spider Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 A fine winters day for going around Cape Ann. Wind and tides were to be our friends if the forecast held true as Blaine had made note of several days earlier. So the telling of the tale henceforth... ...the three amigos... Sid, myself and Blaine rendezvous at what is known as the Gloucester High School Launch,and after speculating a bit about possible conditions we ride on the ebb tide out the mouth of Blynman Canal. Heading south to Gloucester Harbor's breakwater and beyond for a counter clockwise route around Cape Ann. I am the newbie for this trip as both Blaine and Sid had paddled it before. Mostly we expected winds from the south and west though I think I will defer to them for the details of the forecast... I expected choppy... and choppy it was as soon we rounded Eastern Point. I would say we saw a good amount of chop on top of the swells for a good mile or so...to be repeated intermittently throughout the day. Just when I'm starting to wonder if a day of those conditions would actually be enjoyable things started to ease off as we worked our way along. A lone Swan, in it's beauty, was there to observe us in the busy water. Such a calm and siren looking creature, somehow brings a feeling of tranquility as we jitter our way along. Sid has a track of our paddling...22 miles and may well have a better idea of what the conditions were at various locations. Blaine I'm sure has pictures of the day...mango to the right of me mango to the left of me ...the three "mangoteers".....on a winters journey.Passing Milk Island and Thatcher Island along Emerson Point, the cruising is good, wind and waves nice and evenly spaced, you can feel the rhythm of the Ocean pulse along. We 3 have different boats and boat styles, mine in particular, not a purist by any stretch of the imagination I am Greenland paddle in a rudder boat.... (a collective gasp can sometimes heard) Through that stretch boats and waves matched perfectly and we could cruise along with minimal effort. In fairly short order we arrive in Rockport Harbor...breaktime.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyson Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 I am Greenland paddle in a rudder boat.... (a collective gasp can sometimes heard)You should see what people think when you show up for some surf or rock play in a 23ft tandem (almost) racer with a rudder and paddled with sticks. Cheers! Ty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spider Posted March 16, 2011 Author Share Posted March 16, 2011 Rockport Harbor..... finds us for a low tide lunch. Sid has forayed into town graciously returning with a cup of coffee for us and various asundries for himself. There were a handful of people checking out the shore line and we speculated they were checking for those filters that have washed up. Hazardous waste, fortunately we didn't see any filters though it is not a good sign that we paddle waters where checking for toxic waste is part of anyones day. It is a strong reminder of the vulnerability of our oceans. We took a 1 hr lunch which was pretty restful and head out at dead low tide across the harbor. The water was plenty confused and pushy as we were making our way around the breakwater. I know I had to put down some braces as we went along. I was wondering if the other guys thought the water a bit bouncy...later they confirmed much the same. Confused water with swell or current can keep your hands busy but I think there might be a photo or two to be found.Sandy Bay, Halibut Point State Park, very nice paddling... in through here we were protected from wind and the tide is in our favor the rest of the day. We stopped at Lanes Cove for a mini break and check out any damage to the wall. Near as we could tell there had been some large rockfall but the cove itself is open ok. (though I have never launched from there) The wind whipeth....sure enough the wind was waiting for us as we worked our way past the Annisquam Light and up the Annisquam River If I said the current was with us than assuredly the wind was not. It was a bit of a huff and puff to paddle back to our cars. That stretch helped bring the "endurance" part of the trip into the mix for our day.....and so the story is told... I may have forgotten to mention Blaine did most all the chart reading, both for his expertise and because he is the only one of us who could actually read it with out having to stop and fetch his glasses....Sid for his interpretations of such readings compared to conditions underway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gcosloy Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 Really nice report Spider. When I heard you guys were going I wished I was there; when I read your report I almost felt I was there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbjorn Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Here are some photos of much of the trip, minus the bumpier sections when both hands were preoccupied, and everything after Lane's when the camera battery was dead.https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=116681396281387802896&target=ALBUM&id=5584906983432106433&authkey=Gv1sRgCIL27IuNmebgzQE&feat=email Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lhunt Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Way to go, guys! That's a nice solid excursion for March! Makes the rest of us sit up and start shaking off the winter blahs... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gyork Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Here are some photos .....https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=116681396281387802896&target=ALBUM&id=5584906983432106433&authkey=Gv1sRgCIL27IuNmebgzQE&feat=emailWhy is the paddler in photo#1 wearing a backpack? Did he really run out of room in the compartments? :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prudenceb Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 definitely an inspiration!pru Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spider Posted March 17, 2011 Author Share Posted March 17, 2011 I love paddling this time of year, it is awesome to have the waters most all to ourselves, very stress free as far as boat traffic. Here is a link to our route from a SPOT rescue/tracking device http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0iA94SqDMrIiHkSSfhrfJWPYjFk4mNRq0I think the link will be active for about a week or so ....thanks for the nice responses... much appreciated...Blaine was the catalyst for this trip....and a fine idea it was ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbjorn Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 I agree with Spider. There's something about winter paddling that is truly special. No one else around except an occasional lobsterman -- or swan. Yes, there are occasional frozen fingers but they can be thawed at the next stop with chemical hand warmers and by drinking hot soup from your thermos. Layers of fleece under the dry suit keep you toasty, probably even a tad sweaty. When you stop, you throw on your cag. There's a different look in winter. The light is slanted, colors muted, more pastel. I hope the photos convey some of that. I honestly believe that if more people gave winter paddling a try, they'd be out there with us. It's a lot like skiing. You dress appropriately for the conditions. Not too much, nor too little. You bring extra layers in case they're needed, but they rarely are. And of course you don't go solo unless it's calm and you're quite confident of your self-rescue abilities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbjorn Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 I love paddling this time of year, it is awesome to have the waters most all to ourselves, very stress free as far as boat traffic. Here is a link to our route from a SPOT rescue/tracking device http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0iA94SqDMrIiHkSSfhrfJWPYjFk4mNRq0 I think the link will be active for about a week or so . ...thanks for the nice responses... much appreciated...Blaine was the catalyst for this trip....and a fine idea it was ! It's interesting that this chart makes the wind direction (southerly) obvious. The closer to north we traveled, the farther apart the footprints (10 min. intervals) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyson Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 I honestly believe that if more people gave winter paddling a try, they'd be out there with us. It's a lot like skiing. You dress appropriately for the conditions.I am certain that this is true. The only problem is that winter paddling happens during the same time of year as winter skiing! ...I can paddle during the summer, but backcountry skiing seems to suffer a bit more than paddling without snow. ...expect to be headed up Washington this weekend. Cheers! Ty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbjorn Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 New link to the trip photos:https://picasaweb.google.com/116681396281387802896/CapeAnnCircumnav_Mar151102# Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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