July 8 - Hingham-Inner Islands

[alcoons]

Al Moore, Alda, Gene, Vin, and I left Hingham Harbor beach at 10 AM, two hours before low tide. Clouds and a solid wind (10-12?) kept the temperature reasonable. Amazing how few boats there were for a Holiday weekend. Both Al and I felt it was the least we have ever seen in July.

Nonetheless, as we headed for Bumbkin there was plenty of chop, cross winds, and waves and wakes up to 1.5-2 feet IN PLACES. A quick stop at Bumpkin was followed by a nice lunch on Peddocks. The buildings there are now so dangerous that you cannot walk the paths near them. A real loss. It was always fun to see the history of the island. But we took a stroll along the shore to loosen the legs anyway.

Returned via Grape from 1 PM - 3 PM with less confusing seas and a quartering wind followed by a tail wind. Distance about 10 miles.

There were lot's of firsts:

Given the distance, the wind and wave difficulties, the experienced hands on the trip felt this was an low-end level three trip.

So Vin has his first level-3 trip under his belt with ease. You will have to ask him how he felt when he broached suddenly surfing one VERY large boat wake.

Alda (my wife) completed her very first single kayak trip off flat water. She has spent a good deal of time in large tripper doubles in big waves but has only had one flatwater trip in a single. She felt very stable in the old Nighthawk and handled it all well. No problems. Proud of her.

This was my first paddle in my new Cetus. I was very unsure when I launched if I had bought the right boat, but now I am in love. The larger the chop and waves, the better it handles. As many have said, you just have to get use to it. Right now my generalized approach is little movements do not get it turning well in many situations. Give it a definite edge (which is so easy to do) and then it turns. Release that edge immediately or it may turn more than you want. It does weathercock but the skeg is effective and very efficient (no noticeable drag). The more I paddled it the less skeg I needed.

Al Coons

P&H Cetus - Red/White

Eddyline Nighthawk - Red/White

[brwells]

Al, when Rob and I (on our way to Trip Leader Training in Westport) passed you, we had to slow down and look again to see what I thought I saw: the Cetus on the car. How did you get one so fast since the waiting list is now months??

Now that there are a few in the area hopefully one or more of you will bring the suddenly popular boat out for some of us to try.

Brian

P&H Capella 163

Red/White/Black trim

NDK Explorer

Melon/Teal/White

[alcoons]

>How did you get one so fast since the waiting list is now months??

>Now that there are a few in the area hopefully one or more

>of you will bring the suddenly popular boat out for some of

>us to try.

There was one left at Charles River. I was lucky (and quick). It has already had two test paddlers (Al and Gene) and will be glad to let others paddle it. First strokes go to all those who let me try their boats when I trying to figure out what I wanted. Just joking but I do appreciate everyone's generousity.

Al

[vincent]

Hey yall,

I had an excellent first L3 trip and it was great to meet new paddlers. The broaching on the wave felt like---being a tiny me and accidently getting flushed down the toilet-only for a split second though. Hope to paddle with you again soon.

Vin

[Gcosloy]

Great trip with great people. Chance to test the Explorer in lumpy stuff. Speaking of which, check out the track of our trip on the attached map. Notice how smooth and straight the track is on part of the trip and how choppy it is on other parts? This mirrors the conditions we experienced very well.