Circumnavigate Gerrish/Cutts

[Gcosloy]

Leon and I had a lovely paddle around the southern Maine Island of Gerrish and Cutts today. Weather was perfect and the seas were fairly mild. When we approached the northern edge of Fort Foster there in the water bobbing up and down was a blue drum perhaps 55 gallon and representing a major hazard to boating, particularly power boats. We called the CG and with my GPS gave them the lat/long coordinates. Instead of sending a boat out to remove it from the water they indicated their intention was to broadcast the information to all boaters in the area. Other than that excitement I managed to hit a rock or reef about 1/2 mile out. Sometimes the swell does or does not break over submerged hazards to alert you and when you're right on top of the location, the water sucks downward exposing you to the reef and by that time its all about how much gel coat did I contribute to old briny this time, not if! This has proved to be a never boring trip.

[leong]

When we approached the northern edge of Fort Foster there in the water bobbing up and down was a blue drum perhaps 55 gallon and representing a major hazard to boating, particularly power boats.

Very nice trip.

Couldn't tell whether the drum was steel, plastic or whatever. It was barely floating (about 2 or 3 inches above the water). It was a bright blue color. Someone mentioned that it might be a bait barrel. Anyone know it there are such large bait barrels? We also found a fairly large gaff floating (big enough to gaff a shark).

The CG didn't answer until I called with a pan-pan. I was worried about two possibilities: hazard waste in the drum or a powerboat would hit it at high speed.

- Leon