Rich and I have sold our DisplayStands4You business and wound down Footprint Press. Many of our guidebooks will still be available at retail stores, supplied by two wholesalers. And you can still buy the guidebooks as pdf file e-books at our web site.

In retirement, we are beginning a new adventure. We’ve traded in our kayaks for a 36 ft. trawler. We will live aboard and travel the Great Loop around the US and Canada for several years. If you want to follow our latest exploits, sign up to receive postings from our new blog http://www.choicesontheloop.wordpress.com. We will cut our land ties on November 4th, 2013 and begin by heading south for the winter.

Thank you for following this blog over the years. You’ve been a loyal band of readers, customers, and outdoors lovers. May your lives be filled with wonderful outdoor adventures also.
Sue

In addition to our traditional coverage of kayak touring, Open Water relates unique aspects of all paddlesports, covering everything from kayak fishing to stand-up paddleboarding (SUP). Thye publishers of Sea Kayaker magazine selected the title Open Water for its roots in our history; Open Water was the working title for what became Sea Kayaker magazine back in 1984. We switched to Sea Kayaker, because we felt Open Water was too broad a title and didn’t tell our readers precisely who we were. Today we welcome the breadth Open Water gives us to incorporate a variety of paddlesports in our coverage as we continue our own evolution within the ever-evolving paddlesports industry. With an initial readership of 15,000 readers who are primarily sea kayakers, we will relate the new topics back to sea kayaking. As the readership diversifies, so will our coverage.

Open Water’s paddler-to-paddler structure provides an ideal venue for paddlers of all writing abilities to share their experiences and knowledge. We are looking for contributors, primarily from the paddlesports industry, so if you are an avid paddler looking for the opportunity to build your reputation, we would like to hear your ideas for stories that pertain to Open Water. We also invite manufacturers and Sea Kayaker readers to participate in a forum-format response to topics presented, giving everyone the opportunity to tell their story and earn feedback.

We hope you enjoy Open Water. Happy paddling.

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Take A Paddle – Finger Lakes available at http://www.footprintpress.com

The National Water Trail System defines water trails as “recreational routes on waterways with a network of public access points supported by broad-based community partnerships”. They provide conservation, recreational, and tourism/economic development opportunities and are focused on boaters, especially paddlers (kayaks, canoes, standup paddleboards, etc.). The Draft Cayuga Lake Blueway Trail Plan identifies the existing conditions along the lakeshore for paddlers; assesses regional assets; identifies gaps in access areas, and proposes locations for short term and long-term improvements and launch sites. It also describes opportunities to market Cayuga Lake as a paddling destination and lays out a variety of possible paddling itineraries, destinations and experiences on the lake for all abilities and preferences, from day trips to multi-day overnight adventures.

Comments can be submitted through the plan’s website directly until November 12th. http://cayugablueway.weebly.com/. Comments may also be submitted via email to Tom Knipe in the Tompkins County Planning Department, tknipe@tompkins-co.org. All comments received by November 12th will be considered as the plan is completed. The Final Cayuga Lake Blueway Trail Plan will be released before the end of the year, and it is expected that a coalition of partners from Cayuga, Seneca and Tompkins Counties will begin work on implementing the Plan in 2014.

source: Ithaca.com, link to original post