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Trip to Thomas Point - to Make a Point

Meetups will eventually be the death of traditional clubs like the Chesapeake Paddlers Association. I’ve said it before and it was amply demonstrated by this event. 

Some folks have been agitating for greater water access in Anne Arundel County. There are parks on the bay which, while publicly funded and officially "public", have traditionally been accessible only by those in the immediate neighborhood who have the key/combination to get in. This really isn't right, and recently there have been some successes in opening these parks to the public. One success story in this area is Beverly-Triton Park, which is now open and which is a great launch point for a paddle out to Thomas Point lighthouse. Access to nearby Mayo Beach Park is a work in progress – it’s currently open to the public just a few days per year. This past Saturday was one of those days and so a group was organized to show that there’s public interest in the park. Some of us launched out of Beverly-Triton and paddled over to Mayo, while others launched directly from Mayo Beach.
 
The group at Thomas Point shoal
Even though the water access activists and organizers of this event are all CPA members, this show-of-force trip was created via one of the paddling Meetups. Why? Well, I don't know - but I suspect that it has to do with the fact that Meetups can be spontaneous, plus the software platform takes care of sending out notifications as well as tracking sign-ups and communications (such as the back-and-forth about the potential for thunderstorms on the day of this trip), while the CPA calendar is largely set months in advance, and you actively have to go to the CPA site to know what's going on.

All that having been said, a group of about nine of us launched from Beverly-Triton and headed over to Mayo, where we marveled at the facilities (for a place that's not really open to the public, it has a lot of infrastructure) and met up with the rest of the group. From there we made a bee-line out to Thomas Point Light. The water was as smooth as the bay gets - not glassy, but waves six inches in height at the most. After the requisite photo ops we cut back west to Thomas Point Park where we took a lunch break. After crossing the South River the group split. Some people had time constraints and wanted to head back, while some wanted to add a little more distance and go around Turkey Point. My shoulder was feeling a little achy and I was concerned about the thunderstorms which were predicted for the afternoon, so I opted to head back.
 
Back at the launch, one paddler revealed that he had thrown out his back unloading the boat in the morning. He had been fine paddling, he said, but picking up the kayak would be a problem. I've been there with back problems, shoulder problems, etc. and so Tom and I loaded his boat for him.
 
A good ten mile day with both old and new paddling companions.
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Location: Annapolis, MD, USA

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