Kayaker aids injured Jetskier....

Suzan Clarke
The Journal News

STONY POINT - A Highland Falls man who injured his head and broke several bones when his personal watercraft crashed on rocks in the Hudson River off Jones Point yelled for help for about an hour yesterday until a passing kayaker came to his aid.

The 61-year-old unidentified good Samaritan from Crompond brought his kayak out of the water, walked to a nearby home and requested that someone call the police.

When authorities arrived in response to the 5:32 p.m. 911 call, they found the skier, 43-year-old John Thomas, lying on rocks near the shore. The man had sustained "what appeared to be two broken legs, a broken arm and head injuries on the rocks," Lt. Peter Quinn of the Stony Point police said yesterday evening.

Thomas was conscious and told emergency personnel "that after the collision he had dragged himself up on the rocks," Quinn said.

"He had been there probably close to one hour calling for help," Quinn said.

"There's no doubt in my mind that this kayaker saved his life," the lieutenant added.

Rescuers were forced to carry the victim over rough, jagged terrain and along the nearby railroad tracks. Quinn noted that police asked CSX Transportation to suspend all rail activity for the duration of the rescue.

Once emergency personnel got Thomas to the road, he was taken by STAT Flight to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla.

Police had to close Route 9W so the helicopter could land on the roadway.

Quinn said the rescue was difficult but commended the teams involved for what he called a "textbook" operation.

"It was very impressive to watch everybody work together and get the job done," Quinn said.

The cause of the crash is being investigated by the Rockland County Sheriff's Marine Unit and Stony Point police, but Quinn said it appeared that visibility was poor on the Hudson River yesterday around the time of the incident.

He said the watercraft had "severe front-end damage."

Capt. Walter Garschagen, owner of the Sea Tow Central Hudson River franchise, which provides emergency service to boaters between the George Washington Bridge and the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge, said one of his boats towed the watercraft to Haverstraw.

According to reports from the captain who was in charge of the operation, Garschagen said "the Jet Ski is completely wrecked ... the front part, including the steering wheel, is completely ripped off."

In addition to Stony Point police and the Sheriff's Marine Unit, the Stony Point Volunteer Fire Department, Haverstraw Volunteer Ambulance Corps, Thiells Volunteer Fire Department and Rockland Paramedic Service responded.

Laird Hamilton paddles around NYC today!

Laird Hamilton is paddling around NYC today to promote his clothing line...more later....

Maybe it should be "March showers bring April flowers"?

At any rate, the gardeners have been hard at work, and Sebago's looking springy!

Staten Island Paddle May 4th

Tony and Walter have planned a wonderful paddle on Staten Island Sun. May 4th. It is in Raritain Bay from the Confrence house to Lemon beach suitable for paddlers of all abilities.

We will start at the pre- revolution Confrence House and continue on a paddle that will not feel like we are in NYC. Hopefully we can arrange a tour of the Seguine Mansion at our lunch and turn around spot, Lemon Beach. Please contact Tony or me if you are interested.

Jamaica Bay Kayak Fishing Tournament May 3rd and May 4th

The Fifth Annual Jamaica Bay Kayak Fishing Tournament will be held on Saturday, May 3th, 2008. Last year's tournament was a great success, even though bad weather hindered the actual competition, over 200 kayak fisherman joined in on the many activities and the pre-fishing days had anglers enjoying the cooperation of all three targeted species - bluefish, striped bass and weakfish. More than 60 people attended the kayak fishing demo and learned about this great sport.

Even if you don't fish, this is a great chance to try out kayaks...many kayak companies will be there to let you demo kayaks, even the Hobie with the foot pedals.
On saturday is the contest, on sunday is just a fun day, with demos, etc.

for more info go to: click here

Hudson River Greenland Festival - Registration Now Open!

photo by Jack Gilman - the Hudson River Greenland Festival is a production of our friends at the Yonkers Paddling & Rowing Club!

Hudson River Greenland Festival
June 27-29th
Croton Point Park, Croton, NY

Registration is now open!

Come spend the weekend on the Hudson River at Croton Point Park, learning and refining traditional kayaking techniques. Instruction will be led by Cheri Perry and Turner Wilson of Kayakways. This is a small intimate group so registration is limited and fills up fast.

Do not delay and miss out on the opportunity to be part of the experience.

Sign up now: registration will be closed May 4th. Choice of cabins/tent sites are available on a first-come, first-served basis with your registration.

Go to yprc.org for more complete information on the weekend as well as the registration form.

For more info, please contact Jack Gilman at hudsonsb@yahoo.com

* Check out the Yonkers Paddling & Rowing Club online athttp://www.yprc.org
----------------------------------------------
See you on the river!

More of Jack G.'s photos from last year's fun. I didn't make it last year because that was the weekend of the Sebago sailing clinic, but I'm happy to say I'll be joining in this year as part of Cheri & Turner's mentoring team. Can't wait!

Cheri Perry


Group shot


Turner Wilson


Mentor Maggie

Learn to Sail with our friends at the Miramar Yacht Club!

Well, well, well! Spring MUST be coming - 'cause it's almost time for the 2008 session of -

LEARN TO SAIL with the MIRAMAR YACHT CLUB in Sheepshead Bay!

A Sailing Course that is perfect for anyone interested in sailing - and an opportunity to go sailing.

Classroom Sessions: Friday nights
March 28, April 4, April 11 - 2008
7:30 - 9:30 pm

Course fee - $50 Adults, $75 Families

Course materials,

refreshments (mmmmm, cake!)














& FREE SAIL included!


A 20% discount will be given to anyone who previously took Miramar's sailing class

For more information, head on over to the Miramar web site, or give them a call at (718) 769 - 3548, or email sail@miramaryc.com

I went last year along with a couple other club members - we all had a great time, learned a lot, and, uh, did I mention that the cake was always yummy?

The boats were nice, too!

Miramar Yacht Club
3050 Emmons Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11235

Inaugural Rolling Session in Queens!

Just a few pix from today's inaugural rolling session at the brand-new (just opened on February 29th) Flushing Meadows Corona Park Aquatic Center in Queens!

I don't remember the last time we loaded up THIS many boats!

Our convoy of 4 loaded cars made it safely to Queens -

Here we are. Just look at the place. Incredible.


Many boats need many paddles. Me, I brought 3 (used one, but hey, they always say to have a spare, right?)


The place is truly enormous. And I didn't even turn around and take a picture of the full-sized ice rink that's visible through the windows behind me. I used to live near the Asphalt Green swimming pool, and I thought that was pretty cool - but I think this one beats that. Well, it should - I was told by one of the regular swimmers there that the place was actually built as part of NY's bid for the 2012 Olympics. Well, we didn't get that - but we sure got a nice pool out of it. And it was in intense use today, families, kids of all ages, lap swimmers - it was sort of a raw & windy day outside, and people were taking full advantage of the place.

Here's some of the bigger kids. The amazing thing was that we only took up about a sixth of the entire space available, not counting the diving area, which had been made available to us I think it was just for today - more fun being with the crowd, though.

This was sort of a test run (almost said "dry run") to see how things would go - mostly, it sounds like everybody was happy with it, so the Sebago pool rolling season seems likely to have gained an extension!

Great fun - thanks to all the people who worked to make this happen.

THE CULEBRA CHALLENGE

Sebago member Joe Glickman and a friend of many Sebago members, Freya Hoffmeister
, raced surf skis in Culebra the link

LOLKayak!

Minh! MINH!

moar funny pictures

Actually...guess what. I'm KIDDING.

OK, so some of those who paddle sleek, shiny, nimble rocket-like craft (and OK, and even some of us who paddle nimble, banged-up craft which might, when first glimpsed from the corner of the eye, be mistaken for a half-peeled banana) may look down our highly-trained, expensively-certified schnozzes at an object like this, but our friend Marcus made a very astute observation as we were discussing the widening circles of people who are choosing something like this as the perfect fishing platform -

A fisherman on a big, inelegant-looking (to the eyes of some) S.O.T. is a fisherman who's NOT in a noise-creating, gas-guzzling, smoke-belching stinkpot - and that's better for everybody, don't you agree?

More photos from the Long Island Paddlesports Safety Symposium on the way one of these days. Thoroughly enjoyable day, thanks Elizabeth for another good one!

cross posted at Frogma

p.s. I know I just did a lol-canoe at Frogma - I promise this is not going to become a regular feature!

p.p.s. honest, I mean it!

2nd to Last Greenwich Pool Session - Where Is Everyone!

Spring is not yet quite sprung...but we're getting there! Check out the volunteer crocus Adele the Gardening Chair found hanging out in the middle of the grounds. None of us planted this!

Greenwich pool sessions are winding down - next week's the last one. Now some of us, in a collective moment of temporary insanity, have volunteered to help out with the rolling demo at the Long Island Paddlesports Symposium. What's so insane about that? Well, nothing much except that this year's venue doesn't have a pool. Please please please please please no cold snaps this week...

Anyways - Last week's session was incredibly crowded - this week's was the polar opposite! Just a few quick shots from today's -

(echo effect)
HELLOOOO!ello! ello! ello!
Where is everybody!uddy! uddy! uddy!

Pete averaged it out - said the average number of people in the pool at any given time was 5. Made for a pretty intensive session, both because there were fewer people to schmooze with and/or apologize to when you ran them over. A lot of the regulars were missed but this did make for perfect conditions to spread out & work hard.


John had a fun new toy...introducing Helmet-Cam! Equally usable as Bow-Cam and In-Hand-Cam. We may see some footage from that one of these days. I proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am never going to be the US's answer to Justine C - there was something about having a camera parked on my bow pointed at me & recording that made me blow some pretty simple rolls!

He finally had pity & took the camera away but my gosh has he got some blackmail material.

Redeemed myself through the rest of the session - storm rolls were working mostly, hand rolls both sides, and lots of swimming to paddles & other breath-holding silliness.

And oh, yes, I did roll Jean T's Feathercraft. Last week I'd tried to roll this & failed completely. I mean I couldn't get the thing to give so much as a twitch in the right directions - the sponsons Just Said No. This week, Jean let me give it another shot, this time with sponsons deflated. Much Much Better!

Finished off the session with a little pure horsing around. Next lap I was up on my knees doing a Rolls-Royce hood ornament impression. Wasn't going to try standing up - I am no airy sylph & I was concerned about bending the aluminum rods that form the frame, but for those for whom the simple business of standing up in their own boat has lost all novelty & is becoming humdrum - perhaps trying that would provide some new amusement!


Been a fun season in Greenwich. A warm (though soggy) thank-you to theAppalachian Mountain Club's CT Flatwater Committee (especially Jean T!) for hosting these!

Greg Barton up for US Olympic Hall of Fame - Hey Paddlers, Let's VOTE!

image swiped from Epic Kayaks

Just a quick lunchtime post to pass on word that originated with Connie Hagler, secretary of the USA Canoe & Kayak - Greg Barton is one of the 18 nominees from which the 6 2008 inductees for the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame will be chosen.

Voting is open now!

Go Greg!

p.s. I "Heart" my Epic wing!

p.p.s. thanks Nancy for passing the word!

cross-posted at Frogma

Sweetwater Kayak BCU Week

Tony, John, Don, Walter and Dot took a road trip last week to Fort DeSoto Park in Florida to attend Sweetwater Kayak's BCU and Greenland week. A wonderful time was had by all. We received great instruction and made new friends. We didn't have time to take too many photos, but here's a link to a small slide show. http://www.picasaweb.google.com/Kayaker824/SweetwaterBCUWeek

Horse Gate

This is also the Paedergat, on a day far more congenial to paddling!

I had cross-posted the stormy day photos on Frogma, and a gentleman from the Netherlands left a comment asking if the name was a legacy of the early Dutch settlers.

A question like that was far to much fun to just answer in the comments - the answer became a post in it's own right

I was going to tailor to the Sebago blog but the work day turned into yet another marathon & I'm just too tired - but I thought Sebagoites and anyone else who's even slightly interested in NY names would enjoy reading both the post AND a most interesting section in a book I found while using Google to verify that I was recalling the story a fellow Sebagoite had told me (Paerdegat = "Horse Gate") correctly. Really, that's made me kick up the response from a comment to a full-fledged post. Fascinating stuff!

So here's the link. Hope you enjoy.

Paerdegat Basin, blustery Sunday.

There have been weekends this winter where I've been almost tempted to email Holly the Sailing Chair - "Hey, Holly, 50 degrees, light winds, can we, um, maybe go sailing, maybe, huh?"

Sunday the 10th was decidedly not one of those days.



Look - whitecaps!

Marcus Demuth Presentation at Sebago

Marcus Demuth will be at Sebago Canoe Club, Saturday Feb 9th at 6:00PM,
to give a talk about his past and future expeditions.

He recently completed a solo sea kayak circumnavigation of Ireland. And
has done extended trips in Patagonia, Australia and Nova Scotia, to name
a few.

He is in the planning stage of an extended trip to circumnavigate the
Alexander Archipelago, Alaska.
He also came in first place in his class in the past two  NYC Mayors Cup
races.

It will be informal, bring drink and snacks to share.

Even if it is cold out, the new stove will keep it toasty warm.

http://marcusdemuth.com

More Pool Session Fun!

This was pretty funny. I was swimming around with my camera last Sunday at the pool session and decided to see if I could get the video function to work. I'm not really conversant with that particular function, but it is fun for rolling, so I was trying.

Here goes Minh! (btw these seem to be hanging up - just hit the play button a couple times, and if it stops hit the pause button, it'll go again)


So that worked. Now Stevie has been doing wonders teaching people this year (I swear, he's barely in his boat) and among others, vice-commodore Pete has made incredible progress.

So, hey, Pete, howsabout a roll for the camera?


What happened there? Well, I'll tell you what happened. I was expecting to record one nice no-fuss no-muss roll for Sebago blog-sterity.

I was not expecting him to keep going!

And kayaks don't roll in one spot - no, they travel. And Pete is a big, powerful guy & all the sudden he was looking more like a steamroller than a kayak roller, and - well, you heard my little "EEEK!" as I realized he wasn't stopping! Like I said, I actually put my foot up on the back deck to let him know I was there.

We did do a redo but this one was funnier, so there it is.

After that, I just got silly.


Fun session.

We have definitely got a number of folks who've got it going on with the rolling!

And Stevie's collecting kayak karma points galore.

(p.s. - Adele, we missed you! Hope you're feeling better!)

Dedicating Greenland paddle to gods of the Alps

I am going to dedicate my first Greenland paddle I carved to Mount Mont Blanc.

I ski "telemark" another ancient method of traveling over snow and ice. We use "alpenstock", a long pole, not to fall into crevasse and a good walking stick.

I wanted to make one or find one for a long time. I realize poorly made Greenland paddle will make a superb alpenstock. To spice things up on my coming trip to Chamonix, I will also take Tulliq and ski those slopes off Mont Blanc.

On a final day around the 28th of February, weather permitting, I will dedicate a Greenland paddle to the mountain god of the Alps.

I can't wait to ski with Greenland paddle in Tuiliq and see what locals make out...

I will be making long surfing turns with Greenland paddle.

In case you wonder, here is old Nordic movie.



Back to the source,



Well, I found this and it looks like the locals beat me to it; :-)



Enjoy!

Help bring kayaks to Greenland villages

"On Dec.1st we launch the Kayaks to Schools project, where we deliver kayaks to as many village schools as possible in remote areas of Greenland.

Our first aim is to support schools in Appilatoq (Cape Farewell) and Isertoq (East Coast), total about 50 children.

The hunting villages in Greenland are the poorest areas of the country. Poverty leads to cultural erosion and kayaking as a living part of our culture is coming to an end. This project brings traditional equipment and training to some of the worst off villages, in the hope that cultural appreciation fosters self esteem in the young. Help us give a little back to the people of the kayak!

Each school receives 4 youth sized and one adult size Learning Curve Kayak (pictured above), together with necessary gear and teacher training, to BCU standards. We of course supply all equipment at raw cost."

Misery Loves Company

Remember this boat?

It was first featured here in July, on the night we didn't want to go home (ahhh, summer!).

Well, it's still right there where the owner dumped it. Just looks a lot more miserable, now.


But look - awww - now it's got more company.


A very spoiled Spoiler.


Clearly this dumper wasn't as concerned about being identified as the dumper of the white one.


They didn't go to the trouble that the white boat's owner did to anonymize theirs. Maybe they just figured this is the boat dumping place. That's sure what it's starting to look like.


Or maybe being from the Patchogue Shores Marina, they just figured Brooklyn's as good a place as any to dump their hunk o' junk. Hey, it's Brooklyn, who's gonna notice one more piece of garbage?


Well, if it please the blogosphere, let the record show -

Yo. I noticed.

ps - lots more pictures from my absolutely spectacular excuse for not going to the pool session are posted at Frogma. Wonderful paddle, even if I DID have to stay right-side up (details on that in the comments over there). Come see!

Dutch Reindeer

Hans the Dutch master from the other side of the Atlantic




Brave girls... Ja Laten we proberen! Je kijkt cute.

Sorry I missed the pool!

Pool did call.

Bay just called louder.


Looks like I missed a fun session...but with a forecast like today's? Couldn't resist.

Rolling Session

We had a nice pool session and a lunch. This was a test of a home made Tuiliq design and it was a good learning experience. Traditional Tuiliq cuffs don't work all that well and works well enough. I have experienced what is called Fisherman's death when your high bib fills with water. On the hand, Tuiliq filled air and acted as PFD. When your arms get filled with water and raise your arms. It is a time to combine these two to create a dry suit.

Rolling with it was an easy routine since it gave much needed room and flexibility plays well. There were lots of Greenland paddles; some with finger groove, some laminated and some carved. We missed Bonnie. Stop partying, B.

We made a number of videos. The best is Steve's re-entry. Nicely done.

Here is the gallery of pictures and the gallery of videos we captured.



Steve's Re-Entry. This shows what happens in the water. This is the best video of the lot. Keep that hand with paddle in the right place.



Steve's extra slow roll. not butter roll.







This video demonstrates how Steve uses his legs first and sets a stage for rolling. Then his body floats a bit away and he keeps his arms straight. He uses his torso to scull slowly to find a sweet spot. Then he uses a number of sweet spots; scull, body floatation and legs and just rolls onto the boat. Nicely done.

Fast time across the English channel

Little less than 2 hours and 50 minutes from Dover to Dunkirk(?).

The narrow point of the channel is about 34 miles. A long kayak race but the condition was great except some cripping effects on forward strokes in the middle of the movie.

Corrections: 2 hours and 59 minutes. He is looking for a double partner to try the same 2008. He is a K1 kayaker who used Fenn Marko 6 for the first time!

It is 34 kilometers not 34 miles.

Happy New Year!

Sunset, Paerdegat Basin, Canarsie, Brooklyn - 12/31/2007


Sun clears the clouds after a raw & blustery start to New Year's Day. Jamaica Bay, near Canarsie Pol, Brooklyn, NY, 1/1/2008

Kayak Gang Invades Howard Beach!

Have You Seen These Kayakers?

Last seen pillaging the pasta & pizza of Gino's Pizza in Howard Beach, the paddlers should be considered stuffed and extremely somnolent.

Yes, the hoped-for Pasta Paddle mentioned in the last post went off very very nicely! We had a group of 7, which made it fun. The 10:30 on a nearly full-moon day with a 3:30 low water did mean, as I'd posted in the Yahoo invitation, a good appetite-building workout on the way there; we still had a pretty rockin' ebb for the ride back, which was good since some of us were totally stuffed.

The day started with the sun peeking out in a little blue sky - but that foolishness was shortlived. Still a good day out of the water (and in the restaurant, and around the nice warm woodstove chatting over the pros & cons of canoes & other random topics afterwards).

So nice when it's just us and the brants.

Only sad part of the day was -

I found Nemo...

cross posted at Frogma

Solstice Paddle, Saturday, 12/23/2007

Friday night, it being the holidays, I had to make a quick trip to this tower in search of a couple of gifts (plus just seeing the tree & all).

Saturday found me in the vicinity of a less imposing tower - but still a nice view -


and the crowds were a lot more manageable!

Stevie & Minh & I celebrated Solstice, the shortest day of the year, with an unusually short (for a weekend paddle) paddle - just a circumnavigation of Ruffle Bar.

And look, we found a tiny Stonehenge. Too bad there was no sun!


No, no, that's not really a small observatory. However Ruffle Bar is an interesting destination for those who enjoy a little amateur archaeology (aka "checking out junk on the beach") -


Back before the Bay became a wildlife preserve, there were squatter's shacks, probably rather nice ones like the ones that still exist in Hempstead Bay, on many of the little islands. According to Stevie and others at the club, Ruffle Bar had also been the site of a tavern for many years. Lots of interesting bits & pieces to find -


although you do want to watch your step.


We didn't beachcomb for too long as the wind was rather biting & it was more comfortable to be buttoned into a boat & paddling. The only "artifact" we collected this time was a large slab of stone that Minh took on as ballast - his boat was weathercocking a bit on the way out. He figured a little weight in the rear would help matters. Off we went. We found a much more recent relic on the way back...


Of course we had to do solstice rolls...there's Stevie...

and there I go..
Brrr! We haven't had any serious cold snaps yet, but the water seems to be cooling a lot faster than it did last year. The Coney Island Polar Bear may be more exciting this year than it was last year - not that it's ever boring, but the water feels a lot winterier than it did this time last year. Stevie backed me up on this, he thought so too.

Rolling silliness done, we hustled back past the daymark - have the cormorants budged?

We made good time getting back. Stevie ran up to light the fire I'd left laid in the stove - we've taken to doing that, setting up the stove so there's no need to mess around doing that if you get back really cold, just throw a match in the fire you built carefully at the start of the day when you were nice & warm. Minh & I stayed down on the dock, unloading our boats. He opened his rear hatch, took out the rock he'd put in as ballast - and started laughing. Turned out that rock had some hitchhikers!


He caught & released as many as he could. They tried to pinch him but when you're a half-inch across, your pinch just doesn't pack a lot of punch!


Wildlife returned to the wild, boats put away, it felt so good to go warm up by the stove.


And when Stevie suggested we round out the day with some good Jamaican food, nobody turned him down. Unfortunately we lost Minh en route & his cellphone was on vibrate so he missed dinner. Stevie & I stood on the corner watching hopefully for a while, then decided to go on in. Boy did the goat curry at Nicky's Jamaican Restaurant taste good. I may vote to add that to the occasional non-meal trip. HIGHLY warming! Nicky's quite a bit bolder with the peppers in her curry than I am when I make mine. Good stuff though.

Weather permitting, I'm hoping to squeeze One Last Paddle into 2007. Howard Beach, Italian food, and TQ gets to come this time - we haven't paddled together in ages, so that'll be a great way to wrap up the paddling year. So far it's looking pretty good for Wednesday boating!

See folks at the Frostbite Regatta!

cross-posted at Frogma

CT AMC Pool Sessions

Sebago CC members will be joining the AMC for pool paddle fun.

For info: CT AMC Pool Sessions 2008

Steve Heinzerling's tools

Steve showed us his reworking of Skin On Frame hull. He has a few tools; bending jibs. A cool setup of steaming and bending with old leather belt to apply uniform pressure.

Real cool and ingenious set up...

Sheepshead Bay Lunch Paddle - 12/08/2007

More photos here. Don't miss Chalu modelling the accessories that came with his sharp new ORANGE drysuit! Lookin' good!

Kayaker resurfaces after missing for 5 years...

Police deployed aircraft with heat-seeking equipment in the search