Isle Royale Forums

Please pass the word, or for any other's interested...

My wife Sarah works for Riverside Kayak Connection in Wyandotte Michigan and this year we are offering our first Isle Royale guided kayaking trip, planned arrival on the island July 20th for a week paddling on the island.

Our trip is unique in the sense that it will be a "semi-guided" trip. We're designing the trip to educate/instruct intermediate paddlers who are interested in expedition paddling but may be just a tad apprehensive to embark on the adventure on their own. The trip will be organized with 3 full instructional classes one month prior to the trip, involving backcountry camping, how to pack your kayak, cooking in the field, kayak open water rescues and a full navigation course. At the end of each class will be a paddle between 10-18 miles to condition kayakers for the IR trip.

Paddlers will not only benefit from the 3 classes, they will also take an active roll in the planning of the trip/itinerary and enjoy the accomplishment of being responsible for their own gear and duties around camp, but comfortable in knowing they have experienced guides around at all times for assistance.

Check riversidekayak.com for further information.

Regards,

Damon Smith

Hi Damon,

Just a heads-up, and hopefully Riverside Kayaks already knows this, but the Park requires some permitting for any commercial guided tours. Doesn't matter one way or the other to me, just don't want Riverside and the participants to get any nasty surprises once they get to the Island.

Bob

Bob..

Yes, thanks for mentioning, I already checked into it.

I'm just seeing what kind of interest we would have with a trip of this design. The group size would be very small, considering, and definitely within the guidelines of group camping for the island.

It will also be considerably less expensive than fully guided trips since paddler's would be responsible for their own around camp.

Not trying to cause you grief, but I think what Bob is refering to, is the fact that you have to have a business permit to do any sort of guiding on the island. This is completely different than having a group camping permit. It requires you to have a $2 million insurance policy that lists the National Park Service as an additional insured party. You also pay a $200 (may be higher now) fee to obtain the business permit. Johnhens and I used to have a permit, and unless things have changed, they are not easy to come by. If you show up without one, they will send you home, and slap you with a heafty fine. Every NP has this system in place, and you need a different permit for every park.

If you have a business permit, that's great, I just don't want to see you get embarassed in front of clients when you arrive for your trip.

Yeah, thanks for the input. We are all good. We looked in to it a long time ago and are aware of the permit, plus we're covered with the insurance policy. Believe me, I wouldn't head out with clients on a trip without the necessary paperwork and having done my homework.

Damon...

Just a note,,, the liability insurance is $100,000, naming the park as an additional insured, not $2 million.

That's much better than it used to be! We carried $1 million and had a difficult time finding the additional million for the National Park permits.

$100,000, thats interesting, my fishing charter permit has been a million since like '95. I wonder if someone forgot a zero or they've lowered the limit?

Yeah, we were ready to carry what ever they indicated and figure we were just given was $100,000.

Would it have anything to do with the type of commercial business you're conducting on the island?

I only know of one difference, once upon a time dive charters were required to carry a higher excess limit. I, and every other permit holder I knew, was required to carry $1million, a few years back the paperwork came out and I saw it was $100,000, no explanation of the change of the limit, I left my coverage at a million figuring it was a misprint. Apparently no one ever caught it and the people in place now are unaware of what it was or should be. $100,000 excess is not worth messing around with, recreational policies, let alone commercial marine, carry more than that already. I could save a considerable amount of insurance premiums going down to $100,000 from a million, but could leave myself grossly underinsured in the event of an incident. The NPS really needs to clarify this issue. By the way, this applies only to my fishing boat, the passenger boats fall under a different classification and permitting system and have much, much higher limits.