Lake Union Sweep

Check-in

Participated in the Lake Union Sweep hosted by Puget Sound Keeper on Saturday. After check-in at the old Naval Station, I returned to S. Lake Union Park to launch my boat. There were 3 other paddlers launching w/ me at that site. One of them--a recent transplant--told me she had driven all the way from New England with her kayak on top since she couldn't bear to part with it. Way to go! She hadn't paddled much since moving here and hoped to get out and explore our local waters. Come to think of it, I wish I had exchanged contact info so we could go on some trips or at the very least referred her to our local paddling clubs.

Preparing to launch with other 'sweep' paddlers

As soon as I set my boat on the dock, I spied a plastic wrapper floating by. Guess it's time for some 'unofficial' trash picking. Made a mental note to return here and clean up after the kickoff. Paddled a short distance to the Center for Wooden Boats where all other boaters--mostly kayakers--were already congregated. After opening remarks by PSK, Mayor Nickels made gave a short spiel, and the cleanup was underway.

Speech! Speech!

Returned to the park shorefront. What a mess! With primary winds coming from either the north or south, lake trash usually ends up on the shores of S Lk Union Pk (SLUP?!?) or Gasworks. Styrofoam styrofoam everywhere! It was a total pain to hand-pick all these little itty bitty pieces of styro but well worth it. Waterfowl and other critters could easily consume them with baaaad consequences. I'm reminded of documentaries that show autopsies of dead waterfowl with all kinds of trash lodged in their digestive systems. Gotta do what we can to minimize that from happening.

Captain Yuk sez yuck!

Then real test of the yuck factor came while dealing with snagged plastic bags which I absolutely swear were used as doggy poop bags. All of them were in various stages of entanglement amongst the blackberry bushes underwater. I'd alternate using the grabber and my hands to free them. Yuck Yuck Triple Yuck!

Being a novice Lk Union Sweeper, I initially thought using my day hatch as a trash receptacle (lined w/ provided trash bags of course) would be a good idea. Well, a chunk of wood i added to my trash collection punctured the bag and the icky liquids from the plastic bags leaked out into the day hatch, in which i had stored my water bottle. Plus that chunk of wood made it impossible to remove the bag while seated in the kayak. So I docked, massaged the wet trashbag out of my day hatch and reset everything. Ok, back to work.

Spent most of the morning there, going back and forth between the park and CWB for more trashbags and another grabber. Oh, and I found out that these grabbers don't float when mine fell into deeper water. Nothing screams neon-sign irony like inadvertantly creating trash while cleaning up other people's garbage during a community cleanup event.

More So. Lk Union Park trash

But! The show must go on. After spending an hour and half at the park, I headed up north but most of the other boaters had done a great job. Still I managed to fill the bag with more styrofoam (no surprise there), wood and plastic debris, bottles and an old gallon-jug of bleach. There was a strong north wind at times which made for some fun chop. After some time at Gasworks, it was time to head back for some nosh. Got distracted by some nice boat wakes so I was the last paddler back.

No worries--there was still tons of food and drinks. Got in line and grubs up. I certainly didn't expect such a spread: 2 kinds of pasta salad, caesar salad, salmon sandwiches, cold cuts, bread, desert, bbq wings, chowder, coffee, tea, juice, pop, fruits. Yum!

Didn't win any of the raffle prizes, but that's ok. It was a great event and I was very impressed with the amount of trash everyone picked up, including a huge chunk of 5 by6 foot wood debris. I'll continue to keep an eye out for garbage during my regular paddles, but I just have to say this,

PLEASE PUT TRASH INTO THE FLIPPIN TRASH BINS, PEOPLE!