bazzert

This was a great trip combining excellent company, stunning Maine scenery and some exciting conditions. I joined Gary, Roger, Laurie and Ellie for the saturday paddle around Southport. The forecast called for strong northerly winds so Roger made the call to head north first to avoid the slog up the exposed side of Southport. Laurie and Ellie wanted to scout out the MITA islands in the sheepscott to stay on on Saturday night. If you get a chance to spend some time with them, do it; I'd love to have had more time to hear the stories. Check out their website, especially the kayak sailing videos.

We landed first on Ram island, a really nice MITA maintained island which would make a great camping spot on a future trip. We parted way here with Laurie and Ellie and continued accross the sheepscott to just north of MacMahan island. By now the wind had stiffened from the north west but the conditions were mild. Laurie demonstrated the versatility of the sailing rig by easily catching us (despite a 15 minute lead) on a beam reach. We continued on the inside of MacMahan, past Gotts cove and on to Five Islands where we stopped for a very welcome lobster roll.

From here we set a bearing for Lower mark island for the approximately 3 mile crossing to the tip of South port. The wind had strenghened and we barely had to paddle to achieve 4 knots. But I had a sense of foreboding that as the fetched lenghtened we would be dealing with some significant seas. Sure enough within a mile we were in the thick of it, surfing down the following waves, mostly stern ruddering to stay on course. Roger, in his beautiful strip built night heron, was thoroughly enjoying himself. A porpoise made a brief appearance and surfed down a couple of waves with us, as if to say "dont worry, look at me!". We decided to change course and get closer to the Southport shore, but there was only brief respites in a couple of coves before we made the left turn at the tip of Southport into the mill pond like conditions in the lee. We landed at a small island there to catch our breath and contemplate the impressive conditions on the Sheepscott. From there it was an easy couple of miles north back to Gray's.

The total distance was ~ 16 miles; my GPS shows that at some point we hit 7.5 knots while our moving average was 3+ knots. Pictures and chart here.

Barry.

Here's the track . Although our overall moving average was low, in terms of distance we did > 65% of the 12.5 miles at 3.5+ knots.

Nice fall day, and no better place to spend it.

Barry.

Yes, I'm free on Saturday (and Sunday) and am up for some rainy day action!

Me too. What time and where exactly is the put in ?

Barry.

I'll probably find it easier to just put in at Sandy Beach this fall and next spring when paddling solo.

Strangely, the beach and bath house area at Sandy Beach is completely fenced off. Not sure why, but it looks like there may be some planned construction there as well.. You may have to launch at one of the little parking areas (just dont park facing out, you may get some unwelcome attention :-)

Barry.

Refreshing; 3 definites so far for the best of seasons, kayaking or otherwise.

Hi Gary,

I am planning to make it for the Saturday paddle around Southport. I checked with Gray's and can park and launch for a small fee.

thanks,

Barry.

Thanks Peter,

See you sunday,

Barry.

I'm interested. What time do you plan to launch ?

Barry.

Actually we did have a brief beach briefing to start. Two or three were already in the water however.

Dont get me wrong, I had a wonderful day! A beach briefing is CAM 101, as I recall we had 4 (or was it 5?) of the 9 at the beach briefing. IMO its the individual's responsibility to participate in the briefing and not rely on being called to it. If you are skirted in and paddling through the surf and have not been in a briefing you have to ask the question "what happened to the briefing?".

my 2 cents.

Barry.

I for one would like to see all groups larger than 8 or so be at least casually redefined as two sub-groups initially, independent of mutual activity, so that we're not always wondering where paddler X went. It's then easier to sort out and keep track of folks, and of course can be modified later on the water as changes occur.

Ernie,

I presume you are talking about Sunday. A beach briefing attended by EVERYONE would have been a good start !

Barry.

This was one of the squiggliest trips I've been on, so am awaiting Barry's GPS trace.

Ern,

I had posted this on another thread.

Total distance was 14 miles. And for the record we continued around Marblehead neck to extend the day and mileage a little not because we were afraid of a little surf Getting in close to the rocks on that side with Kevin and Scott was really awe inspiring.

Barry

Here's the track from yesterdays paddle. Total distance was 14 miles. Thanks to everyone for a great day.

Barry

Meet at 11 BIB 11:30.

See you at 11.

Barry.

Sunday looks like the first day with the winds and seas settling down a bit. Anyone want to go out on the North Shore post with ideas. Thinking of Deveraux Beach (assuming it's OK to launch from there now) go round Tinker's down to Nahant meet at 11:00AM. Other suggestions are welcome.

Hi Gene:

I'm interested!

Barry.

Took a swing by West Beach....sign said residents only...

...signs, signs everywhere a sign... sign said long haired freaky people need not apply..."course that was some years ago ....

Here's Adams post where he mentions parking at West Beach.

We made the drive down to Manchester by the Sea. We must be thick in the head, but where exactly do people put in there in the Park ?

We saw some wooden docks but no launch area. Went over to behind the town hall, saw the launch there, and the "resident only" signs and moved on.

Then up to Singing Beach...sign said open to non residents after Sept 30th. So we decided to hang it up for the day...boat never touched the water but had a heck of a ride of about 100 miles on the roof racks .

Guess we will give it another try in Oct.

Took a swing by West Beach....sign said residents only...

...signs, signs everywhere a sign... sign said long haired freaky people need not apply..."course that was some years ago ....

I feel like a bad host Honest, there are places you can paddle in MA!

Another option in that area would be to put in at Magnolia and find parking on shore rd. I think Al Coons paddled here a few weeks ago (Al, how did it work out?).

From there its about 3 or 4 miles to the Misery islands.

Barry.

We're planing on paddling out to the Miseries and general area this week. I see people launch from Manchester Harbor or Tucks Point.

Any big difference between the two ?

Are they both public launch sites?

Figure boat traffic will be light ...any places to avoid and what not ?

thanks.

Tucks point is residents only; there was a thread earlier in the summer on it. Dont know if they relax this after labor day ?

Manchester harbor has a small number of non resident parking spots but might be a difficult launch at low tide.

West beach, Beverly might also be an option post labor day.

Barry.

Great trip, great company and great photos. Thanks for getting things going Doug. Another great launch spot.

I had paddled this area the previous week with a friend. I had found this neat google maps mashup of launch sites (published by Kayak Excursions of Kennebunkport) in the area. Should be particularly useful post labor day when there should be less contention for parking etc.

Barry.

where could I could get two in a hurry?

This is what I found at Home Depot yesterday for $5! Seems quite ideal for our multitasking purposes: one can actually blow its whistle while signaling with a constant OR blinking glowstick (choice of red, green, or even police blue!), AND using the flashlight while reading a chart. Haven't tested immersion resistance yet, but seems well-sealed. Tube cavity offers nifty storage for pills and other tiny stuff too. Lifegear offers free batteries for life...plus shipping....HA.

http://www.lifegearcompany.com/glowsticks.html

Using a red or green light at night could be confusing to other vessels.

Meet at Lane's 11:00AM HT is 1:20PM Winds moderate from the South. Wave height should be in the 2' range given the protected nature of Ipswich Bay. Plan is to either go down toward the Annasquam over to Coffin Beach and Essex Bay and Castle Neck. Or directly to Cranes first. Another option is to paddle over to Halibut and take a look where the seas should be higher and/or do some rescue practice in Folly Cove. Decisions will be based on CAM.

I'm a maybe, will confirm in the morning.

Barry.

Can anyone confirm that we can park on Fuller Street in Magnolia after dropping boats off to put-in at Magnolia Harbor?

Thanks,

Al

Hi Al,

I have even found parking on shore road which is adjacent to the put-in. I believe (true as of last year) that you can park on fuller and other streets in the area.

Barry.

[url="http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1191902&srvc=rss"]http:

You have to love that first comment on that story ... someone has a serious chip on his shoulder.

I thought the advice "He did not recommend anyone with limited kayaking experience making the same trip" was pretty sensible.

Barry.

This is a paddle I've always have wanted to do.

Me too! But cant make it next week.

Barry.

Does anyone have suggestions for the easiest/safest way to get from Winthrop to any of the Harbor Islands? Is it possible to get there at a level 1+/2-? (The channel by Deer Island is too difficult for the people going.)

Thanks!

Carolyn

Hi Carolyn,

Welcome to the NSPN. From the north there is no way to get to the harbor islands without crossing the channel.

From South Boston beaches it's about a mile to Spectacle and another to Thomson and Long islands. On summer weekend days there is a lot of boat traffic so be careful.

Barry.

What an adventure! Christoper and I left Lanes shortly after 8pm and touched keels again just before 2am. Chris made the fortunate decision to go counter-clockwise, which meant that we had a little push from the rising tide in the Annisquam and beyond the dogbar we had the moderate wind and rolly seas astearn. His local knowledge was also key in navigating the sandbars of the Annisquam in the dark at near low tide (thats not to say we didnt touch bottom a couple of times!).

For illumination we both had pfd lights and head lamps. Found that we rarely used the headlamps as they really mess with your night vision; they were however useful in the river to make our positions absolutely clear to the handful of possibly inebriated power boaters. The Annisquam is a bit of a party spot at night. My Princeton Tech H2O head lamp is really bright; I had to remember not to look directly at Chris (sorry Chris!). For traffic the only concerns were an unlighted dinghy that zipped out from beyond the Annisquam 128 bridge at us and the party boat on Gloucester harbor whose intentions was not always clear.

The flow at the canal was steady, but uneventful; we crossed Gloucester harbor from Ten Pound island directly to the dogbar. Beyond which conditions were typically confused and I found challenging. From eastern point all the way to Milk we had significant swells from astearn; this was not the mirror like seas we experienced during the circumnavigation we did in early May. In the dark we could only identify Milk when it was almost abeam; from there conditions were decidedly calmer and I found I could now actually enjoy the moonlit paddle. The passage between Rockport and Straitsmouth is not lit but is identifiable from the green flashing light on the eastern end of Straitsmouth. We crossed directly to Andrews point; the wind now abeam and kicking up a surprisingly large chop given the short fetch from Rockport. With a second wind as the end is in sight we ghosted past Halibut point whose rock formations are particularly eerie in the moon light.

Many thanks to Christopher for setting this up and giving me an opportunity to push my limits.

~21 miles, 3.4 knots avg.

Barry.

Barry, it looks as though it is just thee and me -- want to go?

Jason, will keep you in mind...

I'm in. Just sent you a pm with my cell phone.

Barry.