Adam Bolonsky

Yup. Key there, I've found over the years, is to hug the southernmost tip as close to the island as possible - there's an eddy. As long as there isn't dumping surf on the berm (it can be huge at the tip) you can paddle close enough to the island to spit on it. Meanwhile the eddy whips you around the corner. But that vector you noted really is fierce. Mike Hirsch and I driftfished that rip in his zodiac last summer. The standing waves were so large and abrurpt I was fearful the whole time that I was going to get tossed out of the boat. More eerie to me, though, is the velocity and mass of the current at the Muskeget Channel, off Wasque Point at the southeasternmost tip of the Vineyard. Mark and I, as you probably remember when we planned the trip in Warehom, felt real trepidation about getting sucked into the rip there. (Or at least I did.) Apparently there's a 1/2 acre sand island off the channel, called Skiff, that appears in the area for an hour or so on either side of low tide, then disappears for good every once in a while every few years. We timed the crossing from Cape Pogue to Muskeget so that we would avoid the power of Muskeget Channel. We did avoid it - but we ended up paying pay a very high price nonetheless several hours later, when we began to battle the rip a mile off Muskeget Island itself. Holy moly, that final mile to the island took us well over an hour. The fast and swirling water was so turbid with suspended particles of sand that you would have thought we were paddling in a river of quicksand.

More direct Link

In the course of researching a story I'm writing for On The Water about the crossing I made with Mark Stephens to Muskeget by way of Falmouth and the Vineyard a couple of years ago, I came across a pretty awe-inspiring flash movie that compresses 12 hours of tidal vectors into a nine seconds. The whiplike, elastic interconnectiveness of Nantucket Sound's tidal currents are amazing to watch, as are the spurts at Great Point, Wasque Point, through the Muskeget Channel and off the tip of South Monomoy. Here's a crucial de-interlaced frame. If NSPN web hotshots can give me a hand, I can supply the entire set of swf files and maybe we can host the swf movie as a compressed planning resource (a Quicktime movie) here on the site? The flash movie and related PostScript files are from Dr. Chen's lab at UmassDartmouth. Here's Monomoy Island soon after flood tide starts at Pollock Rip (data and forms familiar to anyone who's looked at Eldrige.) Note how flood at Pollock Rip gives you a counterclockwise free ride up along the western flats of the Monomoys, then back down along the eastern open side to the new land bridge (not shown on the image) at what once was the South Beach gap:

Hi Mary, I'm currently testing and reviewing SPOT and have a demo unit. Send me your email or cell phone number and I'll put you on the testers list, if you want. This weekend I'll be transmitting about a half dozen HELP and OK messages from the South Shore. If you're on the list you'll receive my messages via email, with a link to Google Maps showing where I am, or via text message on your cell phone -- your choice. I've got 6 team members, including one in British Columbia, who will be taking the mesages, and am looking for one or two more. So far my experience with the unit has been quite good. As long as the unit's view of the sky is clear, the messages get sent as reliably as the sun coming up. The Google Maps are great. Adam

Count me in as a contact. I did a lot of kayak fishing guiding on the Cape and off Cape Ann. I've also got a couple of buddies who fly fish from their sea kayaks. newenglandkayakfishing.com might not be the best resource. They're almost exclusively sit-on-top guys who use bulky gear like tubes-and-worms. adambolonsky at yahoo dot com

Thanks, Mike, I'll contact you via email if I still have your correct email address.

In writing up a number of safety articles, I've noticed that nspn's site makes no reference (?) to the importance of filing a float plan (even something informal as simply telling an onshore friend where you're going and when you expect to be back) with a trip monitor (i.e. that friend or family member.) Am I not looking in the right place? The fatality this spring off Biddeford Pool was, at least I think, made more likely by no-one onshore (?) knowing those guys were out, or where they were, and by what time past dark they should have been considered overdue. Consistent to most SAR operations of commercial fishing boats I'm reading about are a family member knowing where the fishing boat last was and when expected back. Sure we spend most of our time within sight of land in easy conditions, but that Maine accident rings - at least to me - the utility of a float plan, even if it's simply verbal.

Hi John, all I get through Google are cached Coast Guard documents that contain the acronym JAWS, but so casually that I still can't make sense of what JAWS is. Looking forward to anything you can come up with through friends.

Research from an article I'm writing on the sinking of and loss of life on the Lady of Grace keeps leading back me to the JAWS computer drift model the CG uses in SAR operations. Google search doesn't turn up much. Have you got a resource I can turn to? I'm not sure what the acronym stands for, nor can I find info on the model's history, development, or personnel. I'd appreciate any leads you, John, or Don Perry could provide. Thanks in advance, guys.

Also you can rent PLB's for about $45/week from plbrentals.com. They sent me a demo model to write about, review and photograph. I'll be putting up posts on it soon. Very small and compact, all things considered. And registration is not only painless but free.

Anyone surfski? Most of the research I've done reveals that surf skiers' notions of safety are far different than those of sea kayakers. To wit: in South Africa, the use of cellphones for SAR calls is actively promoted, as is running fast downwind in the largest waves and highest winds possible. There's also an active racing series with lots of sponsorship and prize money. From what I can see, there's not a lot of published protocols on solo and group surfski rescues, which seems odd, given how often surfskiers venture into condtions that would pin many sea kayakers to the beach. And yet they do so in boats so much more tender and athletically demanding than sea kayaks. Thanks, Adam paddlingtravelers.blogspot.com

Hi John and Hope, the Monomoy day is up in the air, meaning which day we plan to paddle there. Southwesterlies and northwesterllies make the place a chore. Just a heads up that this can be a long day out of the house - with a lot of that time spent at Monomoy lying around once we get there, knowing the crew I'll be paddling with. So if that's your style, and you're equipped to manage tide and wind, join us once I know when we'll be where. Adam

Well, I tried it four or five times on the local pond, and while it felt awkward, I didn't feel much pain or strain, but I was being extra careful, having seen guys dislocate shoulders on beach landings. I found that most of my weight was borne by my shoulder blade, upper back, lats and finally my ribs. Not comfortable but faster than the face-down method. Give it a shot, too, Peter. I'd be curious what your true test reaction is. Short view (mine at least) is sports don't evolve if we don't experiment open-minded....

Thanks, guys. Looks like the Canon goes for about $250. I ike the idea of using tapes, too l

Anyone have experience with either the Canon Elura or ZR800 mini dv video cameras?

Leave from either Morris Island or one of the bayside beaches to paddle Monomoy or Race Point/Wood End Light. Post interest here. I can do this 10/5, 6 or 7. Plan to cover 8-12 miles. I hope to be stopping, while trolling, to land bluefish or striped bass. Bring a rod if you want to fish or borrow one of mine. The fall fish migration is worth seeing, especially if bluefin tuna are active around Race Point and in Cape Cod Bay. A surfaced feeding school of bluefin looks like the approach of a large rolling and breaking wave. Post interest here or email me at adambolonsky at yahoo dot com

The nor'easter that hammered us also pried the South Beach gap back open. Once again, access to open water by way of the Southway. Thanks to P. Logan for these.

Here's the latest mass gis image; the gap in the lower right center is the one that's now closed.

I used to teach a lot of nav. to kayakers, and one thing we did was spend a lot of time reading charts. Here's two sets of of NOAA chart symbols that represent shoreside land features. Not to be coy or anything, but who can describe the seven different types of shorelines the seven symbols represent? Better yet, who can then name seven specific New England coastal areas that the seven symbols might represent? Let's call the sets A and B, the images A/1, A/2, A/3, B/1, B/2, B/3, B/4.

The sun glasses are the dead giveaway. He looks pretty good after all these years, even if he's wearing a neoprene girdle and doing his best to make himself look like, I dunnow, a cross between Bob Budd and Ernest Hemingway? All I know is, he was there one moment, gone the next: Meanwhile many babes, miniskirts shorn, lounged in wait:

Postponed.

Hi Jim, looks like I didn't get your email. Anyhow, standby on this one. Yvonne and I may have to postpone. Adam

Sunday 7/1/07, meet at 10:30 to launch at 11:00. Paddle three or four miles of open water to Coffins then Cranes Beach off West Gloucester and Ipswich. These are nice beaches to lounge on. Open water means no bailouts en route, so level 2+, really more of a 3. Headwind from the west or northwest makes the trip out tough, the ride home fast. The mouth of the Essex River can be rough on the outgoing tide (no idea what the tide is that day), and we have to cross it. Post your interest here, or email me for the put-in.

>I might be interested. This would be my first NSPN event, >but I need to check with someone first to see if I'm free >that day. Also, my boat is a folder, so just how rocky is >the landing? I usually hop out while still afloat so that I >don't tear out the bottom. Is that possible on Kettle >Island? > >Marc You can hop out fine and wade in so long as the waves are down. But this is very much not your typical flatsand landing. Footing is tricky but lots of paddlers have landed there. Adam

> >2) Parking on the boulevard is likely to be horrendous due >to the fiesta this weekend. > Liz, as far as I can tell, Fiesta's not until the 27th. At least that's what the link you posted says: http://www.stpetersfiesta.org/2004program.html