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Wed Lunch Paddle: 9/22/2021@ Nahant Beaches


rylevine

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9_22_2021: WLP Fisherman’s Beach, Swampscott to Nahant Bay Beaches. 10:00am – 2:35pm. LT 6:41pm 0.2ft, HT 12:58pm 10.2ft, tidal range 10.0ft, day past full, springs. Participants: Bob L, Joe B, Jody H, Prudence B, Joyce C, Karen G, Jim S, Phil M, Ricardo C, David M.  70F, overcast, 15kt SSE winds, 2-3ft 5 second waves from the east. This was a paddle to visit beaches in Nahant Bay. The goal was to acquaint people with launching, landing, swimming, and rescues in the surf. It was noted that the environment of low period waves would be both safer and a little more dynamic than the usual long-period swell that surfers target. To stay in the lee of the winds we considered a series of beaches along the northern Nahant coast. They roughly form a progression from the gentler spilling Nahant (Long) Beach, a more dumping Short Beach, and the further exposed and highly dumping Canoe Beach. These are shown in Figure 1. With a wave direction from the east, it was also anticipated that there would be a gradual lessening of wave heights moving south along Nahant Beach from the Red Rock to the base of the Nahant peninsula (Tides Restaurant). Near the base, Little Nahant causes the east swell to wrap and diminish. Consequently, we had an excellent range of accessible beach conditions for the day. We also discussed returning in following seas from East Point, Nahant to Swampscott in order to visit the magnificent Egg Rock.

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Figure 1: Beaches on Nahant Bay.

     Figure 2 shows the ground track of the Egg Rock pod that I was on. Another pod returned back from Short Beach via Nahant Beach. After an easy launch at the protected Fishermans Beach put-in, the group headed to Kings Beach to check the waves. As predicted, they were about two footers with five second period. Paddling across we had a quick rescue just outside the break zone. It was gratifying that, before being called for, one of the participants immediately came in for the anchor tow to keep the T-rescue from the breaking waves. The east waves intensified significantly at the center regions around the Red Rock. Once at Nahant Beach we started breaking into pods. Two participants decided to work in the large waves at the center. I joined a pod closer to southern end for smaller waves, and three participants headed around to even smaller waves near the Tides Restaurant. The conditions were perfect. Low period challenging surf, not conducive for surfing (although we ended up surfing anyway), with well-defined break and soup zones. People in my pod practiced landing and launching, as well as defensive bracing and bongo slides. There were a couple of spills in which participants rolled up or just swam in. As noted, the low wave periods created a little more challenge, but we also had the beach to ourselves. The surf board community had passed on the day. In general, surf boarders seem to prefer long-period curls – essentially dumping waves.  Mid-tide Nahant Beach has a long flat “pancake” that delivers spilling waves in which a foam pile builds slowly from the crest. The curls occur in a highly sloped beach or if there is significant undertow that undercuts the incoming wave. So, no boarders, but hearty swimmers were arriving as we decided to visit Short Beach for lunch. As expected, we encountered more wind on rounding Little Nahant, and larger waves were impacting the western rocks and ledges as we paddled into the Short Beach cove. The beach is more dumping, but we found relatively smaller conditions on the east side and landed for lunch. Perhaps because they had practiced earlier at Nahant Beach, most paddlers had no problem with the more dumping waves, nor with the subsequent launching after a pleasant lunch on the rocks.

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Figure 2: Ground track for 9_22_2021 Nahant Bay Paddle. Egg Rock pod.

After lunch we decided to break into two pods; one heading out along the coast to Saunders Ledge and then crossing via Egg Rock, and another heading back to Nahant Beach and then over to the Fishermans beach put-in. I was in the Egg Rock pod of four as we started along the ledges of the Nahant coast. The waves definitely intensified as we progressed eastward, and large low period waves were spectacular. The combination of incoming and reflected waves caused extremely turbulent bounce and cornstalks – a total rodeo! More importantly, it was more difficult for a wave to create a single directed “punch” against the rock faces and ledges – so safer for kayakers. We did note the existence of “tables” in the high water. These are flat water-level ledges that offer no protection from waves, and can undercut the wave-base to cause a dangerous wave surge. Today the waves were mostly unable to surge, so we were able to pass inside some of the tables before hitting Saunders Ledge. Shown in Figure 3, Saunders is a rock garden that extends from the northeast coast of Nahant. It ends in the aptly-named Spouting Horn. The Horn has a spectacular horse-shoe curl that weakens the incoming waves that continue to the ledge. Five-foot waves were hitting the outside and continuing as broken 3-4 footers causing a lot of turbulence in the passage. The Spouting Horn passage and our ground tracks are shown in Figure 4. Although waves were continuing as spillers pass the Horn, there were locations where the foam pile on the larger ones could bongo a kayak to the rocks. Nevertheless, these vulnerable locations were easily recognized and we were able to run the passage and then head to Egg Rock.

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Figure 3: Saunders Ledge and Spouting Horn.

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Figure 4: Spouting Horn Passage on Saunders Ledge. Waves in red and our ground track in white.

Shown in Figure 5, the southern coast of Egg Rock consists of shear vertical rock faces perfect for riding swells. The drains are deep and spectacular, and followed by large relatively smooth rises even in the largest conditions. Today the short period five footers were less optimum for riding, but the reflected turbulence and cornstalks were larger than those on the earlier run off Nahant proper. Here even low period waves could do damage just due to their extreme amplitude – a secondary smack would be sufficient to drive a kayak into the rocks. Consequently, more vigilance than normal was necessary to make sure that rock-directed waves were countered by a forward moving kayak. Figure 6 shows our Egg Rock ground track. We progressed from the western tip along the rock faces and into the gut, around the outer rock, and then back down the southern rock faces. The entire south and east areas, including the gut, were extremely turbulent. In the past, there have been many paddles where the gut was impassable, but that was not the case today – perhaps due to high water that “rounded” the penetrating secondary wavefronts. We paddled back down the southern coast and as we turned up the northern coast the conditions calmed. Resting behind the headland that forms the northern lip of the gut, I mentioned to the group that the calm was deceiving. During a recent Hurricane Larry paddle, a “biblical” wave came over that headland and crashed into me and another paddler while we taking a similar break. Anyway, no Bible stories today, and we started back to Fishermans Beach in following seas and wind. We arrived at about 2:30 just as the Nahant Beach pod was leaving the parking lot. Total distance of about 9.8 nm for the Egg Rock pod.

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Figure 5: Egg Rock. Our ground track to Egg’s southern rock face shown in white.

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Figure 6: Ground track around Egg Rock. Waves in red and our ground track in white.

Edited by rylevine
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