Isles of Shoals trip: 5/25/2009

[jdkilroy]

Wanted to share the photos. The written trip report will post tonight.

Please hold off on adding to thread until report added.

Slideshow:

<http://s311.photobucket.com/albums/kk467/jdkilroy/Isles of Shoals 5-25-09/?albumview=slideshow>

You will have to cut and paste as the URL gets mangled upon posting. (remove the arrows on the ends.)

Thanks, Jon

[jason]

Wanted to share the photos. The written trip report will post tonight.

Please hold off on adding to thread until report added.

Slideshow:

<http://s311.photobucket.com/albums/kk467/jdkilroy/Isles of Shoals 5-25-09/?albumview=slideshow>

You will have to cut and paste as the URL gets mangled upon posting. (remove the arrows on the ends.)

Thanks, Jon

Jon's Pictures

[jdkilroy]

The Trip Report:

Monday, May 25th, 2009

We gathered at Rye Harbor to make a final assessment of the day and launch. A little later start than optimal but with sunset holding off until after 20:00, we had plenty of daylight at our disposal. Ross vouched for both John and I as we had never paddled together and Ross knew us both from a paddling perspective. The decision was to paddle to the Isles of Shoals, poke around a bit and head back. We listened to the latest weather from NOAA before passing through the breakwater at 1243.

http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk467/j.../Headingout.jpg

The skies were dotted with fair weather cumulus and a SE'ly breeze blew in defiance of the predicted NW winds to 20 kts. These were not optimal conditions for a trip of this sort as the predicted winds would be brisk and offshore if and when they materialized. The paddle out against a 10 knot SE'ly breeze seemed leisurely and we made good about 3.6kts aiming for the tower on Appledore.

Meandering past Malaga, Smuttynose and Star Islands we made our way toward the lighthouse for lunch.

http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk467/j...WhiteIsland.jpg

Greeted and welcomed by Dan and his wife Maggie we hauled out next to the ways. This is the 12th summer that Dan and Maggie have spent on isles of Shoals monitoring and collecting data on the terns that nest on White Isl. There are now three of them with the addition of their 18 moth old daughter. What summer memories she will enjoy!

http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk467/j...anandMaggie.jpg

The monitoring of the terns has been a cooperative project between Cornell University and the University of NH. the nesting takes place primarily on White Isl and part of Dan's job is to try and encourage the birds to stay there rather than extend their breeding area. The constant background noise as we approached was near deafening at times once on the island. The sound of literally thousands of terns calling out. Some unknown event would occasionally send a cloud of them into flight, wheeling and keening more than ever before settling once again into the baseline chaos on the ground.

http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk467/j...ationBlinds.jpg

http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk467/j...estingEider.jpg

We enjoyed our lunch basking in the sun on their front lawn, the horn moaning in our ears at regular intervals. Dan invited us to take a tour of the lighthouse after lunch and we gladly accepted. Dan had a fair knowledge of the light's history and he provided a steady stream of background information. Upon entering you can see the construction; 3-1/2 bricks thick and some 60 ft of tower in a perfect cylinder. The climb up the stairs is a little dizzying when you look up and see the spiral stairs disappearing into the blackness above.

http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk467/j...bricksthick.jpg

http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk467/j...housestairs.jpg

The former incandescent light with the fresnel lens that rotated to create a sweeping flash every 15 sec has been replaced with a very high intensity LED light. Much less appealing to watch and certainly less romantic but effective and efficient enough to allow the light to be powered by one small solar array.

http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk467/j...ightelement.jpg

We hung out at the top of the light for a while, taking in the view and the spectacular day. You could just make out Cape Anne in the distance to the South.

http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk467/j...RossandJohn.jpg

http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk467/j...9/Whataview.jpg

http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk467/j...refromlight.jpg

While we were up in the light, we could feel the wind freshening and observed it veering from the free-ride-home SE'ly to the in-your-teeth W ~ NW'ly. The occasional whitecap turned into a landscape of them. Nobody said it but we all knew it, it was going to be a bit of a slog back home.

http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk467/j...9/Whitecaps.jpg

So... when you head out to the Isles, its pretty easy assuming you pick a day that you can actually see them. They are the only thing out there, just paddle to them. Heading back home is a whole different ball game. The discreet island masses you paddled toward this morning is now a continuous and homogenous band of dark green in the distant haze. Agreeing on a heading, we began our paddle back after thanks and farewells to our gracious hosts.

We took it right on the chin for the first hour with a pretty stiff WxN'ly wind in the 15 ~ 20 kt range with higher gusts. The 2 ~ 3 foot seas kept us pretty wet. The wind eased a bit over time and continued to veer until settling on NNW. I had expected that we would get set to the south quite a bit by the wind and outbound tide. Interestingly, we really did not experience that at all and about 2/3 of the way across, had to adjust our heading to make the harbor entrance, passing abeam at 1845.

PeterB was there to greet us. He noted that he had been scanning the sea with binoculars for some time and had not been able to see us until we were really quite close. Something to be aware of; how nearly invisible we are if the sea is stirred up at all.

The TripTik:

http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk467/j...oalsTripTik.jpg

Trip Length: ~ 13.6 nm

It was a great paddle with a few unexpected delights and dash of adventure.

Jon

[EEL]

Jon:

If the test of a trip report is to cause someone to want to undertake a paddle which they would otherwise have little if any inclination to undertake, then you trip report passed with flying colors.

Nice.

Ed Lawson