kayaks in the way

[tetiaroaxx]

One way to dissuade kayakers is to sail naked.
If you must, tack and do a CP right upwind of them.
If they still be coming at you, and you be talented, get on a broad-reach and do a C-shit right upwind of them in a clumsy and drawn out manner.
They will find a more user friendly, and less polluted, paddling area.

[rwright]

This may be too little too late, but a few clarifications desperately need to be made here. Our kayak group is NOT the group that paddled through the freestyle contest. We came down the river several weeks before that. Read the thread. Check the dates. We also did not come through in a large bunch, but spread out in a long line leaving ample space between each boat for sailors to easily pass between and around us. We did not expect anyone to stop sailing and get off the water as we paddled through, and up until now have actually enjoyed the interaction with the sailors as they sailed by. Most even seemed to enjoy showing the kayakers what they could do as they zipped by at about 5X our speed. On several occasions, I have been sailing on the river as kayakers have paddled through, and know from that personal experience that sea kayakers are highly visible from even clear across the river, and move slow enough that they will not appear out of nowhere and poach your local wave.

I was out sailing the day of the freestyle event, and during a break walked down to the hatch for a look at the action. During the time that I was watching, a kiter came through the middle of the venue, seemingly unaware of the event until it was too late, then moved on downwind. Where’s the outrage? Maybe the real problem is that, from the river, there is not a sufficient indication that something unusual is going on? Not sure what the solution would be. Maybe a large sign on shore, with a flashing light to draw attention, indicating a contest is in progress? Maybe a short row of those large orange buoys at each end of the venue as a visual marker that something is happening between them (short meaning not extending out into potential boat traffic)? Just consider that for any type of craft coming down wind into the hatch, it might not be apparent that there is an event going on until you get right on top of it. Maybe the kiter and the paddlers were just jerks, but maybe they just made an honest mistake. We should probably get out the torches, pitchforks and a rope anyway just to be on the safe side.

This last weekend, some friends got together again for a Viento to HR downwinder paddle. I expressed some of the more positive feedback from this thread and suggested that when we get to Swell/Hatch, we might surrender our right to be anywhere on the river, and stay to the Oregon side to help foster better relations with the WS community. Imagine my surprise at how indignant some of the group felt about some WS telling them where they could or couldn’t paddle, especially when the best swell of the entire stretch is in question!!!! Good grief. To my relief, our path did take us down the Oregon side through that stretch, many swells were caught, and a great time was had by all. And not a single wave was poached.

This has been an interesting exercise in public forums for me. I was initially encouraged by some of the positive views and constructive feedback, but ended up being a bit disappointed as the thread degraded into distortions, exaggerations, and consuming negativity. My original purpose for the posting was to point out how easily the two groups could coexist on the river, but I fear that the end result may have been to just further polarize the two groups. It honestly freaks me out a bit knowing that there are so many people out there that are so eager to fight for exclusion of others from a chunk of river, instead of for all users access to the river.

So a final thanks to you folks who believe in and support the premise that all users can share the river, especially if people are willing to listen and compromise just a little to make it work. I hope that most of the thousands of people who hit on this site and didn’t post (the silent majority?), will remember that most of the kayakers that they encounter on the river are just out for a good paddle, and are enjoying the same things about the gorge that you do. And, I will continue to try to guide groups that I paddle with to the sides of the river in the busy sailing areas.

[flyskiwindsurf]

[isobars]

[isobars]

[tetiaroaxx]

It's never been about 'right to the river', or about who owns a wave, or about collision regulations, sewage discharge, or 'can't we all just get along?'.

It's always been about dealing with a-holes (i.e. at freestyle frenzy).



PS try to beam-reach through this (it's moving too!) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _