Nancy Hill

I'll be there, too, but probably arriving around 2:00. -Nancy

I don't mind the gloomy day and possible drizzle since I'll be wet anyway. I plan to go and arrive by 3:30.

I expect to be there on Sept 28, too.

I refurbished the deck of my 20-year old North Shore Fuego last summer. I started with the lightest buffing compound, but it didn't go down as deep as I wanted. I switched to a heavy duty compound - still not enough. As a last resort, I ended up sanding the deck with 600-grit, then switched back to the heavy duty, then light duty compound. If your deck is white be careful with colored compounding paste, as it will fill in deep scratches with the color and it will be hard to remove it. I used an orbital sander (about $30) with a foam pad to apply the compound and a wool pad to buff it off. The recommended variable speed sander was too expensive (over $200), so I used a cheaper orbital sander and used very little pressure so I wouldn't "burn" the gelcoat. I was not able to remove all the scratches, but most of the scuff marks were removed (my deck is red, so the deep scratches are still noticeable). After all the work, the deck looks much better and the red color is back (it had faded a lot). I also did the white hull, but did not sand that, only used compound. When all was done, I waxed hull and deck with Meguiar's Flagship Marine Wax. After waxing, I noticed that the scum from some of the waters I paddle in, wipes off the hull easily and does not need scrubbing or chemicals to remove it. Before waxing, the deep scratches would become discolored from scummy water and the only way I could get them clean was with muriatic acid. You can try buffing by hand it you don't want to use power tools. It will just take more energy and take longer. You will not get deep scratches out by sanding and compounding. If you are trying to bring back a faded gelcoat, buffing and waxing should be all you need (no sanding). Start will the lightest buffing compound, and it that works to your satisfaction, you can finish up with a good wax.

You'll have about 6 hours to go about 20 miles. If you leave before the flood starts and go out into the current, you should be able to make it. If not, you can take out in Carrying Place Cove just before West Quoddy Head. There is a path from the cove to the road (maybe too long to carry a kayak - and will leave you in the middle of nowhere) You'll see where you have to go to catch the offshore current. The water is much more textured there and you will see and feel the difference. If you need to do this all in one day, that is one thing. If you can take your time and paddle right up next to the coast, you'll enjoy the area more. The current is far enough out that you will not enjoy the rocky coast and cliffs way out there. You will miss out on what the area has to offer for scenery.

You are lucky, Yong. I had a friend waiting for me in the lot last year, with lots of parking spaces at the boat launch, but the gate was closed. Even knowing that there were spaces to park, and someone was waiting for me, the attendant would not let me in and was rather rude. I've given up going to Walden on nice, hot summer days. It's not worth my drive to be turned away, especially with parking spots at the boat ramp. I wonder if they have changed their policy, or it's the luck of the draw (you either get a nice, reasonable attendant, or the one I had last year). I'm not willing to drive for an hour to find out. I hope you had fun. It is a good night to get wet! Nancy

Brace Cove, it is then. Thank you.

Thank you. That certainly answers my question! Google earth is great, but local knowledge is much better! What a great spot for the kids to play. I'll have to find another lunch spot.

It looks like the coast between Eastern Point and Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester would be a nice place to explore, having had a brief introduction to limited parts of it yesterday, through the fog. My question is about landing kayaks on Good Harbor Beach, on the inside of the footbridge that connects the Southwestern end of the beach to Nautilus Road. Is it allowed? It looks like an ideal spot for a lunch break before retracing my steps back to Gloucester Harbor. Any other information or suggestions about that area would be appreciated, too.

Thanks for the recipes, Suz. It's good to know that you found a good one. I'll try to make it if I can't buy it.

Wonderful news! Congratulations, Bob an Kevin.

I've seen this trip listed on the calendar for years and finally decided to go. The decision to go was a good one. We had great weather, delicious food, spectacular scenery and excellent company. We arrived at different times and stayed at different sites, so most of the pictures I took only offer a limited glimpse of the weekend. On Thursday, a bunch of us left at around noon from the Dolphin Marina in Harpswell. There were nine of us. We made our way out by island hopping via Bangs, where we stopped for a break. Once we arrived at Jewell we found our big, favorite site taken by two guys in a power boat. They and we weren't interested in sharing, so we moved on to sites further down. It worked out fine in the end. I had planned to bring dinner for everyone on Thursday, when I thought it was only 5 people, but every day or so, someone else joined our pod. I began to worry. I didn't mind bringing enough for for 9, but I was not sure how I would cook it in my little pot on my little stove. Beth volunteered to bring a wok. A wok! Hmmmm, we hoped it would work on the camp stove. It did! Two batches of stir fried chicken, noodles, and oodles of veggies brought by Pru and Beth. Success! We'll definitely do this again. In the photo, notice our nice fire-pit design, thanks to Dan! I'd heard about the pot-luck food, that there was a lot of it. There was, but what was really amazing was the variety and how good everything was. I will have to up my game next year to keep up with the high caliber of offerings. Yong had smoked his own salmon and it was fantastic. Pru brought some Armenian muhammara that was out of this world. How did I not know this existed? I'll have to go on a hunt to find some locally. A few people brought interesting cold cuts (from specialty stores) that I'd never had before. Then, there was great pulled pork, made by Doug, and Kyle brought some really delicious orzo salad with lots of olives. I love olives! Joyce brought some great cheese. One was a combination of cheddar and Gruyere. Oh, and Pablo made what he called a tortilla, but it is not what you might think. It was a delicious pan fried mixture of potato, onions and eggs. We gobbled that up so fast. In my haste to get a piece, Joyce says that I was standing on Peter's foot. I didn't even notice - sorry, Peter. At some point, I had to stop eating and I was glad I did because Roger (I think it was Roger) had some really good biscotti to share when we sat around the fire after Friday night's pot luck. I have forgotten some of the other food that people brought, but it was all delicious. On Thursday night, a pod arrived from South Portland, paddling over in the moonlight. Some of us had gone to bed and didn't see them til morning. We all woke on Friday morning to another beautiful day. Good morning, Pru. After a hearty breakfast, some of us decided to paddle out to Outer Green and Junk or Pork. It was a nice trip with some lumpy water out around the islands, a few waves to surf and a some very mild rock-play. Outer Green is an important nesting area for endangered Roseate Terns. It is managed jointly by the National Audubon Society and the Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. More info: http://projectpuffin.audubon.org/conservation/outer-green-island On the way back, we stopped at the southern end of Jewell for lunch. The plan was to paddle around the outer side of Jewell to the Punch Bowl, and most of the group did that. Jane, Joyce and I paddled back along the calm side when we realized that Joyce was having a problem with her skeg that we couldn't seem to fix. We all got back to the sites in time to relax a little before our pot-luck gathering (and fix Joyce's skeg). Just before dark, a group got back from a clean-up on bangs (Gary, Yong and one other person), and a few more people arrived from Portland (Rene, Roger and Bob?). It's hard to keep all the pods straight, and paddling groups straight! So many people! After the pot-luck on site 6, we single-filed along the narrow path to site 5 for a fire. On Saturday, after hearing the forecast again, some of us decided to pack up and head for home. Others stayed to take their chances with the weather. A bunch of us headed over to Eagle Island to look at Admiral Peary's home. I'd like to go back sometime when it is open. The house and views were lovely. After a leisurely stay on Eagle Island, the group split up again, with the people heading home paddling over to Whaleboat and Little Whaleboat to get in some more paddling and exploring before returning to Dolphin Marina, where we would have an early dinner, before heading home. I'm pretty sure everyone had a great weekend. It all went too fast, of course. There will be a lot more paddling this season, and I don't want it to go by too fast, but I'd like to say that "I can't wait to do this again!" Thanks everyone for a great time! If anyone wants to look at more pictures, you can use this link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1087102548049535&type=1&l=a2a2cc5044 Thank you, Gary for putting this trip together, and thank you Pru, for keeping our pod in line. -Nancy

Yes, but we're planning to launch as close to noon as possible.

Jane Cobb and I will launch from the Dolphin Marina on Thursday if the weather cooperates. Not sure of arrival time yet, but early enough to get us over to Jewell before dark.

I use a thermarest closed cell foam pad in the bottom of my cockpit for winter paddling to help keep my legs from feeling the cold coming through the hull. It's cut to fit perfectly between the forward edge of my seat and the front bulkhead. I'd probably use it for winter kayak-camping by placing it between my ground cloth and tent floor, just under my inflatable pad ( or inside the tent if I could get it dry enough). It's also just long enough to fit into my trekker chair. So, I'd get to use it for 3 different things without having it take up any room in a hatch.

Beth, I have not managed to keep my hands warm....yet! I am still experimenting with different combinations of gloves. All of the gloves and mittens (neoprene) that I have, that claim to be waterproof, have not been. I have new gortex overmitts, that might work, although when I tried a similar thing last year with neoprene mitts, I found I lacked the dexterity to use my hands to lift deck bungees and such. Hopefully, I'll find a combination of gloves that work! I'd love to go winter camping, once I find a way to keep my hands warm, but not on the coldest day of the year!

I'll post a link again and hope it works. I am not sure why the other didn't. F/B said "You can use this link to share this photo album with anyone, even if they don't have a Facebook account. Anyone with the link will be able to see your photo album." So, why it didn't work, is a mystery to me. One more try: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.916830448410080&type=1&l=94e4939d03

Nine adventurous women spent a beautiful summer weekend camping on an island in Muscongus Bay. After everyone arrived on Friday and finished setting up shared campsites, spread out along the shore of an island, we all enjoyed a short paddle together. It was the perfect summer afternoon. The following day, 5 of us paddled out to Eastern Egg Rock to see a puffin colony. The 4 remaining paddlers chose to enjoy a different route with shorter mileage. We were all treated to a most glorious day. It's hard to beat the coast of Maine for a paddling destination and hard to beat all of the things that came together to make this an unforgettable weekend. Thank you, Katherine, for suggesting the venue and ordering up the fine weather. A link to some pictures: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.916830448410080&type=1&l=94e4939d03

We regularly carry 3 kayaks on our Jetta Wagon on a Thule rack. We use a saddle (front)/sliding thing (rear) in the middle (actually off to one side a bit for when there is only one kayak up there - easier to tie down).. We extended our Thule bars out past the rack by 5". We remove the end cap and slide Malone J-bars onto the rack. We load the middle kayak before we slide the second J-bar onto the opposite side. When we want to get everything down, we slide the middle kayak off the back, or if people are tall enough it is not too difficult to lift the middle kayak up and over an empty J-bar. We have the old style towers that allow us to extend our Thule bars out past the towers. Some newer versions probably don't allow for that. The one thing we have to remember to do is tie the middle kayak down before we put the third kayak up. This setup has been working for us for ages. Someday, we'll probably replace one of the non-folding Malone J-bars with one that folds down to make it a little easier to move the middle kayak.

Thanks for organizing, Pru. It was great to see you and everyone else on this beautiful day. -Nancy Some pics:

All VHF radios have power settings for transmitting. Mine has a choice of 1, 2.5 or 5 watts. The higher the power, the further you should be able to transmit (but, kayaks are low in the water and that is a disadvantage). When you are paddling among other kayaks and you want to communicate, you should stay on the lowest power that will work so you are not unnecessarily broadcasting over a wide area. Check and see what your transmit power is set to on your radio. If you did not boost your power to its highest setting to call the CG, that may have been why they had trouble hearing you. -Nancy

I'd like to join you for the Squam Lake Camping trip. Please send me your contact info so I can send payment. Thanks! -Nancy Hill

I second Bill's recommendation for the Buff gloves. I've been using them for a few years and they are holding up well and not too hard to get on and off when they are wet. -Nancy

Wayne and I are likely participants. -Nancy

I realize that I am not answering your question, but, I have found some relief by using chemical toe-warmers stuck to the top of my socks under my drysuit booties. That made a world of difference for my feet. I just bought neoprene mittens to try instead of gloves and intend to wear a thin glove liner underneath. Hopefully, that will take care of cold hands, but I haven't gotten out to try it, yet. -Nancy