'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 *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
In a message dated 10/10/00 3:16:38 PM Pacific Daylight Time, seacajun_at_gs.net writes: << 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. >> Arthur, I have the same concerns as you do. In fact, some NPS rangers called me after I sent them the float plan for my latest crossings to the Channel Islands in September. They were concerned about the danger of my trip. They seemed to have difficulty understanding the difference between what a skilled sea kayaker can do versus an average one. I was worried they were going to try to stop my trip. Needless to say, I am back safely and without rescue (sorry, Doug). To maintain a good relationship with the rangers, I mailed them a thank you letter, my second one in as many years. Duane Southern California *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:18 PDT