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deryck.w
Joined: 03 Jun 2008
Posts: 35
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 Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2012 9:54 pm Post subject: |
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| isobars wrote: | | deryck.w wrote: | | SeaDawg wrote: | | A Google Satalite fly over, sort of shows a lack of public beach launch sites for the area to the west and east of Seatle. In fact Lake Washinton almost has the feel of lake shore owners only |
[Raft Island] says its a private island but no one has ever bothered me when I park there. |
Congratulations, Deryck. You have discovered a passkey to a lifetime of more freedom than most people enjoy. You're in the population segment that lives by the mantra "There's no sign saying I can't, therefore I can". The other segment's mantra is "There's no sign saying I can, therefore I cannot." Just think of the extra freedom the former group enjoys in every aspect of their lives, including launching WSers, riding mountain bikes, filling out tax returns, passing sheeple on two-lane highways, getting laws passed or blocked, camping outdoors, getting jobs ... the sky's the limit with the former attitude. There's often a gaping chasm between what we're invited to do and what we're expressly forbidden to do, and that chasm is at the beck and call of the former group. (The latter group misses a huge array of freedom by waiting for written invitations for every option.)
How does that relate to SeaDawg's topical question? Easy: The former group would look at those Google Earth pictures and see opportunity, not lack thereof. When I see a 10 square meter patch of unfenced land next to a body of windy water, I think "That's a potential launch site." I'll then drive to it, evaluate its value as a launch site, and look for signs like "Achtung: Minen. Eintritt Verboten". Depending on signage and common sense, I'll either rig, ask if I may launch despite the signs, or leave. I have yet to be asked to leave or denied a request to launch ... but then I've not asked Bill Gates to let me launch from his yard. I HAVE asked, successfully, to launch from the lawn of the man who wrote the laws governing shoreline access to the Columbia River. Most people are darn nice when asked politely, and no one's ever asked me to get off a corporate lawn. A bride's father even invited me to come eat at her wedding reception when he noticed me de-rigging on the adjacent office building lawn.
I'm not criticizing your mindset, SeaDawg; it's very understandable considering where you've lived. But until one goes TOO far west in the lower 48 states, it's pretty safe to err on the side of freedom when in doubt, and/or ask if you can find someone in authority. The bright side of that is that, absent a serious sign to the contrary, if we can't find someone to say, "Yes, you may", who's gonna say, "No, you may not"? Simply asking has gotten me access to private launches, including a closed state park and posted private launches all over the West, and the same approach has gotten me jobs and tax deductions and scores of great camp sites for decades.
Now go check Google Earth again, looking not for places you are AUTHORIZED to launch but instead for places that look good and are not expressly FORBIDDEN to us. A good example is U.S. GOVERNMENT LAND. GREAT! That makes it MINE unless clearly stated otherwise, as the government works for me. (Beware; that's changing rapidly.)
Sorry about the lecture, but this principle has dominated and improved every aspect of my entire personal and professional lives for >60 years. I am very dismayed to see it threatened by ever-increasing legislation; get it while you can.
Mike \m/ |
It's actually Jay, this is my fathers old account he doesn't use anymore so I'm using it until the subscription runs out (this detail was missed by many last time i tried to post something, and i have no idea how to change the username).
But yeah I agree there are tons of places to launch in the Puget Sound (I can think of at least 6-8 beaches/public parks adjacent to beaches that you can launch off of within a 30 mile radius of Raft Island) and many have and will only be sailed by a few sailors. Growing up I found all these spots by looking at wind forecasts/readings and GoogleMaps, and about 70% of my sessions during the school year were at public parks where I was the only one sailing with perfect wind and a massive bay all to myself. Don't underestimate how epic the Puget Sound can actually be, especially if you have some freedom to look on Google Earth for windsurf spots and check them out in your free time when the fall windstorms start up. |
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