lighthouse beach in chatham closed to swimming

[fanaticultrahawk]

i just read lighthouse beach will be closed for swimming.- insane

I wonder how they will inforce that and what the punishment for people who disobey it are?

I would think they cant legaly close it to windsurfers too. any other thoughts?

[isobars]

Yes, they can close it to us.
"Usually the [health] board only closes beaches temporarily due to high bacteria counts, he said, but the same state law gives town health boards the power to close beaches because of other safety hazards. Chatham Lighthouse beach is known for its swift currents and sharp drop-offs in wading areas."

It's thus up to you locals to make sure the health board understands that if a WSer goes down in the water, the current is irrelevant because it moves sailor and gear along together rather than separating them. One significant precedent that pops to mind is the Columbia River, in whose often significant current tens of thousands of sailors play every year.

Mike \m/

[scooper]

Sucks!!!

Does anyone know whether we can still sail there? I don't want to screw up access for everyone else by sailing there if it's off limits.

I was considering sailing there this Sunday, if the strong SE wind forecast holds, and temps are near 40 as predicted.

Article about it-
http://www.wickedlocal.com/harwich/homepage/x497792125/No-swimming-at-Lighthouse-beach-Chatham-board-rules

[isobars]

That link includes this:
<The vote means that no one will be allowed in the water. Enforcement, he said, falls under the purview of the park and recreation commission, which manages the beach, and the selectmen.

“It was a tough vote, but based on the facts and the history of that beach we had to vote to close it,” he said. “The board felt it was the only responsible vote we could take for public safety. “The currents down there are so strong, 5 to 7 knots.”>

The Gorge often hits that and more, the rip currents at the OR coast hits those levels often, and those spots have yet to lose a WSer due to currents. I'd talk to the parks people first to see if they have an objection, and if they do, I'd approach the board of health which closed it down.

Bureaucrats make stupid, uninformed, blanket decisions like this every day, and it takes informed public input to prevent or reverse them. I've worked on problems like this with several local, state, and federal agencies from the local Sheriff to the Pentagon in ORV, WSing, job-related, and local real estate development issues, and in most -- definitely not all -- cases, common sense and actual facts have prevailed. The USWA has a long history of fighting access closure and may be of some help, or at least provide some proven advice.

Your board of health's primary objection will be that you a) wade out into the water and b) fall off your gear. Tell 'em that's done 10,000 times a day by windsurfers in comparable currents with zero problems, and have them contact the USWA, the Columbia Gorge Windsurfing Association, the Hood River Sheriff's Department, the Portland U.S. Army Corps of Engineering, etc. for verification of windsurfers' high degree of self-reliability.

Mike \m/

[drysuit2]

With any luck; a storm will reshape the beach again, before summer and the town will allow swimming again.The tourists that stay in town or in North Chatham tend to use that beach. And Chatham values their dollars.

As far as sailing there... I would check with one of the "locals"

When I was up over Thanksgiving, I sailed the "new Cut" from Skateree. I so much prefer that, than negotiating the stairs, and gawkers at the light house


Frank
http://drysuit2.blogspot.com/

[scooper]

How were the waves at the new cut? I've sailed out to it a few times but haven't caught it when the waves were any good. The water flowing thru there is impressive. It seems like even more current than the old cut.

[isobars]

Video your successful sailing there, including launching and falling into the current separated from your gear (raise both hands in the air and look right into the camera). Get some names and shed time statistics from the other sailors, plus their comments about the experience (or non-experience). Then if their closure becomes a threat to WSing, haul the videos, the statistics, the comments, and the sailors into a meeting with the health board.

Mike \m/

[DanWeiss]

fanticultrahawk and scooper:

As you may know, I serve as Director of US Windsurfing for the Northeast Region (New England, plus New York).

Generally, a ban on swimming is literally a ban only on swimming. Windsurfers are not swimmers -even if we wipe out and become separated from our gear in the same way as waterskier is not a swimmer after falling. The board of health should not have it both ways because, if the opposite were true, we could argue that we are merely swimming when launching through a "swimming only" zone.

US Windsurfing offers its members valuable assistance with access issues. If you are not a member, I invite you to join and contact me directly. I live in Boston and have provided our local sailors this sort of help in the past.

All the best,

-Dan Weiss

[Number-nine]

I am local. I do not expect a swiming ban at this location to be an issue for windsurfing or kiting.

It is not a big mecca spot. It is one of the most dangerous and challanging places in the NE to sail in its best conditions
There are maybe a hand full of windsurfers and a few dozen kiters who go there.
Those that should not be there due to capability rarely return if they do come and go out.

The prime season for the location is spring and fall. The town has little or no resources to enforce any ban in the off season.

In the summer there are a hand full of days that might be good but the parking is severly limited and involves a lot of coordination to access the beach. So the likely hood of sailing there is complex at best.

I agree that a swiming ban is just that. Windsurfing and Kiting fall into the boating catagory. Although these could easily be banned by the town.
If they chose to make it an issue. There has only been a few rescues of wind surfers over a 20 year span. Most who sail here can self rescue or are aided by a buddy. There have been frequent rescues of kiters. Especially in the last couple of years. So far this has not caused any problems with the town.


New cut is not a better option. Parking is even more difficult. So access is even more restricted. Currents are worse. The wave can be very punishing with out going tides and large surf. The break is very remote. 5 mile walk north to Nauset parking lot or 1/2 mile swim to shore accross a strong tidal rip. A break down or injury would be a serious problem.

[scooper]

Peter, thanks for your post! It confirms what I was hearing offline. I guess I was too quick to expect the worst. I thought they might start enforcing the parking limit and $50 tix. I was even chased down a beach once, when I was sailing, by a cop with a bullhorn and 4 wheel drive. That's not the kind of drama that I look for.