Re: [Paddlewise] Sea Kayakers Behavior

ralph diaz wrote:

> Anyway, this may be a good place to discuss the parameters of behavior
> of kayakers.  I would like your take on this in PaddleWise.
> 
> I think there are degrees of behavior.  My advice of the need of
> commando camping was toward being unobtrusive and only when you have
> little choice in a long-range paddling situation.

Well, I read her piece (http://www.paddling.net/sameboat/), and I have read
Ralph's piece in his book about commando camping.  If I were in a situation
where I **had** to camp on private property, I'd ask, always, because only
extreme fatigue or unsafe paddling conditions would cause me to bivouac on
private land.  And, I suspect there are few landowners who would deny me a safe
harbour under those conditions.

The boorish behaviour described in the article is a set piece for encouraging
landowners to get their elected representatives to pass restrictive legislation
on the use of riparian zones adjacent to streams and lakes.  In Oregon, we have
had a couple nasty fights over how the use of the "streambed" is regulated by
law.  Responsible paddlesport advocates (thank you, Steve and Cindy Scherrer of
Alder Creek Kayak Supply) spent a lot of time and some of their money fending
off restrictive legislation ... in exchange for educating the paddling public
on good manners and presenting a good exterior to streamside landowners.

Commando camping would not fit under that umbrella.

In some parts of Washington (the San Juans, for example), shoreside landowners
have had so many bad experiences with sea kayakers that they have put political
pressure to work, restricting access to launch points, and in one case banding
together to buy up the one primo beach on Shaw Island suitable for yak
launching.  (I should hasten to add this is not all the fault of sea kayakers. 
There is an "attitude" on the parts of many owners in the San Juans that sea
kayakers are part of the "rabble."  Can you say wealthy but not nice?)

Using a private beach for illicit camping will only make this situation worse,
and for that reason, I won't do it.

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR
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