Re: [Paddlewise] Is MASK for real?

Kenneth Cooperstein wrote:
> 
> MASK, the Metropolitan [NY] Assoc. of Sea Kayakers, has a web page at
> "http://www.terabit.net/mask/" but doesn't show its schedule of events.
> When you request a schedule (expressly to see if you might want to join
> the club) they tell you that you must first become a member to get a
> schedule.  Marketing savvy aside, is this a legitimate and worthwhile
> club?  Or just a membership fee collection scam?
> 
> Ken Cooperstein


MASK is a real club with lots of trips.  I wasn't aware that it is
hiding its schedule as you can find it occasionally in hardcopy at local
shops in the NY/Nj/CT tri-state area.  There may be reasons for this
however.

MASK, or better stated--its head, has built up an imagined and real
enemies list among many paddlers in the area, me included (me in his
head, others are real and/or imagined).  So any reluctance to hand out
its schedule (if true) may be to make certain that awful people like me
not get wind of the trips and crash them.

The local scene has been marred with what I dub "The Kayak Wars".  I
have been in the middle of them, sometimes my own doing but more often
as a victim of slander you would not believe.  I have been accused of
things that even our friend Tim Ingram of sponson fame never dreamed of
charging anyone in his personal attacks on Wavelength.  But it goes
further than that.  The head of MASK is acting pretty much against the
interests of the local paddling environment.

A case in point.  The head of MASK has tried to destroy a worthwhile
group here that I am associated with, the Hudson River Watertrail
Assoc.(HRWA).  HRWA is devoted to creating a series of camping and
put-in sites along the Hudson and is a founding member of the national
group of watertrail systems (several HRWA individuals serve on the
national group's board or are officers there0.  HRWA founders however
number several people who are on MASK's head's enemies list.  So last
year, the head of MASK wrote a number of letters to city and state park
officials condemning HRWA as a lawless group.  It turns out from some of
the things stated in those letters that it was this individual who
earlier successfully killed a prime launch-site in the Palisades park
area.  It was something that was suspected but then pretty much
confirmed by what was said in the more recent letters.  Fortunately,
most recepients of the letters have worked with HRWA and know HRWA
officers and board members (some state officials are even on HRWA's
board or serve as advisors!).  So the charges have been largely
dismissed.

I give this all to you as background not to scare you off from joining
MASK, it has a good list of trips and you should probably join, but
rather to warn you not to say "Oh, Ralph or HRWA sent me."  It would put
you in the dog house real quickly.

Now, aren't you sorry you asked your question!!! :-)

ralph diaz

-- 
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Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter
PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024
Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com
"Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag."
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