RE: [Paddlewise] Group Crossing Procedures

From: Michael Daly <mikedaly_at_magma.ca>
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004 19:03:18 -0400
On 22 Sep 2004 at 13:41, Steve Holtzman wrote:

> There is no need to stay in a formation except for when the group is
> crossing a shipping lane.

That depends.  Around here (eastern Great Lakes), the shipping lanes 
are used by big ships, but the rest of the water is open to anyone 
with appropriate draft.  Hence, even when out of shipping lanes, it 
can be open season on kayakers by small boat owners.  

It should also be noted that much of the Great Lakes are deep waters 
and shipping lanes are few - primarily near ports.  Big ships can go 
almost anywhere outside of these lanes.

If I'm leading a groups in an area of mostly shallow water (i.e. 
kayak- and canoe-only waters), then I don't care where folks paddle, 
as long as they keep in visual contact.  However, if we're in an area 
with boat traffic, I request that they stay together and assign both 
point and sweep.  This to maintain a greater visual presence and 
smaller size seen by the boaters.

So, the moral of the story is: paddle according to traffic 
conditions, not according to the lines on the chart.

Mike
***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed
here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire
responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author.
Submissions:     PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net
Subscriptions:   PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************
Received on Wed Sep 22 2004 - 16:00:32 PDT

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:31:17 PDT