Re: [Paddlewise] FW: FW: Envisioning the Future of Coastal Management

       I won't try to refute or agree with what Matt said, since I have 
never researched
  this topic and do not live in Washington. But I will relate an incident 
when a group
  of us form the Portland, Oregon area were paddling near Boston Harbor in 
Puget
  Sound, and were getting pounded by some nasty opposing tidal flows, 
surges, and wind.
  Our group was of mixed abilities, and we sought refuge on a nearby beach.
  Upon landing, a person came running down to the water's edge, yelling and
  screaming, demanding that we re-enter the maelstrom immediately and die. I 
will never
  forget that day.

BRC

> Bradford wrote:
>
>>>>>>>>As many of you already know, the tidal shorelines in Washington are
> private property, all the way to the water's edge. Makes it difficult to 
> get
> out of your kayak.<<<<<<<
>
> This is not correct for many if not most of the beaches of WA. And where
> Bradford is correct, it is usually the average high tide line 
> (approximately
> the log line) that is the border between public beach and private 
> property.
> So the public beach is legally available to kayakers for landing most of 
> the
> time except high tide. In fact, I think most of the beaches below the high
> tide line are public in WA. The Dept. of Natural Resources has some 
> booklets
> for the San Juan Islands (and also a map of the islands) and the Straits 
> of
> Juan de Fuca (and maybe more) that show which beaches fall into which
> category and even with arial photos of where the boundries between the
> various "jurisdictions" or "types of ownership" are. I think the title (or
> subtitle) of the booklets was "Your Public Beaches".
>
> Of course, the upland property owners often believe (or pretend to 
> believe)
> that they also own the beach. This (and the need for shoreline toilet
> facilities) has caused kayakers to be seen as undesirable vermin in the 
> San
> Juan Islands. As a result residents have done what they can to reduce the
> number of put-ins available for kayakers in those islands whenever they
> could. They have been quite successful in that endeavor. Most of the
> traditional put-ins near ferry docks that were available in the 1980's 
> have
> been eliminated so paddlers need to drive on the ferries rather than just
> wheel their boats on them (as we used to do) in order to get on the water
> from all the islands except San Juan Island. On San Juan Island (the last
> time I tried anyhow) one needed to wheel ones kayak a few blocks to a 
> marina
> to launch. This has been quite a disappointing experience for me When I
> started paddling most residents considered the few kayakers as interesting
> visitors. This probably has some parallels with the European invasion of
> Norht America and the changing attitude of the Natives as numbers of
> Europeans increased and began abusing the land and competing for 
> resourses.
> I recently saw a great poster of famous picture of Geronimo with a grim
> expression on his face and a rifle under the caption "Fighting Terrorism
> since 1492".
>
> Matt Broze
> www.marinerkayaks.com
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