To Thacher on a Friday

[mhabich]

31 July 2020 Friday

Forecast NNW wind 5 to 8 kt becoming E in the afternoon. Mostly sunny. Seas around 1 ft...this was about right.

HT 9:15A 8.6'  LT 3:06P .7'

Gaia didn't track today, but tracing the chart afterwards has us at 9 nm for the day.

Tim Roberts, Sue Hriciga, Mike Habich

Tim wanted to do about 12 miles, ideally on lumpy water.  I suggested Granite Pier - Straitsmouth - Salvages - Thacher -Milk and back, since we don't get there often enough.  Millions of other people chose to go to work instead of paddling, so it was three to sea.  Granite Pier was peaceful with lots of parking...bring $12.  We launched before 10.  As we passed the pier, we stopped and matched what we saw with the charts to get our bearings.  Sue noted that even on such a calm day the shoals NE point of Straitsmouth would be active.  We crossed to the tip of Bearskin Neck, and went along the coast and crossed to Straitsmouth.

Indeed the point was delightfully active, promising opportunities for play.  Sue rounded the corner and headed down the coast.  I could see where the day's plan was heading, but said nothing.  We found passages and slots, and took our time watching the sets, evaluating routes behind the rocks, and testing our speculation.  Near high tide the passages were many, but full of barnacles.  Once we got to the south end of the island I noted that we'd left the Salvages and a boring crossing behind; no one seemed to regret.  Crossed back to the coast and investigated Whale Cove and Loblolly Cove.  Before crossing to the dock on Thacher Sue pointed out the channel markers, hard to see.  I suggested using the house behind the ramp (our target) as a transit.  As we crossed, we could see that we were being set to the south by the falling tide.

We hauled boats to the top of the ramp and off, and had lunch among the views.  We dared the gulls on the handrails of the boardwalks, and toured the island to see the railway and whistle house, but the lighthouses are closed this year.  Lots of tempting swash on the outside of the island.  We launched and proceeded clockwise around.

Near the north end, we started seeing harbor seals breaching and bottling,  Seals everywhere, looking back at us.  As I rounded the point there were six seals looking up, all so close I could have bopped them on the nose with my paddle...but I was outnumbered, so held my fire.  Again, we explored every nook and cranny on the outside.  Reaching the south tip, we looked across at Milk.  It was 2:15 by now, so we chose to forgo Milk so we could revisit Straitsmouth at lower tide with better upholstered rocks.  Either the passages weren't as good with lower water or we'd had enough fun, so a faster visit this time.

Crossing back toward the pier we saw a junior sailboat race organized, but not making much headway in the light wind.  One of the crews was practicing rolling, but with a different technique than we use.

Back to now a busier ramp at the pier and packed up.  We agreed that having just the three of us made for a great day exploring the coastline, with no one on deadline.  Millions of people can be wrong.