Many years ago my first sailboat was an 18 foot cuddy cabin model and I couldn’t afford a motor so I really had to learn to sail. I’d been out on Lake Toho at Kissimmee all morning but the wind quit, the lake was like a mirror. It took me an hour to make the last 50 yards. (Anybody can sail when the wind is blowing!) I was about 5 feet from the dock when four bass boats came in in a rush. The first one slipped between me and the dock, grabbed my bow rail and shoved me out of the way—back out in the lake. The last guy in line came out and towed me back in. I stayed on the off side of the dock until he loaded up and they all went down to the fish camp for a beer. After recovering and readying my boat for travel I went down to thank the fella who helped me and pay for his stern light which he broke while towing me in. (He refused to let me pay for the light or even buy him a beer.) He had the other boaters lined up and was lecturing them on right-of-way and common courtesy. In any group there are always those who only think of themselves but, as I’ve said before, it’s been power boaters and strangers who have most often rendered help when I needed it.
Your second paragraph is what seems to happen in every community that I know. Predominantly they build ADA certified launches with lots of 90 degree access turns - nearly impossible to maneuver with anything more than a WW kayak (and our nearest WW is about 6 hours away). Cities/counties try, but as you wrote, they fail to consult kayakers/canoeists about launch location or design.
Kayakhank, I had always wondered what the reason for those narrow, convoluted, walled “kayak launch paths” with numerous 90-degree bends was. They certainly are impossible for passage if carrying anything longer than a WW kayak, and even that is iffy.
The one I am thinking of was built at a reservoir, no WW on or connected to it. The entire layout of the “swim beach” and other access intended for nonmotos is awful, as if the designers threw in a toebone for paddlers as a slapped-on OOPS WE FORGOT ABOUT THEM.
Here in Maryland various counties started installing ADA compliant kayak ramps, commonly referred to as “Roller Ramps of Death”
These ramps often had approaches characterized by narrow pathways with high guard rails and 90° turns. The rollers were spaced far apart and could inflict severe damage to composite boats with the weight of a person inside the kayak. On of our member’s boats sustained $750 worth of gelcoat damage to a new Kevlar kayak. They were only suitable for short plastic boats, mainly rec kayaks.
I contacted the manufacturer of the ramps that were being installed locally explaining the problem and the company soon came out with a new design that didn’t involve rollers.
Our Club then worked with Maryland DNR and various counties to get them to rethink car top boat water access. The result was this:
In this case a boat ramp with a protected sand beach car top launch. The second photo was at the dedication. In other areas there was just the kayak launch with no boat ramp.
Homeport Farms Park kayak launch. Car top boats only.
These types of launches are more expensive to put in, but once in maintenance is minimal, as opposed to the floating ramps.
So for many years I have been using the grandview sandbar access on the new river. My time on the new river has largely corresponded with the river becoming a national river and most recently a national park and preserve. At the grandview sandbar the park greatly improved access by improving the road into the area and improving on up stream to where glade creek dumps in. This has made it possible to run a short section or river (4.9 miles) with an easy shuttle by wv standards. Thus the run has become quite popular. Years ago, the park service blocked off the sandbar (really more of gravel/cobble bar) but it was once used as a natural takeout. Instead they built a ramp which is better for folks that want to trailer their boats into the water, mostly commercial oar rigs set up for fishing that utilize trailers. Unfortunately it is more hazardous to kayakers, or folks who are carrying rafts, because the ramp is made up of concrete bars with gaps in between.
I enjoy the fact there are now bathrooms, better roads, and I believe ultimately it is a good thing that more people are enjoying the river. Of course there are drawbacks. I have to share the area more with others, it is more patrolled, and feels more managed. We are currently dealing with the growing pains of what is now become a national park. As of yet, no fees have been implemented and the small campgrounds have remained free but I look for all of that to change with no reservations going by the wayside.
Overall, we have had very limited crime and problems. Often I will encounter rangers in full tactical gear. I can’t say I really feel any safer with them around or when they are running motorized rigs up and down the river. Apparently, a few rangers are interested in joining the u.s. marshal service and you can get service credit by providing law enforcement in a national park. I’m proud to report I’ve never needed a kevlar vest when down at the old sandbar or never needed assistance of a motorized rig.
@tdaniel, you brought up a good point that I though about during the recent post from rstevens15. The primary reason I tend to use the same launch is comfort and safety. The launch I frewuently use is nearby, the parking lot is close, the sandy beach is easy to use, it’s not typically crowded, and its safe - never an incident of vandalism or theft. Consequently, I can drive two hours around the top of the bay or over the Bay Bridge and pay an $8 crossing fine, or If I’m in prime condition, I can paddle across in 2 hrs 45 minutes or less. Best of all, the launch is free. I hate bridge and highway toll fines, parking fees, launch fees and park entrance fees.
I was told this today by a commercial captain:
“If you have a wetsuit, especially a full suit, you have as much buoyancy as the USCG requires for a type 2 PFD, or work vest. I only know this because I got the CG in Key West to approve my deckhands to wear full wetsuits 3/2 instead of PFDs like other deckhands are required to wear on deck.”
Anyway, I thought it interesting.
Although I can not imagine wearing a full wetsuit on deck in KEY WEST (??!!!)
Man you think like me 
sick person
“ Schools no longer teach how to think. The “rulers” will probably tell you that you think too much. Then they’ll ban kayaks and canoes, in favor of water parks where you can ride carts on rails that slide down a ramp to splash into a pond. Weeee! No PFD needed.”
I was almost run over by the big scooter ladies in Costco today, I had forgotten all about them, they drive fast!
Amen to that (buoyancy of wetsuits). When I took my PADI course it was during a bitterly cold winter in an indoor city pool in the drafty basement of a 100 year old library building so I wore my 3/4 mm full surfer wetsuit to most sessions to keep from being chilled when we were standing around the deck getting instructions and listening to war stories from our long-winded dive master. Problem with the wetsuit was, because I was such a cork in the thing, they had to hang so much lead on my weight belt to neutralize me, I could barely climb out of the pool. When we would do the “sit on the bottom at the 10’ deep end and remove all your gear and then put it back on” test, as soon as I took off my tank and belt I would start to rise like a bubble to the surface no matter how I fought to stay submerged. So I can attest that a neoprene wetsuit does, indeed, provide a hell of a lot of flotation.
Though I am weirdly buoyant anyway, even though my BMI runs 24 to 25. It was 20 in high school (5’ 5", 120 lbs) and even then I could literally float in the pool vertically with my head above water even without treading water. But with a wetsuit on, I might as well be stuffed with styrofoam and helium.
Well there is a reason surfers like them over drysuits? Is it the need to be more physically active?
BTW, I wonder how long before somebody tries to make the surfers in California wear PFDs and helmets?
I can’t really say which I will prefer because I’m not having a lot of luck trying on a drysuit. I drove to a big REI yesterday and they only had two that they couldn’t find. They were Kokatats in aqua (looked sort of clown suity to me) but they were 30-40% off.
So the saga continues…but in the meantime I ordered the O’Neil because the fabric was downright seductive to touch (Technobutter) and the reviews claimed that she stays almost dry. That’s unlike any wetsuit I’ve worn if it’s true.
Not cheap, but you know when you want to spend money vs when you don’t “feel it?”
I’m in SoCal with 30 million people so you’d think I could find a store…I just can’t see spending that money without trying it on.
You think too much!
Disney world already exists, but today is a beautiful fall dsy. First calm kayak day since last autumn.
Ok as long as you realize “the future is female!”
This is the pot calling the kettle black BTW because I’m not even tracking my paddling yet 
This is like the rule that pools have that won’t allow anyone to hold their breath and swim underwater. An obsession with safetyism has taken over and makes people less capable IMO.
Safety is good. I dont pay attention to rules. I breath underwater only when I have to. Forget pool rules. How can they stop you?
They can kick you out if you are swimming laps underwater, which I love doing.
I don’t use public spaces too much anymore, I have even ceded the bathrooms (American rest stops too dangerous in California)
The lunatics completely took over our sauna in Gig Harbor Y
Now these people come in there is shoes and work out clothes and the others do naked yoga.
No thanks, bye bye.
Our city beach has two boat ramps relatively close together. But in between is a sandy area perfect for launching paddle craft. Then our city also has a boat ramp at another location. This area was remodeled to add an area for launching paddle craft, although its design is not well thought out. The point is that the city is aware of paddle craft and tries to make launching convenient and minimize conflict with power boaters … although more user input would help address design issues.
That prohibition on underwater swimming stops people from becoming better able to save themselves. Good gawd, common sense is not only uncommon, it is being deliberately stamped out.
I read an account of a highly experienced board surfer who got knocked down by an infamous wave (whose name I can’t remember now). The area was especially dangerous because swimming to safety meant swimming UNDERWATER a very long distance. The length of a football field! He managed it, thanks to the breath-holding practice he had been doing for many years, not to mention strong swimming ability.
Another dumb rule: in some CO reservoirs swimming is prohibited because of “the cold water.” One would think the rule would instead be, “Swimmers must wear a full wetsuit.” But no, it has nothing to do with safety after all.
You are lucky they think of paddlers at all in any context other than duckies and rec kayaks floating in tiny ponds.
Drysuits are clownsuity because they can’t be tight. But they allow flexibility in layering underneath.
Wetsuits always feel tight unless they’re big enough to let lots of water through.
Pick your poison.
I have each kind but don’t like either nearly as much as wearing noninsulated stretchy paddling shorts and shirts. Unfortunately, the season for that kind of freedom just ended. I saw a woman in the water in a bathing suit while I wore neoprene, so obviously this depends on your own body and tolerance for cold.