Lanes Cove Level 2 trip??

[Gcosloy]

Leon, Bob and I enjoyed a leisurely paddle from Lanes down to the Annisquam light and then a tour of Lobster Cove. We back traced our splashes to Annisquam light for lunch on the rocks and then with the wind at our backs backed to Lanes and some exploration of Folley Cove before finishing the day where we started. While Ipswich Bay is technically the ocean we stayed close to the shore within 1/2 mi at most and had at our ready several beaches and coves for bail outs. Leon was on his best behavior and stayed with the group. Wind and waves were light and mileage couldn't been more than seven. This was totally appropriate for level 2 paddlers and I think the NSPN level descriptions should be altered to reflect the fact that ocean shore lines can be as gentle as harbors, lakes and estuaries. I used my wing paddle (Doug M's old paddle) for the first time and liked it a lot. My lats and obliques are a trifle stiff and sore and tomorrow will tell if this is a good thing or not.

[scamlin]

Leon, Bob and I enjoyed a leisurely paddle from Lanes down to the Annisquam light and then a tour of Lobster Cove. We back traced our splashes to Annisquam light for lunch on the rocks and then with the wind at our backs backed to Lanes and some exploration of Folley Cove before finishing the day where we started. While Ipswich Bay is technically the ocean we stayed close to the shore within 1/2 mi at most and had at our ready several beaches and coves for bail outs. Leon was on his best behavior and stayed with the group. Wind and waves were light and mileage couldn't been more than seven. This was totally appropriate for level 2 paddlers and I think the NSPN level descriptions should be altered to reflect the fact that ocean shore lines can be as gentle as harbors, lakes and estuaries. I used my wing paddle (Doug M's old paddle) for the first time and liked it a lot. My lats and obliques are a trifle stiff and sore and tomorrow will tell if this is a good thing or not.

Gene:

NSPN trip ratings are given when the trip is posted even though by their nature, trip levels cannot accurately rate a trip in advance. Why? Because most of the factors relate to conditions and they can't be assessed until the day of the trip--and even then change through the day, sometimes unexpectedly. Most factors--wind and waves, surf, storms, lightening to name a few--are unknown when the trip is posted. Some can be predicted such as tide levels and tidal currents, and others such as distance can be planned (though emergencies can change even distance).

The trip rating system is designed to take this uncertainty into account by describing the types of environments where the trips occur. The type of environment generally relates to potential conditions and risk. So, for example, Level 2 trips are in protected waters (rivers, estuaries, etc.) because more severe conditions are unlikely to develop. At most, some wind waves could build over a large estuary such as Essex Bay, but there will never be large swells and surf. In contrast, the Lanesville shoreline does regularly get hit by large swells: it is an open ocean coast so every time a storm tracks offshore, swells generated by the storm come into Ipswich Bay from the east and northeast. The possibility of such swells and surf is why the environment is rated Level 3. Similarly, a 15-20 kt. blow from the northwest has about 8 miles of fetch across Ipswich Bay to generate 2-4 foot wind waves (Level 4 conditions) against the Lanesville shore. On protected Essex Bay, the same winds would rarely generate waves over 1 foot, which is the Level 2 standard. While not an exact science, open ocean waters are simply susceptible to bigger conditions in a way that protected waters are not.

On any given day, such as your trip, conditions along the west side of Cape Ann could be benign and fit with Level 2 criteria, but you don't know that in advance. It's the potential for the rougher conditions that make Lanesville and any open ocean coastal trip a Level 3.

Note that "protected waters" doesn't mean all rivers and estuaries are Level 2. For example, the Merrimack is "protected" but has currents that far exceed the 1 kt Level 2 standard, has the potential for stiff wind waves on Joppa Flats, and regularly has major swells and standing waves on the ebb at the mouth of the river. We need to analyze all the potential factors for our intended route as we covered in the CAM workshop on May 8.

The trip ratings have another mechanism to address the uncertainty: the distance from safe landing where the group can get off the water. Level 2 trips should have easy landings pretty much anywhere. Level 3 trips should have it "near at hand" which the current NSPN website says is less than one mile. That means paddlers would have 20-30 minutes of paddling at club speeds to reach safety if things turned bad or a member of group had a problem. Conditions can change dramatically (a front coming through, a thunderstorm, etc.) and a Level 3 group could quickly find itself in Level 4 conditions. Most paddlers could not paddle their normal pace or even make forward progress, and even Level 3 paddlers would have difficulty maintaining full control of their boats. That is why Level 3 trips are described as having "limited exposure:" to account for this possibility. That is also why the distance to a bail out is important: it is the margin of safety should conditions (or issues within the group) turn out different than planned. (Personally, I believe the one mile standard is too large; in my view it should be more like a half mile which puts the safe shore a 10 minute sprint away).

NSPN has always advised groups to assess actual conditions at the put in. The actual level might be different than the posted level or the environment because at that point you know the conditions. So you could call Level 2 conditions at the beach, but you would still want to post it as a Level 3 for the potential of the environment.

Scott

[PeterB]

Leon, Bob and I enjoyed a leisurely paddle from Lanes down to the Annisquam light and then a tour of Lobster Cove. We back traced our splashes to Annisquam light for lunch on the rocks and then with the wind at our backs backed to Lanes and some exploration of Folley Cove before finishing the day where we started. While Ipswich Bay is technically the ocean we stayed close to the shore within 1/2 mi at most and had at our ready several beaches and coves for bail outs. Leon was on his best behavior and stayed with the group. Wind and waves were light and mileage couldn't been more than seven. This was totally appropriate for level 2 paddlers and I think the NSPN level descriptions should be altered to reflect the fact that ocean shore lines can be as gentle as harbors, lakes and estuaries. I used my wing paddle (Doug M's old paddle) for the first time and liked it a lot. My lats and obliques are a trifle stiff and sore and tomorrow will tell if this is a good thing or not.

Gene,

Your request to alter NSPN level descriptions to reflect the fact that level 2 conditions can occur at level 3 venues is presumably to make more level 3 paddles “level 2 friendly “, an admirable sentiment. But it would be unwise to do so based on one experience at one venue on one day. On your Saturday paddle, a level 2 paddler would in retrospect have had a fine day; you would have lucked out. But conditions at Lanes reliably exceed level 2, for the reasons Scott enumerated, hence the trip level descriptions. Had you posted or described this trip as level 2 and then encountered level 3 conditions (quite reliable at that venue) but now with level 2 participants, you would then have to cancel your trip , significantly alter your float plan (i.e. go somewhere else) or enter into a beach briefing dialogue the upshot of which would be to send level 2 signups away. None of these options is a great way to start a paddle.

As things were, glad you had a nice day on the water!

[EEL]

presumably to make more level 3 paddles “level 2 friendly “, an admirable sentiment.

Seems to me this is a conundrum. My view is people become comfortable paddling in more exposed/demanding environments by paddling in increasingly difficult conditions. There is no substitute for seat time. Pond skill sessions, while very valuable, are not a substitute for being on the ocean and coming to grips with its many moods.

Also, in my limited experience, one cannot assume conditions at the beach/launch time will continue throughout the day. I'm sure everyone has tales of stopping for lunch and in less than an hour they were fogbound or the water went from calm to whitecaps and 15/20kts.

And there are also tales of paddles on placid ocean waters when the marine forecast was forbidding.

Describing trip levels more by the environment than the actual level of difficulty makes sense to me since it suggests the potential difficulties. I confess that otherwise trip levels and levels of paddlers makes very little sense to me.

I guess that is why the CAM classes to me are not just for those who post trips, they are beneficial for everyone since on a CAM trip it is important that everyone be an "active/involved" paddler regardless of their specific skill level.

If level whatever paddlers are lead to believe/feel/are told they can go only on level whatever paddles, then you have a very static if not moribund situation. As I said, seems a conundrum to me without easy solutions, but some way, and maybe its natural selection, needs to exist for folks to explore how far they want to go that is articulated to folks who participate in NSPN paddles.

Ed Lawson

[spuglisi]

I guess that is why the CAM classes to me are not just for those who post trips, they are beneficial for everyone since on a CAM trip it is important that everyone be an "active/involved" paddler regardless of their specific skill level.

Ed Lawson

IMHO ...that's exactly right Ed

[PeterB]

Seems to me this is a conundrum. My view is people become comfortable paddling in more exposed/demanding environments by paddling in increasingly difficult conditions. There is no substitute for seat time. Pond skill sessions, while very valuable, are not a substitute for being on the ocean and coming to grips with its many moods.

Also, in my limited experience, one cannot assume conditions at the beach/launch time will continue throughout the day. I'm sure everyone has tales of stopping for lunch and in less than an hour they were fogbound or the water went from calm to whitecaps and 15/20kts.

And there are also tales of paddles on placid ocean waters when the marine forecast was forbidding.

Describing trip levels more by the environment than the actual level of difficulty makes sense to me since it suggests the potential difficulties. I confess that otherwise trip levels and levels of paddlers makes very little sense to me.

I guess that is why the CAM classes to me are not just for those who post trips, they are beneficial for everyone since on a CAM trip it is important that everyone be an "active/involved" paddler regardless of their specific skill level.

If level whatever paddlers are lead to believe/feel/are told they can go only on level whatever paddles, then you have a very static if not moribund situation. As I said, seems a conundrum to me without easy solutions, but some way, and maybe its natural selection, needs to exist for folks to explore how far they want to go that is articulated to folks who participate in NSPN paddles.

Ed Lawson

Much said here underscores the importance of advance work and beach briefings, during which conditions are discussed and participants expectations are shared: this is far more important in sorting out what level a trip is than adhering to trip level descriptions , which are only guidelines and not meant to be used in any doctrinal way, or as any principal source of trip information

On any sound paddle, the conditions,risks,mileage, etc. of the day - the nature of the trip - are assessed, and these are matched against the resources of the group on that day ; material resources (like boats, equipment etc ) and , far more importantly, human resources (participants experience, skill, local knowledge, vulnerabilities etc).

To this end, advance work (gathering information & communicating with each other) and beach briefings (sharing information, communicating more) are most valuable. If done, a trip will most likely, but not definitely, go well . If not done , a trip may or may not go well, but paddlers setting out on the water do so at their peril.

Trip level descriptions cannot substitute here for advance work and beach briefings . They’re only guidelines which may then serve to stimulate the creation of a trip.