Skills June 18

[kayakerjnj]

Water temps should be warming up and the long range forecast looks to be great for Skills this week.

Hope to see you all

4:30ish

[norm]

Sounds good! I might actually get wet this week.

[Joy]

I'm in.

[Dan]

Folks --

Thursday night sounds great. Last session, there was mention of moving the venue around. Would anyone be interested in Long Pond in Plymouth? It has a large, paved, public parking lot and a small clean beach scrubbed by a stream next to a concrete ramp. The lake is deep and clear, with some camps, clubs, and private homes on the shore. Would this be of interest?

-- Dan

[kayakerjnj]

Folks --

Thursday night sounds great. Last session, there was mention of moving the venue around. Would anyone be interested in Long Pond in Plymouth? It has a large, paved, public parking lot and a small clean beach scrubbed by a stream next to a concrete ramp. The lake is deep and clear, with some camps, clubs, and private homes on the shore. Would this be of interest?

-- Dan

Hi Dan,

Definitely and option, for this week, I'd prefer to keep it at Hanson. Long pond is a great spot, and will be another great option to have. If you have a specific parking location to have for future reference that would be great!

[norm]

Dan - What's that boat ramp like on a weeknight? I stopped by there on Saturday at about 4:00pm and the lot was full and the place was a complete zoo of people trying to launch and retrieve all kinds of boats. As far as launching a kayak, my past experience there is that it was good for a small group launching one boat at a time using the concrete stepped area beside the ramp but it could be difficult if people are sitting there holding boats, fishing or just putting their feet in the water.

I believe I have only used that pond in the early or late season when less people were around. I also believe more people are using the state boat ramps because they can't go anywhere right now. I noticed a very large crowd at the Lake Nippenicket boat ramp on a weeknight last week.

Not trying to squash a good idea, but I think some scouting is in order before we all converge on a new setting that may be a fairly long ride for some people. Of course all locations can be a long ride for somebody since we're coming from all over.

[Ken R]

I'll swing by this afternoon.

[Ken R]

I went down at 4:45 on Tuesday. The lot was almost empty. There were a couple SUPs out for an afternoon paddle and 2 kayaks that could not figure out how to keep their heads above water. .

[Dan]

Jordan --

Hansen it is.

For the future, if interested, the ramp is here: https://goo.gl/maps/777qNEU1f7Kx4HdEA We've been going on weekends and evenings when the tide times are inconvenient, but only the last two months or so. It has seldom been busy. That could change, of course, as the weather warms up. There is a small sandy area, about 4 inches deep, where a stream enters the pond next to the concrete ramp. It's about the size of the launch area in Hansen, but you have to walk in the water from the end of the ramp to get to it. You'd get your legs wet up to mid calf.

Ken, yesterday there were two rec oats, two SUPs and two aluminum fishing boats that had launched at the ramp. Oh, and a couple of SOF kayaks that couldn't stay upright. You should have joined us! We didn't run into anyone on the ramp when we launched or came back.

Norm, in the past, when the ramp has had more action, people been good about getting out of the way once they're in or out of the water. It has yet to be crowded. Last Sunday we ran into a birthday party in the parking lot. It was about half full, but few of those people were on the water. There were a half dozen rec boats in evidence, but we never saw them actually launch. Maybe they had earlier. Sometimes there are people fishing from the wall next to the ramp. We've yet to see the lot more than a third full. Mostly, there has been 3-6 other vehicles. Stephen's Field gets much more crowded. The paddling is better there, of course.

See you all tomorrow afternoon in Hansen.

-- Dan

[NorwayLady]

I might be running a little late, but I’ll be there...and might even get wet today.

Thank you to everyone who is researching alternative locations. It’s always nice to mix things up a little, as long as the water is not dark brown.

[norm]

Dan: I apologize - I mis-read your original posting, missing that you were talking about Long Pond in Plymouth. I was talking about Long Pond in Freetown/Lakeville. Your spot in Plymouth looks very interesting - I don't think I've ever been to that ramp before.

Sorry, Norm