[Paddlewise] Opinion / Advice request

'Twas the perfect weekend for a paddle, twenty-five knot wind and gusting
from the north.  Our first real cold front (all the way down to 59 degrees,
brrrrrr :-)  in the New Orleans area.  I called paddling partner Larry
Koenig and he was ready to meet me at the south shore of Lake Ponchartrain
for a little paddle.    The Lake borders New Orleans (15 min drive from
home), with a average depth of eight feet and a fetch of 24 miles from north
to south, it will kick up pretty good on the south shore with a heavy north
wind.
   Before we launched we rode along the lake shore in the vehicle and
watched the spray become airborne as the 4-6 foot waves bashed against the 8
to 10 foot tall sea wall at West End Point.   There were cars park near the
edges of the sea wall getting a car wash with the brackish water.  We
traveled to a couple other areas to watch the  waves ending their journey
across the lake with a bang.    Yea, I guess you can call it a type of sea
kayakers foreplay.
  Enough foreplay it was time to get wet!  We returned back to the boat
launch (no fees) where I had left my truck and boat.  The boats removed from
the vehicles and cold weather apparel put on we were ready to go play.  Well
almost ready to go play,  first I needed to contact Coast Guard Station New
Orleans and inform them of our intentions and location.   There was no
emergency, I have learned in the past when ever I go out in these conditions
someone will call the CG on me as I practice MOB maneuvers.   As my previous
"cell phone" post mentioned I forgot to charge up the VHF (that was the
accident I learned from) and had to call the CG from the cell phone.
   After paddling about three miles we were two miles off shore playing
underneath the worlds longest bridge (or so I hear), the north to south 24
mile long Causeway Bridge. After zig - zaging between the concrete pylons
and maneuvering through the six foot space between the concrete bridge
supports for a couple hours we moved clear of the Causeway Bridge.  Wanting
to get far enough away from the bridge so the people in the cars could not
see as we practice our rolls ( did not want to upset anyone).   Surly
someone would have called the Causeway police or the CG on us if they would
have seen us upside down.  This has happen to me on several occasions,
fortunately when the CG was notified via VHF I would overhear the
transmission and was able to inform them that I was ok.
    About one half miles away from the Causeway a Coast Guard vessel
approached us from the stern.  They idled about fifty feet from us, not
being able to hear their request I moved into a safe location about 15 feet
from their bow.   They were in search of a 22 footer in distress, and I
though we were the only vessels on the lake today, that guy must have been
crazy to be in a little 22 footer in conditions like this ;-)  Informed the
CG that no other vessels were sighted during or paddle.   We continued to
head east and the CG headed west, well they were when I had last looked.
Larry and I talked how safe and capable we must have appeared to the CG,
flares and lights on the PFD, VHF on the deck, and a helmet on the head as
we moved as one with the seas.
  No one in sight and about two miles offshore, we decided to start playing
doing different type of rolls as the breaking six footers crashed by.  After
about fifteen minutes of roll practice the CG came up from the stern again.
They did not stop this time, when parallel to us they just headed back out
to sea.  We felt that the Coast Guard in our area may have been educated
somewhat  to the sea worthiness of a sea kayak, maybe a wrongful impression.
  Feeling a bit guilty I called to speak to the C.O. at CG station to make
them aware of our experience level, this is only to point out that we would
not want them to think that every kayak is safe in those kind of conditions
and jeopardize an inexperience paddler getting in over there head.   We may
not be the best of the best but we were definitely not over our head but was
happy the waves were.
During the conversation with the C.O. at the station he informed me that two
kayakers had to be rescued from the lake that same day we were out there.
One guy capsized and was not able to reenter and needed assistance only 50
yards from the CG station.  Kayaking being a growing sport in our area we
are already getting a bad wrap by people going out in conditions over there
heads.   I offered to talk to the enlisted at the station about  sea
kayaking and  sea kayaking safety.   I was hoping that I could get some
suggestions from the people of Paddle Wise as items that should be discussed
with the CG if the meeting with the CG staff does come to pass.

I explained to the C.O. that I would hope that we do not fall into the same
category as "some" of those irresponsible Jet Skiers.
He seemed most interested in putting something together, so any advice from
the Paddle Wise Community would be extremely helpful.
Thanks in advance for any advice,
Arthur Hebert
http://homepages.gs.net/seacajun




-----Original Message-----
From: Arthur Hebert <seacajun_at_gs.net>
To: PaddleWise_at_paddlewise.net <PaddleWise_at_paddlewise.net>
Date: Monday, October 09, 2000 6:18 PM
Subject: [Paddlewise] Cell Phone


>Greetings All,
>
>
>Just would like to mention something that I think may be a good idea.
>
>
>Dial in (not send) the local Coast Guard or emergency phone number in your
>cell phone prior to launch.  As with most cell phones the last number
dialed
>in would only take the push of the send button to activate the phone call.
>
>
>You may never have to push the send button
but..............................
>
>
>I realized this by accident this weekend after I had spoke to the Coast
Guard
>prior to launch.
>
>
>Sometimes it takes an accident to learn some things, oops did I say that.
>
>
>Ok, I'll admit I forgot to charge my VHF the night before and only had a
two
>hour charge the morning before we went paddling.  Trying to contact the
USCG
>prior to launch I broke up badly during transmission and had to call in
with
>the cell phone.
>
>
>
>
>
>Arthur Hebert


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