HomeMy Public PortalAbout20130514ExhibitOne.pdfKayak Access to the Water on Tybee Island: Opportunities and obstacles
Dan Lockwood, 1015 Lovell Ave., Tybee Island, GA 31328.512 663 3742. iockwo«r13id) rnail.com
Presented to the City of Tybee Island Parking Committee, May 14, 2013.
Below are kayak access points to the water and suggested improvements to them:
1. Byers Street. There is an excellent hard surface route for boat dollies to a good beach launch site
at the end of Byers Street. There is plenty of parking available there. Unfortunately access to the
wooden walkway is blocked by a parking spot, generally filled, that prevents a kayak from being
wheeled down easily. An improvement would be to change this spot to "loading and unloading
only."
2. Polk Street. A good launch site.
3. Inlet Avenue. This has the potential to be Tybee's best launch spot. It opens onto an expansive
beach, erosion is not a problem, and there is no competition with other activities. There is
parking at the small lot at the entry to the path leading to the beach and at the fishing pier.
Unfortunately, boat dollies cannot be pulled there, and it is too far to carry down. There used to
be a hard surface sand -gravel road to a turn -around just before the high dune, but over the last
two years that road has disintegrated. Also, it is very hard for boat dollies to get over the soft
sand of the dune. An improvement would be to restore the sand -gravel road to the turn -around
and to put a path of plastic mat just over the soft sand of the dune.
4. Fisherman's Walk. There is a bathroom and a large lot here. It is a short distance from the
parking lot on Fisherman's walk to the beach on the Back River. There would be no competition
with trailerable boats. But there is no easy way to get boats to the beach. An easy improvement
would be to clear a narrow path through the brush along the side of the fishing pier to the
beach.
5. Alley 3. Alley 3 offers direct and close access to the water. Unfortunately there are obstacles to
it ever being an ideal launch spot for kayaks. It is viewed as a "boat ramp," and there is
resistance to it ever being seen as an exclusive site for carry -down boats. The geography of the
site leads to constant erosion of an unstable and dangerous strata of former masonry boat
ramps. Because of its location directly on the water, it is heavily used by non -boaters enjoying
the view, often while sitting in their cars and blocking access. Fisherman also clog it up because
it is a good fishing spot.
It is recommended that the other kayak launch spots on Tybee be improved so that pressure will be
taken off Alley 3.