MPARSONS

I'd love to do the January 8 session in Haverhill if there is still room available. If so, where do I send the check? If not, is there room in the January 16 session in Portsmouth?

As someone who paddles in Boston Harbor all the time I can say with a reasonable degree of certainty that he wasn't on Long Island. When he says there was no one on the island and no place to take shelter, that tells me he wasn't on Long Island. Not only is there the bridge Jason pointed out, but there is a homeless shelter, fire station, numerous other buildings and even an occasional MBTA bus. Considering how unprepared he was, I'm not surprised he didn't have a chart. That fact is not very important to the story as it turned out, but if he had needed to call the Coast Guard for help, I doubt they would have found him on Long Island. At least he got out OK and is a little wiser for the experience. Although the marine motto is semper fidelis -- "always faithful -- perhaps he has new appreciation for the Coast Guard motto, semper paratus -- "always prepared."

I'm interested.

I'd be willing to meet people any day after work at that spot. I usually launch from there solo once or twice a week anyway.

Count me in!

Thanks. Wetsuit it is.

I'd like to participate even though I couldn't make the prior session. I haven't paddled on the North Shore yet this season, so I'm not sure what are the water temperatures there right now. I'd like to avoid my drysuit and wetsuit if possible but have no idea if that is realistic. The NOAA site I go to for water temperature information doesn't help when the two closest stations are: Portland: 54.0 degrees (too cold for me without a wetsuit) Boston: 80.4 degrees (would be warm enough if it wasn't obviously incorrect)

I'd be up for that. I haven't been there this season.

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

I don't recall any problems at all once we committed to it, but we were only doing it on flatwater. If you were concerned about getting on, you could wait until the rescuer had already brought the other kayak onto his deck. Getting back in shouldn't be any more unstable than any other assisted rescue. In the video the rescuee stood up in the cockpit, but he didn't have to do so. We discussed that it is possible to even get into the rescued boat while it is still sitting on the rescuers deck since the rescuer is there to stabilize. I can't recall if the instructor demonstrated that or just mentioned that it is possible. I suspect that would be harder in conditions. I think the best thing to do is to get out on the water and try it. Practicing rescues is one of my favorite things to do, which is good because it took me a long time to learn to roll!

I learned that as part of the BCU Canoe Safety Test a couple of years ago. It was presented as, among other things, a way to do on water repairs of a boat. It was incredibly stable. With the person on the front deck and the other kayak across, I don't believe I could have capsized if I wanted to.

If you come down for one of the "real" paddling trips on the weekends you described, you may find someone willing to spend an extra half hour with you working on your roll. You probably don't want to spend more than a half hour at a time learning a roll anyway because you should stop before you get tired and sloppy.

Great report. Sounds like a fun day. I've got to ask: how long did it take Emilie to realize you weren't in the boat anymore?

Four of us launched at about 12:20 on Saturday afternoon. Tyson and Emilie were in their tandem; Bob and I were in singles. The weather had been foggy all morning, but it burned off relatively quickly and turned into a beautiful day to experience the current. Air temperature was in the high 70's and minimal wind. We started in the narrow channel between Devil's Foot Island and Penzance Point. It was very mild since we only started an hour after slack. Still, it was good for a few warmup rolls and crosses of the eddie lines. We then crossed the channel to see if things had picked up yet around Pine Island and Middle Ledge. They hadn't. We eddy hopped our way up to Hadley Harbor and then through to the bridge over East Gutter. By the time we got there, things were moving well. We spent at least an hour or two practicing eddy turns, ferry angles, etc. I was amazed at how well Tyson and Emilie manouevered their long tandem in such tight quarters. After a while there we decided to see how things were going back in the main channel, so we doubled back. We decided to practice some towing into the current and across eddy lines. It was a great experience to see how a boat that is being towed responds. Despite the difficulty in matching ferry angles, it didn't seem to matter very much and we made good headway directly into the max current while towing. We went back out through Hadley Harbor and then found some standing waves around Pine Island and Middle Ledge. The waves were deceptively slippery; just when you thought you were in the sweet spot, the wave would shift a foot and you were shooting off to the side. We stayed there until fatigue and hunger told us it was time to cross back over the main channel toward home. We spent a little more time in the small gap between Devil's Foot and Penzance, doing a little more eddy turns and rolling practice. Finally we returned and (three of us) had a nice meal at Shuckers. All in all a good day. Not much gelcoat damage and no unintended swims. Now I need to decide whether the next Woods Hole themed trip that I post will be more of the same, or Cuttyhunk, or Martha's Vineyard.

I'm always fond of Shuckers (where one of my high school coaches used to be the bartender). The Captain Kid is also good (where a different one of my high school coaches use to tend bar). Both of them are on Water Street, almost next door to one another. I probably won't be able to join you there for lunch, but was going to suggest a post-paddle stop by there on the way out of town.

I just sent a PM to the interested parties with the details. Katharinec, I couldn't sent the PM to you for some reason, so the abbreviated details are: we'll meet at noon at the boat ramp by the Woods Hole Aquarium and come up with a consensus there and then.

Any other takers?

If you have one I will try to make it, but have a lot to do at work today so I might not get on the road early enough. If you don't have one, I'll just mess around in Boston Harbor for an hour or two when I leave work.

There has been some interest in a Woods Hole trip on Saturday August 15. I'm suggesting a noon start at the Woods Hole aquarium boat ramp because (1) we will have all afternoon to play around with the flood current and (2) people won't have to get up too early to get there. The disadvantage is that traffic to the Cape can be pretty rough on Saturday mornings. The velocity of the current looks a bit below average for that day, so it shouldn't be too intimidating. Also, an advantage to Woods Hole for paddling in the current is you can dip your toe into it without committing to getting yourself into trouble if you don't have much current experience. Post here if you are interested.

I can make it if the weather holds.

Traffic? Didn't you paddle there last week? There must be more boat traffic out there than I realize! Sadly, I can't make it this week. I need to take some time to fix my damaged coaming anyway.

Dave, you are killing me. I so badly want to go, but I can't make it down there this weekend because I have prior commitments in Boston. I did it solo last weekend and had a blast. I usually do Woods Hole solo because I'm down there a lot. Nevertheless, when I go solo I have to reign myself in more than I'd like for safety sake. I would absolutely love to do it with a group anytime...well, anytime but this weekend. As far as I'm concerned, Woods Hole is the most interesting place to paddle, and I get out there as much as possible -- at least four or five times per year. Anytime someone is thinking of paddling there, please...please...please let me know. I usually don't bother posting when I'm down there because its hard for me to monitor the NSPN site when I'm on the Cape (and no one ever says "yes" to trips I post anyway!) For the record, I'll be there the following Saturday, July 18, if anyone is interested, but that should be a separate posting so as to not confuse people about Dave's trip.

I'm interested.

I live 100 yards from South Boston High School and my kayak stays on my roof from Easter until Thanksgiving, locked with a Lasso lock. Someone who really wanted it would still be able to get it, of course, but it certainly deters drunks and teenagers. This is the third season I've kept it locked on the roof with no horror stories. Meanwhile, my next door neighbor's car was stolen from just a few parking spots away. I guess its easier to escape with a car than a kayak.

Thanks, that is some great information. Phil, did you put the additional fiberglass on the inside of the coaming or the outside? Jason, same question as Phil: inside or outside? Also, when you sanded the coaming to help it stick, did you remove the whole coaming to get easier access to the area you needed to sand? I'll have to jam the sandpaper up in the joint that has separated, so that will likely make the separation expand, potentially such that the whole thing pops off. That might not be a big deal if I can be sure to get it back on with a good bond.