I want to thank Wes for the work he has done in putting together a well thought out note and survey of interest in PaddleWise people getting together. Liability is always an issue and one way to minimize it is not to have any such thing called a symposium or event etc. that connotes more organization or officialdom than any of these should be. In discussions, someone came up with the word "mingling" and I tend to like it because it really comes closest to the heart of what this would be all about. Let's look at this as a paddling mingling, even rhymes :-). These are not PaddleWise sponsored or sanctioned events and PaddleWise's only role is as a site for listing such minglings so that individuals can meet and mingle on their own. Following Wes's suggestion we could have two of these paddling minglings. The first could take place in NYC over the Memorial Day Weekend. The other could be scheduled for late next fall in Florida or some other warmer clime. I am going to go into a brief look at the possibilities for an NYC paddling mingling here for people to get the flavor of possibilities. But after this, this discussion will go back-channel so not to burden the whole list with such minutiae. NYC paddling mingling Memorial Day Weekend: Boats can be safely left at the Downtown Boathouse overnight and we could use the site for one or two paddling trips directly from there (to the Statue of Liberty, out into the harbor, up along the Manhattan shoreline, paddle to a sushi dinner, etc. as well as cartop to other interesting waters nearby. As for camping, I don't know of places on the water anywhere within an hour or so of Manhattan; nearest waterside camping is several hours away. The nearest straight camping that I know of is somewhat over an hour away and not on the water. However, there are fairly cheap hotels in Manhattan (believe it or not!!!) people can bunk down in. And I have noticed from the water that there is a motel on the New Jersey banks of the Hudson across from the Westside of Manhattan around the equivalent of 120th Street or so I think. It doesn't have a beach but one probably could manage to launch from there. Plus I have some space in my place for four or five people to crash. If someone is really bent on camping, one could easily pitch a tent on the roof garden wooden decks of the adjacent building to me; I am sure I could arrange that for a handful of tents. Imagine sleeping under the stars in Manhattan high above the muggers!!! Bob and Joan Volin live in Westchester somewhere an hour or so up from the Boathouse, I think. They may know of more things up that way. One of the paddle trips we might want to take is through the Hudson Highlands at West Point, which is up towards them. The river forms a narrow fiord like spot with hills rising 1,200 feet from the river. A spectacular spot to paddle just a bit over an hour from Manhattan. We can launch from West Point and even tour the place later. As you can see, there is great variety of paddling here. Okay, so much for the flavor of this potential mingling. Let's take this back channel for anyone interested in discussing this more. ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sat Feb 12 2000 - 11:07:39 PST
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