[Paddlewise] Entering and exiting a kayak from a mothership

On Nov 25, 2007 2:42 AM, Dave Kruger <kdruger_at_pacifier.com> wrote:

>
> I think someone told me a person can call in from Bamfield and clear
> Canadian Customs there.


This is a quibble, I know... but you "enter" customs when you arrive and
"clear" customs when you depart.  :)

In one of my careers I sorta worked for the Department of State . Kinda.


> Anybody know for sure?  My mothership is very near completion, and Barkley
> Sound is definitely one of the locales I plan to explore with it.  Not
> sure
> I want to cross from Neah Bay, but maybe.


There are many, many days in the summer when you can cross safely from Neah
Bay to Barkley Sound. In another of my careers (don't ask how many but this
one was to recover psychologically from the period involving State) I
operated a salmon troller mostly from La Push but also occasionally from
Neah Bay and often, after we were beyond the 3-mile limit (in the 70s)
fished alongside relatively small (under 10 meters) Canadian trollers who
home ported in Tofino and went out almost every day.

The difficulty comes when you "must" get back home regardless of the
weather. If you have the time to simply wait for another good day then going
back and forth is really fairly easy; except for the politics.

Mine is a minimalist mothership (a daughtership?) with a small V-berth and
> no galley -- cooking is on a campstove on the fantail -- and the
> portapotty
> spends nights on deck in the cockpit, days inside the cuddy cabin.  Our
> boats will be foldables, stowed in the cuddy when running, assembled on
> the
> engine cover (it is an inboard), and gingerly entered off the stern.
>  Still
> working on how to leave the kayaks and hump ourselves over the rail, back
> into the cockpit.


My Carver has a square stern and swim platforms so getting in and out of a
kayak will be easier than for me than for you from your pointy bartender
stern. Not easy, mind you, but easier.

While we were cruising on Kibitka we had friends who owned a very large
german shepherd dog that was difficult to get into and out of their dinghy.
They contrived a platform that lowered almost to the water with the inboard
side against the hull and two wire-rope supports that ran at 45-degrees from
the outboard corners of the platform up to the gunwale of their sailboat.
This platform was about 3 feet long and 2 feet wide. Theirs was made from
3/4-inch plywood but I think I'd make one from regular wood in the same form
a cockpit sole is built (longitudinal wood strips of about 2-inches
separated by small blocks) so it would better survive the odd wayward wave.

On my mothership I'm planning to have Railmakers in Everett, WA construct a
sturdy rack over the rear cockpit to carry the kayaks (since I'm addicted to
*my* kayaks). In my case, I plan to dangle a thick rope from the top of the
platform so that it will drape over the stern and allow a paddler to use it
for support entering and exiting..

A second method comes to mind. Carry a dinghy and use it to ferry you to
shore dragging the kayak along behind. In my case I'm going to put my little
10-foot catamaran hulled dink on its side on the swim platforms while
underway; secured to the supports for the kayak rack. You really should have
a dinhy anyway, probably inflatable, just in case of trouble.



Craig Jungers
Moses Lake, WA
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