The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Paddlesports’ popularity apparent
Kayaks, canoes, and stand-up paddle boards becoming more present
Take a walk down to any public beach on Lake Erie this season and you’re likely to glimpse the glimmer of plastic and fiberglass-formed paddles glistening on the horizon.
From canoes to kayaks to the latest craze — stand-up paddleboards, or SUPs — Ohio’s Great Lake, its rivers and inland bodies of water are becoming more and more populated with paddlers.
“I’ve been here almost 10 years now,” said Seth Begeman, Lake Metroparks’ outdoor education chief. “And, when I first started, we had, maybe, six single-person kayaks and a couple doubles (for rent at Fairport Harbor
Lakefront Park.) Now there are 16 single kayaks, eight to 10 doubles and, about five years ago, we started doing the stand-up paddleboards and that has just blown up. It’s huge.”
As an example, Begeman cited Labor Day 2016. Being a holiday, rentals were available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and, during that time, there were 90 different SUP rentals.
“Yeah — that was a pretty big day for those,” he said in a July 19 phone interview, adding that, at present, the most popular boats to rent seem to be the two-person kayaks, which rent for $15 an hour, followed by the SUPs and the
single-person kayaks coming in third. The latter two types of paddlecraft rent for $10 an hour.
Begeman said 2016 represented Lake Metroparks’ “biggest, most recordbreaking season” for paddlesports rentals at the beach in Fairport Harbor, which is the only place the park system has them available.
He attributed their popularity to favorable weather and the fact that their appeal has finally reached Ohio from the West Coast.
“A lot of it has to do with the weather. I mean, look at last year: We had no rain and it was hot. So people flocked to the beach to cool off,” he said, adding that, like most activities of this nature, paddling’s popularity seemed to have progressed east from the west.
“When you start seeing this stuff, it always seems to come from the West Coast,” Begeman said. “Then it slowly migrates toward us here in Cleveland. Then, you start seeing it on TV and celebrities doing it and, eventually, we start seeing it on the water here.”
But Lake Erie and the Lake Metroparks aren’t the only ones being deluged with interest in paddlesports. People all over the state are registering paddle-powered boats in increasing numbers and have been over the last decade, according to Ohio Department of Natural Resources public information representative Carey Santiana.
In a July 21 e-mail exchange, Santiana confirmed that, over the last decade (from 2007-2016), there’s been a 151 percent increase in canoe and kayak registrations, with 70,279 registrations in 2007, compared with 181,203 in 2016.
“Those registration numbers are expected to continue to grow as the state continues to invest in the paddling community,” Santiana writes, adding that millions of dollars in grant money has been making its way to programs to help support safe paddling, paddlesports education and facilities.
“From 2006 to 2016, more than $7 million was provided through community grant programs and publications,” she typed. “This support provided carry-in and small boat access, as well as hands-on skill development through local education and recreation programs, including the Paddle Palooza festivals and the Paddle Ohio program. It also funded publications detailing stream access and paddling opportunities.”
In Geauga County, where the park district began its kayak-borrowing program at Headwaters Park in Claridon/Huntsburg townships last year, one has to show up pretty early in the morning to borrow a boat. For example, this reporter arrived there on the afternoon of July 16 to find some 15 groups ahead of him in line to borrow a kayak, of which the park has eight adult models and two childsized craft.
Thanks in part to the park’s refurbished boathouse, which was completed in October 2015, the interest in paddling the East Branch Reservoir at Headwaters Park exploded, according to Geauga Park District Marketing Director Sandy Ward, who affirmed
2016’s kayak-borrowing count “was a whopping 1,301!”
The same holds true for Mentor, where the city-run Mentor Lagoons Nature Preserve and Marina rents single- and double-person kayaks, according to Marina Manager Scott Robbins.
“We took over the marina in 1997 and we started getting grant funding in 2001,” he said relative to the rental and other programs offered there today. “Speaking with our recreation staff, they said they’ve seen a really good, strong increase in activity for rentals and classes, etcetera, over the last five years.”
All this interest in paddlesports in recent years is certainly a boost to area retailers, liveries and the state, itself, which reports $4.59 million in revenue between 2010-2016 from paddle-craft registrations alone. But, from public safety agencies’ perspectives, the increased interest in paddlesports in recent years also represents increased concern over boaters’ safety, no matter what they’re piloting on the water.
In fact, considering anyone can buy a kayak, a paddle and a life vest for around $200 at any of a number of retailers and get in the water the same day with no training, numerous organizations, from the U.S. Coast Guard and the ODNR Division of Watercraft, to the American Canoe Association, county and local agencies have begun paying more attention to the matter.
For example, in May, a contingent with representation from 27 different marine and watersports safety concerns met in Mentor to begin forming a plan to educate the public about paddlesports safety.
“It’s interesting. If you start looking into the paddling community, some paddlers are old pros. They’ve been into it for a long time. They know paddling safety. They know paddling etiquette and they know how to react to being in the water next to bigger boats,” said Mike Baron, U.S. Coast Guard 9th District recreational boating safety specialist.
Baron took part in a discussion May 9 at Great Lakes Power Products in Mentor with 27 other representatives from various boating-safety concerns, including the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and the Spirit of America Foundation.
“The other segment of paddlers is made up largely of folks who go into a sporting goods store and pick a kayak, paddle and life vest off the shelf and go get into the water later that day,” he said, adding that “We’re looking to come up with a plan to make paddling safer for everyone here in the Great Lakes.”
Numerous initiatives aimed at new-paddler education, safety and training are currently afloat, including the USCG Auxiliary’s AUXPAD program, the ODNR’s Ready, Set Wear it! and numerous campaigns by the likes of the National Safe Boating Council and numerous other organizations.