Rob Hazard

Gee, Ed, I hadn't considered that. I'd be open to it if there's a ground swell of enthusiasm. Let's see what people have to say. Anyone?

The route will be the usual 'round Great Chebeague circuit launching from Cousins Island. The tidal currents are contrary, though: Casco Bay, Hussey Sound, west of Eagle Island June 4th Low Slack 0833 Max Flood 1049 +1.0 High Slack 1406 Max Ebb 1705 -1.4 This means we'll be paddling harder and longer than usual, and we won't have the usual soft & sloppy seaweed landing zone. But, we'll have oodles of daylight to burn if we launch by 1000. The length of the circuit is about 12 nm. This is a CAM trip, and I'd estimate it at the high end of Level 3. Due to water temp, drysuits are a must. If weather forecast bumps it to Level 4, I'll postpone the trip. Since the purpose of the trip is island cleanup, please come prepared not only to paddle, but to pick up trash, trim trails, etc.

MITA is holding their spring cleanup of Casco Bay islands on June 4th. I would like to join in by paddling out to Bangs Island, which we had to skip last fall due to short daylight. Anyone interested in coming along?

Just to be clear, the two dates posted are to make the workshop available to more people. We'll be covering the same material, more or less, conditions permitting. It is NOT a case of one session for beginners and another for advanced paddlers. Of course anyone who wishes to attend both is welcome to. "Two bites of the apple", as Rick put it.

It's worth mentioning here that the club still has plenty of NSPN brochures and "Paddle Smart" flyers for you to hand out. If you want any just get in touch with me and I'll get them to you. They don't save lives sitting in my barn!

No, Ed, There was no mention of laser flares. There were only 5 of us there, one being a young boy, and there was more fireworks than conversation. The smokes, especially the larger ones, put out quite an impressive display, even in a breeze, but you need to hold them aloft or set them adrift, or the smoke will choke you. Handheld flares are also highly visible in daylight, but need to be held aloft and downwind, which may not be easy from a kayak in distress.

This was a good event. To anyone who carries emergency flares I strongly recommend going to a Flare-off and trying your gear under controlled conditions. We got to shoot off various flares and orange smoke-bombs over the Merrimack river. I brought my Orion flare kit consisting of a pen-sized launcher with 3 screw-on flares in its original factory-sealed plastic bag. Tearing the bag open was enough effort that I wondered about managing it with frozen fingers while hanging onto a flooded kayak. Once the bag was open I found the firing pin of the launcher was gummed up so it would not snap forward. It took a dollop of spit plus half a minute of working it back and forth before it was freed up enough to function. I was glad to have the chance to learn that on dry land. Screwing the flare onto the launcher is a two handed operation. And the flares are small enough that they would be easy to drop if your hands were cold. Once I was past that hurdle then the rest went fine. The flares fired properly and shone brightly for several seconds before hitting the water. Of the 2 old smoke-bombs I brought, one worked fine and the other was a dud. I also tried my old Orion 12 gauge flare gun with very out-dated (2004) flares. They worked fine and were easy to use. The Harbormaster had a similar gun with a handful of 2002 flares which uniformly failed to light. His more recent expired ones, however, worked fine. Bottom line for me was that if you plan to carry flares in your PFD, the little launcher will work, but make sure you test the firing pin and then repackage the whole set in a good watertight bag. If you plan to carry your flares in your boat, the 12 gauge flare gun is much easier to use with cold wet hands. It's bulkier, though, even if you dispose of the big orange carrying box it comes in. I will repack mine in a watertight bag with new flares as well as my old ones and keep it in my day hatch. I would also be interested in trying some Pains-Wessex flares if I ever get the chance. The other thing to remember is to handle these things as though they were firearms, because, in a sense, that's what they are!

We have tentatively picked May 15th and 29th, both Sundays, for the club's annual CAM on-the-water sessions. We haven't yet chosen the launch sites and times, but we'll get to that fairly soon. Please let us know if you can attend! Cheers, Rob NOTE: Due to popular requests, we have changed the date fo the second on-the-water session to JUNE 5th. This is to avoid the Memorial Day weekend.

Herring gull, correcto mundo! Excellent job, Mr Godfrey. Now the species of duck, that's a harder problem. The Yellow-Plumed variants of Surf-Diving Quackaderos are difficult to distinguish under field conditions such as this. I suggest the application of liquid bird-identification enhancements such as several pints of Bass Ale is called for. Perhaps someone could pick a suitable establishment where we could all assemble, bird books in hand and pockets bulging with disposable simoleons in order to resolve the issue in question...

Come back next week, the 23rd, when we hope there will be less wind.

I spoke with Peggy last night. The bin of plates and forks will stay on top of the fridge in the barn until our next event. Rob

Sal, I will talk with Peggy at the Gould barn about either getting it back or leaving it there for our next event. No biggie either way. Scott, thanks for the class! Rob

Gee, Cathy, I didn't hear any whining! Your suggestion to head south made good sense to me given the wind. We all discussed it at the beach briefing and decided to go with it. I got to see some new shoreline and enjoyed the boost from the tailwind on the way back. Jon, you should've come along with us! Cheers, Rob

Did anyone from the club leave behind a bin of plastic plates and eating utensils? Rob

I'm gonna try to get there. Rob

Doug, are you certain about the time of high tide? My reading makes it more like Low tide ~ 10am. Rob

I wonder how many beers went through the cooler in HIS shop!

If you consider that the law would also require all the weekend fishermen in their 17' Boston Whalers to wear PFDs, it's obvious that this bill's chance of passage is mighty slim.

Ray Pike, the Salisbury Harbormaster, announced in today's Newburyport Daily News that he will be holding a Flare-off for outdated distress flares at the Salisbury Town Pier at 10am on April 16th. Rob Due to strong wind, the Flare-off has been postponed until next Saturday, April 23rd, at 10:00. It should be fun, 'cause there were a lot of guys there with their flares this morning!

Just a note to remind everyone that on April 30th we will be parking across the street at the town hall, since the church next door to the Gould barn, which owns the parking lot we usually use, is having a wedding that day. Rob

Of course it'll be OK, Kevin. Cheers, Rob

Well, I sure plan to be there! Rob

Just to be clear, this is NOT a repeat of the material John Huth covered in his on-the-water navigation class. This session is focused on resources and techniques useful in planning a trip. Please read Scott's more complete posting on this forum. Rob

Spring is here, and that means it's time for our on-land discussion of the Common Adventure Model for paddling trips. Scott Camlin will be organizing the program which will feature some familiar faces from last spring. We will meet at the Gould barn in Topsfield at 10am on Saturday, April 30th. This will be a full day event with a potluck lunch. Note that the church next door to the Gould barn is holding a wedding on April 30th, and the parking lot we use is theirs, so we will have to park across Rt 97 at the town hall. The on-land session will be followed by 2 on-the-water sessions in May, which will be announced as soon as we choose the dates.

You're ahead of me as usual, Ed! We're scheduling the CAM class for April 30th, a Saturday, also at the Gould barn. On-the-water sessions will be in May, on dates to be determined. Rob