Odiorne Point to Brave Boat Harbor, Saturday 11/18

[PeterB]

On Saturday morning, three Explorers and one Greenlander Pro launched from the mudramp at Seavey Creek behind Odiorne Point, paddled around Jeffrey’s Point and out of Little Harbor, destination: Gerrish Island and Brave Boat Harbor. There was a light wind, mild temperatures, and a gentle swell, the water was still a gloves-optional temperature; perfect conditions for a late autumn paddle.

We passed Whaleback lighthouse and found some good surf along the southeast edge of White Island reef, off of Fort Foster ; I rode one wave right into a gap between the inner and outer reef, and witnessed some impressive backwards surfing . At this phase of the tide, there were boomers all along Gerrish, requiring a watchful eye. Further along, amidst another rock garden , my stern nudged into an unexpected rock and a series of small breaking waves and an unburped drysuit after a previous relief stop turned an otherwise no-brainer roll into a failed one, followed by a wet exit and quick t-rescue. Moving along past Seapoint beach, we found good surf rolling across the length of, and right into, the mouth of Brave Boat Harbor, and we surfed into the harbor single file and stopped at a familiar gravel beach on the north side of the harbor for a lunch stop, (the attractive peninsula on the south side belongs to a neighborhood association ,and landing is politely discouraged there) just as the sun came out and the wind seemed to die down.

After some lunch and drysuit burping we launched and bullied out through the surf , turned and lingered a bit for surf play in the mouth of Brave Boat. I caught one good ride, capped off with a short bongo slide, and decided to quit while I was ahead, while others surfed for a while , their heads disappearing and appearing again amidst the tightly spaced waves .

We passed between and around the boomers on the mostly uneventful ride back; just outside of Brave Boat a sharp little surprise wave made for another capsize and quick t-rescue. The rest of the ride back was into the setting sun; low tide was @3:30PM , but with a 2 hour delay there was still a significant ebb current between Whaleback Light and Jaffrey Point. Once back inside Little Harbor , We single-filed back to our mud ramp, with paddle probes here and there to look for the channel snaking through the diminishing water , and cartopped our boats just as the sun was kissing the horizon. Fine day on the water.