendations, which I intend to make real for myself: Practice wet exits. With a buddy. Multiple times a year. Even if you’ve never failed one. Practice every variation of it: one handed, two handed, knee, whole body. Make doing the right thing in the right sequence a matter of instinct.

I signed up a while back but since everyone’s announcing their intentions in a festive way, so will I. signed up! Looking forward to seeing everyone in 2024….

I.e. upload a JPEG of a wooden stake to its root directory.

Talk to our treasurer @mhabich it’s happened before though not to me.

Because that part of the tunnel gets a lot of shearing and stretching forces I think any repair has a tough road ahead of it. I’d go for an approach where you overlay and sew/glue a patch with similar thickness, flexibility and toughness to the original fabric - not tenacious tape, which is not very “load bearing” although it’s very sticky. You might look around for a piece of nylon stuff sack or old tent to cut up into a rectangular patch, fold the edges of the patch inwards, and sew the folded edges over the rip. The seal the stitching with aquaseal from the inside. It won’t keep all the water out but no spray skirts really do that anyway, and it might hold for a while. you could just glue the patch with aquaseal but I doubt that will last long.

I would like to but only 1/1 works for me

Having worn out my favorite Snapdragon some time ago, I now use an Immersion Research Klingon bungee skirt in the "Large" deck size for my Cetus MV. It is an extremely durable and well made skirt. I find it is helpful to wet the skirt before putting it on the cockpit.

I would also like to thank Mike and Jason for doing this really important work for the club. Although the new NSPN site is very similar to the old one, it is operating in a way that is much more manageable and cost effective for the club to maintain - a partly hidden but very important benefit. It means more of our resources for paddling, less for silicon!

The workshop is now full, but please go ahead and register for the waitlist as cancellations are always likely with this many people! Get on the wait list at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdNUh9Fvs3EESI6yfsf9gBvYcGefPX1lsCsiSZC7X0OOHk2QQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

If you want to attend this event please sign up using the Google Form registration link above - there are only a few spots left! I always appreciate comments expressing interest but that won’t reserve a space for you 🙂

Family visiting, I’m sorry ? can’t go!

@Sue Two As long as you’re happy swimming in it, a wet suit is ok. The water temp is currently 57-58°F. The rescue practice is only part of of the day and we can do it at the end, after we’re warmed up and just before we get off the water.

A shortish notice fun paddle with aim to launch 10am from Riverhead Beach in Marblehead. Weather forecast is for light winds and calm seas, some combo of sun and clouds, air 50s water 50s. there is no set destination and what we do will be suited to the group that attends. However we will definitely do some rescue practice so be prepared to swim in the not terribly warm water (which is also not terribly cold). If you don’t know how to do a rescue then you can learn how! And everyone here knows how to swim, right? Right! Please register here: https://forms.gle/77j5tus4hKtRVhUa6 To join the trip you must be a paid-up NSPN member, and have signed the club participant waiver for this season. Your signup information will only be shared with other members on the trip. Trip level: No specific level. All properly equipped members are welcome: please bring boats with rigged deck lines, bulkheads, spray skirts, and dress for immersion. Hope to see you there! Joe Berkovitz

@Deborah Walsh I would be happy to co host a paddle with you and share some informal knowledge of how it works (without taking over the whole deal). you mentioned you’d like to have some more paddles this season and I think there can definitely be a few more. I am going to organize a small paddle locally on the north shore on Tuesday if you want to join - see trips forum later today.

I’m looking forward to the party and the chance to see everyone. I do want to say a few things about the paddle and conditions tomorrow, which I am also looking forward to! Paddling doesn’t have to be a fair weather thing only. Rain isn’t dangerous by itself and it can be quite enjoyable once you’re on the water- you’re already dressed to be wet! Lightning is dangerous, but I have not found any mention of thunderstorms in any forecast. Regardless, we can and will check radar and will not be going far from shore. As far as wind and waves: there may be some easterly winds (blowing us towards the shore) and chop early in the day but these aren’t currently expected to be very strong; we can always stay in the most protected end of the sound. The real weather event tomorrow is the cold front, which the weather models now agree should arrive tomorrow night, long after we are off the water. All of this is to encourage folks who have doubts to come to the paddle with their boats and an open attitude that with some prudence and common sense, fun is possible - maybe even likely - in New England fall weather! If the forecasts are right, this may be a chance to enjoy a different kind of paddle than the perfect summer’s day. And if the forecasts are wrong, we can think of some other fun to have together. Whatever the sky and ocean bring, I hope to see you tomorrow morning! j

Thanks everyone who has chimed in with support for this idea. I should add one brief point to follow up: as with the WLP series, help from other organizers is very welcome. I want the club be able to rely on a weekend saltwater venue where everyone can paddle and learn together throughout the season. The goal is to nurture a strong kayaking community of both longtime and newer members!

This new series of paddles provides a regular weekly opportunity for members to get on the water outside of the workweek. There is no set trip level: all skill levels are welcome. Trips will be tailored each week to the makeup of the group. If desired, opportunities for skills practice will come up naturally without a set curriculum. All launches are at 8:00 am Sundays from Riverhead Beach in Marblehead (parking is $20). This is a very protected put-in with access to a wide range of paddling options from sheltered to adventurous. Typically we will return around midday. This early launch time avoids both car and boat traffic, minimizes wind conditions, and leaves paddlers free to enjoy the afternoon. The idea behind this is similar to the Wednesday Lunch Paddle series, but with a schedule that works for those of us with day jobs. I will probably not be able to organize this every single weekend (and it will conflict with other club events at times) but my intent is to keep it going as regularly as my schedule permits. The location and time have of course been shamelessly selected to make it convenient for me, the organizer ?.

Wow, thanks for posting this—very informative. It did seem to me that most of the mussel beds disappeared around Marblehead and the North Shore, since we moved up here. Now the only mussels I see are limited areas of little tiny ones at low tide, just as shown in the underwater segments of the video.

On October 4 (yes, a WEDNESDAY) we're launching a lunch paddle at West Beach. Or perhaps we are lunching a launch paddle. It's confusing. Either way, we aim to enjoy what looks like a lovely early fall day, without the hassle of traveling through Salem. Want to come? Let's meet up at West Beach at 9:30 am with an aim to launch (butts in boats) around 10:00 am. Please register here: https://forms.gle/8pZpra2N3MQktXEbA LW is 9:22 am (0.6 feet); HW is 3:40pm (10 feet). Charts, more tides and currents, forecasts, are all available here: https://floatingtrails.com/42.56167/-70.80507/13?du=n&cm=n&fr=n&ch=y&bu=y&b=rnc&t=y&d=202310041600Z NOAA point forecast: https://marine.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lon=-70.77341&lat=42.54499 and as of press time it's "NNE wind 5 to 7 kt becoming E in the afternoon. Sunny. Seas around 2 ft." Air temps in mid 60s. As usual, this trip is flexible and tailored to meet the interests and abilities of the group on any given day. A typical journey from this launch point would take us to White Beach for about an 8 nm round trip. The water and air will both be in the lower 60s so please dress accordingly. Always assume you could be swimming followed by wind blowing on your now-wet clothes. To join the trip you must be a paid-up NSPN member, and have signed the club participant waiver for this season. Your signup information will only be shared with other members on the trip. Trip level: WLPs do not have a specific level. All properly equipped members are welcome: please bring boats with rigged deck lines, bulkheads, spray skirts, and dress for immersion. NOTE: The Wednesday Lunch Paddles are cooperative adventures, not guided trips. We encourage paddlers to make their own independent decision about their comfort level with conditions and plans at the time of the paddle. Each participant is responsible for her/his own safety. Don’t assume the trip initiators are smarter, stronger, better at rough water, more attractive, or more skilled paddlers than you are. For more information, see this description of our trip philosophy from the NSPN web site. Please PM me if you have questions or if you haven’t paddled on one of these events before. Hope to see you there! Joe Berkovitz