Grajan

Heading for Europe I'm afraid. Work definitely interferes with life..... Have a good one. Graham

Thanks Nancy, Try and pick a day without a NE wind..... That was HARD work (fun but hard work). Graham

Thanks Peter and all for a very pleasant day out. I have posted a few pictures here. Graham

See you in the morning. Graham

Interesting, My first S-H (about a year old) does not have a mic socket and the antenna has never shown any signs of shifting. I always carry it even when doing roll practice so it has taken a lot of wet time. The mic socket on the new one now has a screw-in cap with a rubber seal which appears to be good. It also has a separate rubber seal under the antenna. No idea about the on/off knob but I will hope for the best.... Looks like they took the problem seriously and did a competent fix. Graham

They must have changed a lot. There is a very robust seal all round the battery compartment with a remarkably good clamping system. We have never had any water ingress into the back of the battery despite regular abuse. I no longer even open it up to look on a regular basis as that is probably the biggest risk. It gets tossed in the rinse tank with the rest of the gear and that is it. Unfortunately the Lowrance water resistance was fundamentally poorly designed. There was no seal on the battery housing, only an unconvincing little gland around the terminals themselves, so the back of the battery free flooded. I had to open the radio itself up on one occasion to dry it out on a trip and there was a pathetically small O ring round the housing that went round 90deg turns with, to my astonishment, a blob of bathroom sealant on an obvious weak spot. I work in the subsea business and this would be about as far from acceptable as you can get. It is a pity because a VHF radio with very basic get-you-home plus speedometer GPS capability is very alluring for someone who does not want to carry another gadget. Graham

Kate, We lived in St. Johns and mainly paddled down the E. Coast which is spectacular. We did one trip to Gros Morne which was great but our favorite trip was Fortune Bay on the south coast. I tried to PM you but it did not work. Not sure why. Graham

We have had good luck with the Standard Horizon radios. They are not too expensive and have a good seal around the whole battery. I tried the Lowrance LHR 80 because it has a basic GPS capability but it only seals around the battery terminals and it got moisture inside after the first dunking. The model I just purchased is the Standard Horizon HX370S. Things I particularly like about it is that it comes with a spare battery housing that takes AA batteries so you can keep that in your emergency kit. It also has a high intensity LED distress signal capability. Most importantly - it stays dry...... Graham

Kate, thanks for the amazing trip report. I found my way back to your Newfoundland trip and loved reading it. We lived and paddled in Newfoundland for two years and we miss it terribly. There really is no place like it on earth. There is actually a very active paddling community but it is a VERY big island with very few people so they are hard to find. If you ever go back let us know. We are hoping to spend a month there next summer. Graham

Correction. The MITA guide clearly states that the toilet can be used - I need to read more carefully.... Graham

Only one night but worth a report as I doubt many people have used the new MITA facilities yet and there are a few wrinkles worth knowing about. There are some supporting photos here. The ride out: We (Janaki and I) left from Rye Harbor at about 9am on Saturday. As usual the seas remained bigger than forecast and the E wind got stronger that forecast - and came in earlier - so it was a tough and bumpy ride out. There was a big post-Katia swell from the SW with a superimposed wind swell from the NW that made it pretty demanding at times. It took a tough 3hrs for 2.1kts Smuttynose Island: The new MITA access consists of the permitted use of Gull cottage. The booking process is new and has some complications at the moment. First the number in the printed MITA guide is wrong. The online number has been updated since our struggles. This number gets you through to Laurence who was very nice but did not know if the hut was in use or not so gave us two other numbers where we left messages that were not returned. When we called Laurence back he recommended we just go out anyway as it was unlikely to be in use and we could always bivouac if we had to. We did this and there was no-one there and no caretakers so we set up camp in the hut. The caretakers arrived later in the day and were actually surprisingly offhand, not really unpleasant but clearly not thrilled to see us. It turned out that they were on their first week as caretakers and had not been briefed on anything much less the arrangement with MITA (I will be sending MITA a separate report). The landing needs some clarification. There is a very small 'harbor' just below the cottage which is difficult to see until you are almost in it. This is fine at low tide but an hour or two each side of high tide the water is up against a sloping and slippery rock wall that would make unloading and loading tricky to say the least. In any event the boats have to be hauled up the rocks to get above the high tide line overnight. The hut is wonderful. In theory it sleeps six but many more would fit if friendly. There is a 'loft' sleeping platform and a pretty open hut with a few old foam mattresses, lots of chairs and a remarkable amount of 'personal' gear like fishing rods etc. that we left alone as the rules are not exactly clear. There is a propane stove but it was not hooked up this weekend so independence is recommended. Oh, the large candles on wall sconces are electronic (working). They are remarkably realistic but stumbling in in the dark and trying to light one with a match is not very productive (still working......). There is what appears to be an outhouse behind the caretakers cottage but it is marked 'private no public access' and we were unable to determine the rules for us so we played safe and used the hotel facilities over the bay. Star Island Hotel is a strange and wonderful place. Owned by the Unitarian Universalist Church, until recently it was only available for groups and conferences, mostly having a spiritual or creative slant to them (no sign of engineers :-) ). Now it is sometimes possible to book 'personal retreats'. I would recommend trying it. It takes you back to the great lodge days of American tourism. Communal dining hall (and, apparently, showers...) interesting and very diverse guests and a slightly faded charm. The hotel deck is about 20' deep and a delight to promenade on. All in all a very pleasant place to wile away some time. Day guests can book meals. We had a nice lunch for, I think, $28. There is a bookshop, a gift shop and sometimes a cafeteria with soft drinks and tea and coffee etc. The ride back: The ride in on Sunday morning was a treat, either dead calm or a slight tailwind and looong lazy swells like wet sand dunes. We did the return in 1hr 40mins flat at 3.7kts which definitely made up for the flog out. I will be talking to MITA about clarifying the booking process and the rules of engagement when on the island and will provide an update here if I learn anything new. Please feel free to drop me a line if you need any additional information. Graham

Thanks Doug, That is a useful site (particularly as I am currently building a surf kayak ). Graham

Understood, The swell seems to be declining pretty quickly. The small craft advisory ends tonight but we will find out pretty quickly outside Rye Harbor and I have never been afraid to abort a mission if that is the prudent course of action.... Unless we can up the numbers from the current two we will probably not go as I like a minimum of three people for this sort of trip. Is there a better source than NOAA for local swell forecasting? EDIT: Found it Graham

Ended up in Muscongus Bay and stayed on Black. It was a GREAT trip. Not enough meat for a full trip report but photos here.

The weather forecast is ideal for an overnight trip to the Isle of Shoals this weekend. We are thinking of going over early Saturday morning and returning early Sunday morning unless the forecast changes. We are planning to stay in Gull Cottage on Smuttynose and I am in the process of confirming availability. If you are interested in coming along please let me know as soon as possible. There is an accommodation limit of six. Probably stating the obvious but gear and experience should be appropriate for an exposed open water crossing in excess of 5Nm. Graham