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Yet another reason canoes are better than kayaks and SUPs

A local kayak club used to run a couple of annual events out of this park, so I was very surprised to see that new sign. There is a trailered-boat ramp just off the the right of the photo. I'm thinking paddlers must have pissed off the trailered-boat users. Really, it's hard to figure. I'll have to ask around about it.

Momentarily, I considered it a ban on paddle craft and thought maybe I should go elsewhere. Then I thought, screw it, I'm not paddleboarding or kayaking, so I'll take the citation and let the court settle it. But, it's December, the park and water were all but abandoned, and we saw no signs of any authorities.
 
Im coming to the conclusion this group is not all that fond of Kayaker’s? I’m a live and let live kind of guy but up here that takes on a whole different meaning.
Until last year i spent an appreciable amount of time out in Prince William Sound or out of Seward into the Gulf of Alaska, many times 60 plus miles from any good’s or services! Situational awareness is paramount when your zinging along with your whole family; in a boat that cost more than your’e House! Typically you are looking for submerged logs etc or anything that can render that boat in-operable. This was a big part of my summers for over 15 years and i never remember even one trip where i didn’t encounter kayakers bobbing along somewhere. I always gave them a wide berth and never intentionally “waked them” however sometimes you didn’t spot them in time and they’re ride got kinda exciting for a minute.

My trips would last 3-7 days and i stayed in proven Anchorages. I live here so i know where they are. All a touristy kayaker has is a paper map and some outfitters word that there’s a nice anchorage over by bla, bla bla. Well; knowing they’d be along about 6:00 ish; id anchor around 4:00 and liked having the barby on the side of the boat they’d paddle by; then when id see em coming id dump a gallon of spot shrimp on the grill. When they got close enough to engage id ask them what they were having for supper? This wasn’t out of meanness; id have given them a bag of tails if they wouldn't have looked so peeved that i was in “they're anchorage”. They’d just paddle off around the corner somewhere and drag up on the beach somewhere, and probably eat mountain house!
 
Im coming to the conclusion this group is not all that fond of Kayaker’s?

No, kayak animosity is not the raison d'etre of the site. Many of us have been or still are kayakers in addition to being open canoeists.

It's simply that kayaks now far outnumber canoes in most of the USA, and there are plenty of websites and Facebook pages dedicated to kayaks or dominated by kayakers. Not so for open canoes.

This site was founded and continues to be dedicated to preserving and teaching the traditions, paddling techniques, construction, repair, gear and outfitting of open canoes, and to tripping in them. And we want this site to be the best on the planet in the open canoe niche. That doesn't mean no one can ever mention kayaks or show a picture of one, but it does mean that open canoes will always be our overwhelming focus. That has been the philosophy of every owner of this site, now including me.

Occasionally, someone will good-naturedly poke fun or make jokes as if kayaks were an "enemy", just as some here will do regarding blue barrels, electronics or other non-traditional, "new fangled" things.
 
Momentarily, I considered it a ban on paddle craft and thought maybe I should go elsewhere. Then I thought, screw it, I'm not paddleboarding or kayaking, so I'll take the citation and let the court settle it.

Somewhat consistent with my reply to Alasgun directly above, it's depressing to think that the authorities may have intended to ban all paddle crafts but never thought of listing canoes because they are now so rare compared to kayaks and paddleboards.

Whatever, if you land in the clink, Chip, I'll be glad to defend you pro bono—and based on that sign and a dictionary, you should win.
 
For the past 10 years I have volunteered at the local nature center which is located on a river with not a lot of development for an urban area. I spend time maintaining the rental fleet of kayaks and canoes - 15 canoes and the rest various kayaks. The rental of kayaks over canoes is probably 4 or 5 to 1 and people renting them often tell me that canoes require too much skill and are too unstable. And almost all of the capsized boats are canoes.

So I guess there is much more interest in kayaking than in canoeing. The center offers more intro to kayaking classes than canoeing classes. During the summer the canoes are used almost daily with the day camp kids who never go out in kayaks. To me it seems the public is much more interested in kayaking than canoeing.
 
That sign is telling of how canoeing is falling into the "relic" category. ;-)

But it also points out the growing problems of mixed use (power boats vs paddle boats) at developed put-ins.
 
I don't know that area. Here on Long Island there is a public ramp that doesn't permit unpowered boats nor anything under 14'. But the reason is dangerous tidal current. An experienced small boat guy could manage it, but your average crowd of weekend kayakers would generate too many rescue calls.
 
I know many of us have multi faceted padding addictions. On the coast sea kayaks rule for good reason but its true that they and canoes are becoming rarer and the plethora of rec kayaks in unsuitable environments creates problems re safety.. I laugh when I see people lugging around 70 lbs of plastic kayak on my lake.. But I have to admit those fishing kayaks are very interesting as long as it can stay in the water all summer.

Rec kayaks are a gateway drug.

Had a Grumman for 20 years.. good enough. Then I got a rec kayak and it started me deep into dependency on both kayaks and canoes. The rec kayak left when I fell in love with ocean paddling thank goodness.. See I had mentors then that could help me progress wisely on my 12 step journey into the paddling world.
 
This appears to be Truxtun park in Annapolis. It is a mile down the cove from the Naval Academy. It doesn't appear to accommodate shipping. Nor do I see other legitimate reason to ban or attempt to ban kayaks or paddle boards.
However, this is a busy looking area, and I could see boaters feeling slow moving paddle boarders and kayakers were in their way.
There is also a picture on Google maps of a paddle board gathering at that launch.
I'm pretty cynical about stuff like this. Wonder if the owners of all those waterfront homes got tired of people on paddle boards. Or maybe trash from people fishing from kayaks.
 

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The cities park page doesn't help much. It talks about the boat launches, and how to pay the $10 launch fee. That launch fee is listed against your trailer tag, so I don't know how a carry in paddler would pay it.

The site also lists that they have a ADA doc that is accessible for launching kayaks.

 
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Called the number on the sign, answered by Annapolis Rec and Parks, who referred me to the office of Annapolis’ Harbor Master. The fellow answering the phone at the Harbor Masters volunteered he was a new guy and didn’t know all the background, but said the signs were due to electrical current detected in the water, and the condition has been ongoing for months.

If I cared enough, I’d take my VOM there and run a test. But where to put the wire leads. One lead would dangle in the water, and the other? To ground, right? Where is ground?

In swimming pool electrocutions, swimming in the water is okay and the accident occurs when the swimmer grabs a metal rail or ladder, a ground that completes a circuit. Anybody know how it works in open water?

Disclosure: I own and use a sea kayak, perhaps more than i canoe, due to the large, open bodies of water near where I live. But, canoes are my favorite paddle craft.
 
the signs were due to electrical current detected in the water

Hard for me to believe.

Are there no swimming or no wading signs? Don't reach into the water signs? If there is an electrical danger, a "no kayaking or paddleboarding" sign does not properly warn anyone about that specific danger. Either that town government is incompetent, or the new guy is, or the reason is something other than electric water. Or there's no reason other than rank discrimination against paddle boaters in favor of power boaters.

Your lawsuit is now taking on vast and interesting Consitutional dimensions, Chip, involving at least the Equal Protection Clause, the Due Process Clause, the void for vagueness doctrine, abuse of state power, encroachment on the right of public use of navigable waters under the Public Trust Doctrine, just to name a few. We'll be in the Supreme Court of the United States to get a final ruling by 2039.
 
Wow, an electrical hazard wasn't my first guess. I'm glad Chip didn't get zapped.

Oddly, I know the answer to the shock in water question. This came up many years ago and a discussion I had with my father who is an electrical engineer that had interest in ground safety.

The incident we were discussing happened in West Virginia, I believe it was on Sutton Lake in the 'aughts. Someone was electrocuted in the water near the boat dock. There were some issues with power on the dock.

The way it was explained to me is that the difference in electrical potential is what gets you. In freshwater apparently the current doesn't disperse quickly and so a swimmer can cross a gradient and be electrocuted even without directly touching a ground.

It doesn't help if you're swimming because you might drown even if the shock doesn't kill you.

Now we have to consider the opposite possibility - they wanted to protect kayakers and paddle boarders and zap the canoeists!
 
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My wife and I were paddling up a creek and we ran into some fallen trees, so we decided to turn back instead of carrying around, and it was getting late, and hot, so we headed back to the launch site. A little ways back we conversed with a young couple in recreational kayaks. The guy was fishing and his wife was just enjoying paddling. They asked how far we went, or could go, up this creek before it got to shallow. We replied that we turned around about a mile further up because of the fallen trees. He sort of snorted, ya know a snirky sound people make when they think their better then you, and said, "Well we wouldn't have any trouble getting around fallen trees in these". I didn't reply, just wished them the best and we left. I'm pretty sure my strip canoe weighed less then one of those yaks they were on, and how do you carry one of them bulky things? I have nothing against one of them short recreational kayaks, but I don't want one. They look harder to get into with out getting your feet wet, and from what I've seen they look to be slower then a canoe. The longer sea kayaks are different, they scoot on pretty good from what I've seen.

There was a person that drowned swimming near a boat dock area here on my local lake last year. It was due to electrocution. Most outboard engines have anodes in the lower unit that absorb any electrical current in the water, when docked around other boats. I've seen a boat motor that was deteriorated from the lack of an anode. The lower unit was completely destroyed by pitting and looked like it was getting dissolved by acid. It sat for years beside other house boats, on a fresh water lake.

I wonder if some motorized boat owners complain about small paddle craft because some state laws state that a boat owner is responsible for the wake their boat creates. If their boat's wake rolls a person over or causes other harm, the person that created that wake is responsible. I think that is law in TN. I'm sure circumstances are arguable.
Roy
 
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