RE: [Paddlewise] Four-stroke sit-on-tops

Erik S. wrote on October 11, 2009 (back-channel)

 

> Any chance you could post names... a bunch of letters from international
paddlers

 

Thanks very much for the offer - and I'm willing to stand up and say that
organising a vocal response from the paddling community _does work_.

 

I am just back from a big powwow with the ARC - our local regional authority
- and we are celebrating success in getting the rule (bylaw) downgraded from
an offense to a recommendation. The wording has also been improved, so that
while not perfect in its application to all paddlesports, it is a lot more
sensible than it was originally.

 

However, the great news is that instead of the bludgeon of a rule or
'offense', a 'recommendation' can now be used as a baseline for authorities
and enthusiasts - to promote 'best practice'. Something that most kayakers
pick up through experience, training or simply thinking (?) about what they
are doing. Common-sense in other words - but you are still at liberty to
ignore it.

 

Returning to Erik's offer of support, our political process began with a
small initiative by a few members of a local kayaking clubs (and ours - at
that time - were even less 'together' than yours are - I'll put money on it
;-). In the space of a few weeks (all we had) of 'viral marketing' - friends
of friends - we had cajoled and motivated some 520 kayakers in the region to
make formal submissions (via email or post). This startled us and startled
the hell out of the local politicians (I'm not sure they thought there were
that many kayakers out there). What continues to amaze me was that given the
option of just 'buying into' a moderately-worded sample submission, to which
they could simply say 'me-too', many were so enthused that they wrote pages.
The printed copies of the submissions form a bound stack some 6" high!
Luckily, it wasn't thought necessary to print many copies of these - and we
have a lot of pulp trees in NZ - so we can still 'live with ourselves' on
the balance of benefit to environmental cost ;-)

 

So, if you suffer a bureaucratic / political attack on your kayaking sanity
- take heart and take the battle to them where they understand it - in the
voice of the electorate. Kindle a flame and you may shed some light on the
silliness and develop some official interest in making it less silly for
both yourself and those who come after...

 

Best Regards

Paul Hayward, Auckland, New Zealand
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