PeterB

Brown Cow Ledge?

Beautiful photos! Thanks for sharing them. A great trip.

Standing up in ones boat , that much maligned pool session antic, actually does have value in the real world of kayaking. It's also used when landing on rocky areas where there's no place at deck level to exit (common in UK, I'm told) ; similar to a dock. Also, good for improving balance.

I headed downeast with plans for a circumnav. Of Mount Desert Island, combined with some touring in the Cranberries. Things went quite well. I arrived in Northeast Harbor on Wednesday early evening, loaded up, and paddled out to Crow Island, a MITA site located between Great and Little Cranberry, to camp for the night. I preferred to do this stretch in early evening (no boats, clear enough skies ) to the next morning (inevitable fog and lobster boats) so I launched at 7:30PM, crossed to Sutton Island, then to Little Cranberry, then a quick hop over to Crow , arriving about a half hour after dark. Crow is a fine grassy place, with decent landing, and a good campsite on the fringes of a spruce grove. I went to sleep to the sound of surf. I spent the next half day paddling around the Cranberries with John Huth, who was vacationing in the area. On this day the ocean was calm and fog was all about : Baker Island, less than a mile away, was completely invisible, with fog blending into the water so seamlessly as to resemble the horizon, so there was no hint that an island was even there! I later experienced other fog-inspired optical illusions, where, for instance, a small islet close up appeared to be a larger island far away. We had a leisurely tour around Little Cranberry, returned to the town dock for lunch , and John escorted me back to Crow Is. to pick up my camp gear, and we continued around to the southwest corner of Great Cranberry : a spooky ride in the fog, with some swell coming in, and little boomers here and there. Once we found a good place for me to cross back over to MDI , John and I parted ways. I was to continue up along the southwest coast of MDI , and John to continue around Great Cranberry to return home. I did a securite call right before crossing in patchy fog: less than a minute later there was a loud bull horn report, from a nearby yacht which emerged from the fog minutes later , perhaps a coincidence, perhaps a reply signaling their presence in the vicinity. From there I made good progress up along the SW coast of MDI ,with some push from the flood, ticking off the headlands to check progress. Fog lifted, and, once past Seal Cove I felt reassured that I would reach Bartlett Narrows and John Island, my camping destination, before dark. At about 7:30 I arrived at John, a tiny, mesa-like affair right in the middle of the Narrows. There was no ideal place to land, and I had a not- easy time managing my loaded boat on carpets of seaweed and sharp rocks. Being alone, I took an extra long time unloading and getting my boat settled, minding every movement so as not to slip and fall. John Island had very tight quarters for camping. the stone steps up to the top are poorly built, and would be a nice little MITA island improvement project , maybe for two people with a shovel and several hours . Not tonight , though: The evening was foggy, damp, & buggy, so I just crawled into the tent and conked out early, I was back on the water by 8am , again, taking a very long time getting my boat loaded. I paddled out of Bartlett narrows, into some wind, made it up to Mt. Desert Narrows in two hours, then around to Bar Harbor in another three, the last hour and a half in pouring rain. Paddling in the rain was mesmerizing. The water was velvety smooth, but pocked with millions of rain drops. After many hours alone, it was nice to see the apparition of Bar Island and the fleshpots of downtown Bar Harbor through the rain & fog . Bar Harbor was my last real bail out spot: I had planned that if by then there were issues with weather, timing, or my condition, I had the option to bail on this final, exposed leg of the trip back to Northeast Harbor, leave my boat at Aquaterra and hop the bus down to NE Harbor to retrieve my car. I changed into some dry clothes, hunkered down in a bad restaurant (raining too hard to range farther than one block from the waterfront) for a burger, some thermal recovery and risk assessment. Once I got warm and rested, I reasoned: the sea state was fairly calm, winds were not strong, still some help with tide (ebb until 5:21PM), and I had enough hours to get to NE Harbor before sunset, so my only real concern was rain: so I thickened my layers, (drytop and long hydroskin pants), and at @ 4PM , saddled up and headed down the eastern shore of MDI . paddling at a relaxed pace to enjoy this most scenic leg of the trip. There were dramatic cliffs, and waterfalls everywhere . The steep sides of Great Head and Otter Cliffs were imposing when viewed from water level (“Oh Lord, thy sea is so great and my boat is so small") . Swells met the cliffs, sometimes booming like far off artillery salvos. A large reef, “Old Soakerâ€, I’d only seen from above, while hiking the heights of Great Head: now from my little boat, and well exposed at low tide , it towered over me , almost scary. Once past Otter Point I knew I was home free: and the beginnings of the flood tide and mild swells from the southwest gave me a push towards Southeast Harbor , so I ambled along at senior citizen pace, arriving back at the boat ramp about a half hour before sunset. This southern stretch featured magnificent homes, most tastefully done, perched on high rocks, eliciting a sense of architectural appreciation, or envy, depending on ones disposition. I’d paddled 51 miles in exactly 48 hours., more than I’m used to, so lobster stew and popovers at the Jordan Pond house tasted pretty good. Paddling alone was quiet, peaceful, contemplative. With the crummy weather there were few pleasure boats around and about, just a few sailboats, some quite grand, with the odd lobster boat rumbling in the distance. I saw one pod of tandem kayaks go by in Bartlett narrows, but otherwise, I mostly felt like had the ocean to myself. Because it was more comfy in the cockpit and not so comfy on wet land, I preferred to just paddle. So this trip had a singular feel about it, perhaps unlikely to be repeated soon, but who knows? .

Gary, I just did a MDI circumnav:(clockwise from Northeast Harbor, including a tour of the Cranberries) As a guideline: Crow Island (in the Cranberries) to John Island (Bartlett Narrows) took me 5 hours. John Island to Bar Harbor took me 5 1/4 hours Bar Harbor to Northeast Harbor (roughly the same distance as to Crow) took me 3 ½ hours. I would say no major caveats: I’m a not-fast paddler, but I took few breaks (it was rainy and wet and I was more comfortable paddling than resting) Seas were generally calm, I had some push from the tides, mostly on the west side of MDI. Hope this helps: Peter

I don't think that the belt needs to be tight around your waist. You might try keeping the belt a bit loose: loose enough that it can be spun around your waist till the bag is in a position comfortable for you to stow your line , then spin it back to where you want it once the line is stowed. Also, if you're clipping on to a boat on the opposite side from where you wear your bag , just spin the bag around to that side: that way you don't have to reach around behind you with the carabinier or pull the line up over your head. I would avoid undoing the quick release belt buckle at any time other than for its intended purpose,which is jettisoning your belt. A loose belt seems like one more variable that needn't be dealt with at any phase of a tow scenario. If the belt is too tight, it might hamper your torso rotation when you need it most, putting on the forward stroke power during a tow. It should slide easily around so that where the rope connects to the belt is in the small of our back (or a wee bit higher, but not much ) during the tow.

If you're willing to range a bit farther north, the Islands off of Cape Porpoise in Kennebunkport, ME (between Portsmouth, NH and Portland) would be a good choice. Three of the islands ( Vaughn, Trott and Stage) have campsites, and the islands are supposed to be a great paddling destination. The islands are recent additions to the Maine Island Trail Association, so you would need to join MITA ($35) to camp there. www.mita.org The 2008 MITA handbook, by the way , is a valuable trip planner. The maps and are much better than the 2007 edition.

If there was an overarching theme to this day (both the beach briefing and our time on the water), : I would say it would be “group awarenessâ€. What I learned: “Group awareness†begins with the beach briefing, where everyone has a responsibility to communicate what they bring to the group on that day. In short, the group needs to inventory its resources for that day. "Resources" mean both human (skill, experience , temperament , special strengths, vulnerabilities , etc) and equipment (compass, chart, tow belt etc) “Group awareness†then carries to the water. Only If everyone paddles in concert can the resources of the group be utilized if the need arises.(e.g. a rescue, a tow, someone's allergies act up, fog obscures group destination, nav. work is needed etc) . How this is implemented is up to the given group on the given day. Throughout the day, Rick (and the group of experienced stalwarts he had assembled) reinforced this theme of group awareness, through personal example and the occasional verbal admonishment. It was a day of big seas, safe and fun. Applying the Common Adventure model to how this club goes about its paddling business will not be a tidy thing: it will be learning experience for us all, from the newcomer to the most seasoned paddler. To this end Rick Stoehrer stuck his neck way out by initiating this event, and deserves praise for doing so.

The calendar section shows that there are sessions on Tuesdays (Great Pond, Kingston, NH), Wednesdays (Lake Gardner, Amesbury), Thursdays (Chebacco Lake, Essex) and Fridays (Salem Harbor). The atmosphere is friendly and welcoming. Hey Pete! You forgot Mystic Lake on Tuesdays! Ern Sorry, I didn't mean to dis Mystic Lake; just didn't see it on the calendar like the other skills sessions , and little on the message board, so I thought they hadn't really gotten off the ground yet. So: if Ernie says so: Mystic Lakes on Tuesdays!

Anyone know the best place to buy spectra rope (3/8”)? NRS sells it at 0.99 /foot. Any where better to buy? Does spectra stow more compactly than the equivalent dia. standard tow rope? Can spectra be eye-spliced?

Waterlover, If you're looking ahead to getting a kayak, the after work skills sessions are a good place to start getting a sense of what's what. The calendar section shows that there are sessions on Tuesdays (Great Pond, Kingston, NH), Wednesdays (Lake Gardner, Amesbury), Thursdays (Chebacco Lake, Essex) and Fridays (Salem Harbor). The atmosphere is friendly and welcoming. If you figure out a skills session that would work for your schedule, and post a message in advance, the usual participants might between them arrange for an extra boat to be there, and you can play musical boats and try out various models. Charles River Canoe and Kayak in Newton is also worth a visit. They've got lots of different kayaks, a dock off of a fresh water pond(really part of the Charles River, but a pond-like setting) and you can demo anything they have: they have a helpful staff and there's no pressure to buy.

Of all the MDI campsites mentioned, I think that the Hall's Quarry site might be the most kayak friendly. At the bottom of the hill is a launch area, not too close to tent sites but close enough so you could park your boat and walk up the hill to a campsite, a la Old Quarry in Stonington. That's as I remember, anyway: (and I'm a little daffy in the head, as you know) I was there about six years ago. Hall's Quarry is on the west side of Somes Sound.

You have to enter marriage counseling because your wife found videos hidden in your closet with titles like: "Wet Exit", "Hard Chine", and "Re-enter and Roll".

I took a WFA class by SOLO, which was geared for watersports. It was a pilot course. The class had a third day of on-the-water training (standard WFA is 2 days), but, as it overlapped with standard kayak incident management stuff (assess situation, get patient off the water) this third day has since been dropped from the class, with students encouraged to take kayak incident management training. The on-the-water part of this class did not include CPR –performed –on-the water, presumably because there’s (yet) no tried -and true way to do it and a class wouldn’t be taking time teaching unproven methods.

Neil, It's a very popular tow belt: I like mine and I've heard few to no negatives. What sets it apart (IMO) is the wide mouth to the bag, which is great when stowing your line after a tow, something you want to do swiftly, if possible . You can't see in the picture, but by pulling at a velcro strip the bag opens from the tight burrito shape in picture to a looser, bigger bag. Some paddlers like to paddle with it wrapped tight, some like it loose. In the picture you can clearly see the (wrong) position of the float that everyone's talking about: too close to the biner, will hang up in towed boat deck lines. Better positioned about four feet away from the carabinier.

You can borrow my Necky Chatham 16 if you like. Peter

I was taught that any tow line with no way to disengage is a Bad Thing. Would this short tow(carabiniers on each end) not be difficult to unclip while carabinier is under tension? Reasonable scenario: paddler A gets trashed, wet exits, and becomes separated from boat. Paddler B tends to swimmer, Paddler C (me) clips on short tow to runaway boat to dissuade from visiting Portugal , and while returning, Paddler C gets trashed, is now upside down with empty boat attached, and must unclip carabinier under tension, while underwater, short of breath. I have a quick release on one end of my short tow: similar to this one, http://store.hamiltonmarine.com/browse.cfm/4,22999.html The quick release ring, as you can see, is too small a target to hit with fingers in cold water, so I have attached a 1 1/2” Ring that’s easy to hook ones finger into and give a pull. But, hey, weather permitting , let’s try this stuff , upside down, at Lake Gardner this PM

A lobster boat on a lake?

Are there any statistics for accidents/collisions between lobster boats and kayakers? There's been a lot of talk and hand wringing here about this issue , and I 've heard stories of near misses, but I'm not aware that collisions between the two every actually happen.. I've certainly never heard of any.

A couple of possibilities I had in mind were Marblehead to Salem Harbor and back, or maybe Misery Island, putting in at Lynch Park in Beverly. I have limited experience planning for tides & currents, so maybe someone could point me to a good place for that information, or just warn me if those trips are a bad idea for those days. Thanks, Kevin Fredette Kevin, There are lots of sites like it, but I like : www.maineharbors.com/ as it has tide charts for Maine/ NH/ Mass. and you can get marine and general weather forecast info. quickly and easily.

Our 3 day trip to Casco Bay and Jewell Island began on Friday with the initial gloomy weather report taking a fair turn and the original ten participants swelling to twelve (two late additions). I doubt it would be misrepresenting anyone to say that we all had a good time. The trip began in two pods , one launching from Cousins Island (NW of Jewell) the other from Orrs Island (NE of Jewell), converging on Bangs Island for lunch time. Bangs , it turned out, was closed, so we reconvened on tiny Crow Island, about a half mile to the west of there .With twelve boats lined up on the tiny beach (three Explorers; (one strip -built), two Outer Islands, three Avocets, one Force 3, one strip -built Guillemot , one Ikkuma , and one Argonaut) day hatches disgorged a variety of culinary goodies that set the tone for the weekend: Lots of food. Once suitably gorged, we launched and threaded our way southwest, past Stave and Cliff Islands, spreading out into roughly two pods; the go-fast, point-A-to-point-B’ers followed by the dawdler/explorer/rock gardeners , making our way to the familiar camp site on the west side of Jewell Island, just south of Cocktail Cove. There was virtually no boat traffic the entire weekend, A few working boats and a sailboat or two passed in the distance, and two powerboats were moored in Cocktail Cove , but we had Casco Bay more or less to ourselves, and had the luxury to spread out a bit while paddling, in contrast to the tighter pods that will be in order when boat traffic increases after Memorial Day. After swiftly turning our campsite into a cluster of tents, tarps and camp kitchens, four of us went for a pre-supper look-see paddle around Jewell, with some fun rockplay along the craggy eastern coast, including a few unplanned rolls in some churning rock gardens. Leave No Trace: “Take only photographs. Leave only gelcoat” A nearly obscene amount of food and drink appeared for Friday's potluck around the campfire : lentil soup, exotic cheeses, vegetable curry,pulled pork, single malt , Shiraz, and so on. The next morning, we agreed upon a common adventure to the north, with Middle Bay and the islands just west of Harpswell Peninsula as a general destination. So we made a long crossing from Bates Island to the southern tip of Whaleboat Island , which is about a mile offshore of the western prong of Harpswell Peninsula. After a fairly quick lunch stop, we dispersed along Whaleboat, some staying close by, some doing a counterclock cirmumnav. of the island and some crossing a half mile over to Little Whaleboat, a pretty little island with a shallow lagoon on the north end, and a maze of ledges and lagoons on the south end, with more than a few seals and their pups , playing in the water. After we four Little Whaleboaters crossed back to Whaleboat, a lone seal pup bobbed right up to our boats, sad and inquisitive, eliciting the inevitable urge to adopt the poor adorable little thing. Hoping that we had not just left behind an orphan, we reluctantly departed to join the others who by now had gathered on a small island just south from Harpswell , a mile away, signaling us with mirrors. Along the way , appetites had been rumbling, and conversation became more and more culinary in nature, so we stopped at a fine little restaurant at Basin Cove Marina on Harpswell , made ourselves as presentable as possible, (despite drysuits pulled to the waist, revealing rumpled fleecy torsos , the hostess and wait staff were most gracious) ,and had a nice meal. Saddling up once again at about 7 PM, we departed for a wonderful 4 NM early evening return to Jewell. Along the way, seas turned choppier, the wind had picked up and was now from the south, the nearly full moon was rising in the east ,and finally the sun set, blood orange, behind Ministerial Island . A splendid time. Sunday dawned bright and clear after a quick pre-dawn drizzle, and after breakfast, boats were loaded, and we departed for the mainland a little before 11AM, with the larger pod heading off around the southern tip of Cliff for the return trip to Cousins, and two of us heading northeast past Broken Cove and Eagle Island, back to Cribstone Bridge and Orrs Island . The return paddle, about 6 1/2 NM , was leisurely and most enjoyable, with 2+ foot seas , a nice brisk wind from the southwest, and clear blue skies. At Broken Cove, we passed along the lee of rock ledges the size of school buses as they were pummeled by waves from the other side , with spray erupting over the top. That’s a spot definitely worth a return visit. All in all, a fine weekend with unexpected good weather, and a wonderfully motley array of paddlers, each bringing their own recipes, gear and kit variations, paddling quirks,and personalities. An uncommonly fine common adventure.

The Campmor lightweight ripstop nylon tarp is excellent. It is pricey, but is very lightweight and compresses into a very small bag. Given the importance of staying dry and comfortable on a long trip, I would say it's a very important item that should't be scrimped on. I put a grommet right in the middle of mine so I can prop with a pole or stick in the middle and have a peaked shelter that does not collect water anywhere. The four corners can have cords with quick tie off plastic thingies (don't know their name, but you can get them at REI and probably other places, in the camping accessories department), and the whole thing sets up in less than a minute.

Monday's best for me. Mystic (close to work) , Great Pond (close to home) and Chebacco (kind of halfway) are all a toss-up for me, so Monday would eliminate the need to choose, and result in more more day of skills sessions on the calendar. In any event, it looks like a good season coming up for getting wet after work!

There's a skills session at Great Pond in Kingston, NH this Tuesday, which would be a good way to meet some people in the club from the Southern New Hampshire area. Check the calendar section, which can be found near the top of this page. The Portsmouth area is a pretty popular paddling spot for NSPN'ers . Launches are most often from Odiorne Point/ Seavey Creek, Pierce's Island, or Frisbee Wharf in Kittery. There will no doubt be a trip in this area before too long.