July 3rd Fireworks in Portsmouth

[PeterB]

Having been throttled in my efforts to get on the water the past few days, wanting to take advantage of the good weather while it lasted ,and, learning that Portsmouth has its fireworks on July 3rd, I strapped Roger (my 14 year old) into the passenger seat of my car, and two boats onto my roofracks, and we to drove to Odiorne Point, arriving around 8:20, intending to paddle out to around Pierces Island to watch the pyrotechnics. I plopped Roger in my Explorer and slithered into the Anas acuta, put a 11 foot tow line on his boat so we would be more of a single entity in night waters,and we headed off into the gathering darkness towards Portsmouth and the fireworks, which were supposed to start at 9:15.

We slapped a few mosquitos and , and ran aground about three times before finding the boat channel which runs under the bridge to Newcastle Island and Wentworth- by- the- Sea. This was low low tide! Once through , we paddled towards Pierce, but the fireworks started early, a few minutes before 9PM, so we found a good vantage point near Shapleigh Island , chatted , dined on Gatorade and Doritos, and watched the fireworks, which were kind of short, but colorful,with the requisite booms and oohs-aaahs. The booms echoed resoundingly off Leach's island behind us and the nearby islands and shoals, which was pretty cool.

By their conclusion, we had drifted a bit towards Portsmouth with the now –incoming tide, and turned around to retrace our route to Odiorne. Soon enough, a procession of about a dozen power boats returning, no doubt, from the fireworks in Portsmouth to Little Harbor and Sagamore creek, slowly made their way past us, with the occasional searchlight sweeping the water. Their precise, undeviating path along the narrow boat channel strongly suggested the use of GPS.

I had expected to see more boats on the water, but, except for the returning powerboats and one inflatable packed with about six persons puttering slowly around Little Harbor, we had had the waters to ourselves.

Passing again under the bridge by the Wentworth, current was evident: it was now a flooding tide , and once through the bridge, we had more water and, in a few hundred yards, a free ride back to Odiorne.

I had been hoping to organize a s&g, or club trip for this nice little outing, but was unable to do so due to famly illnesses and household obligations, so this was a short notice outing, undertaken at the last minute. But it all worked very well and I hope to plan something similar and bigger for next year. Happy 4th!

[Gillian]

Peter,

Sounds like a great time...glad you were able to get out

(Whoops, here we go again, it's Kevin posting under G's name )