bbjorn

My posting for a paddle around Rockport this weekend has, so far, been met by thunderous silence so I'd like to join you guys tomorrow. Looking forward to it. Blaine B.

Thanks for the ice cream tip, Bill. I'm going to add that one to my chart -- once I find where to buy them. I've called around to various marine supply dealers without much luck so far. Any advice? David -- thanks for the corrections to my distance measurements. I was relying on a book of paddle trips in NE Mass., using their figures. In their defense, though, it's possible my math was a bit off. At least it's better to overestimate than underestimate when it comes to figuring paddling distance!

I'm interested in paddling this weekend in the Rockport area of Cape Ann. Ideally 10 - 15 miles along the coast, either Saturday or Sunday. Saturday appears the better bet weatherwise. I'm totally flexible in terms of distance, put-in, round-trip vs. point to point with shuttle, etc. One interesting possibility would be from Lane's Cove around Halibut Point to Granite Pier (about 13 mi. roundtrip). This will be a CAM trip, as I have not paddled this area before. Anyone else have a similar interest? If so, let's discuss and come up with a trip. The summer will be gone before we know it, and you'll wish you had paddled more! Blaine Bjornstad

Kevin - I missed the solstice paddle as well, but reading your reply to Carolyn, that seems not to be an issue. If the enrollment is still open, I'd like to join you. After years of windsurfing that area a couple decades ago, seeing things from a kayak should be fun. Blaine Bjornstad

Kevin -- any of those dates works for me. Regarding my post with a distance from Google Earth but no units, I was so enthralled with my discovery of the ruler tool that I forgot about nautical vs statute -- earned myself an F on that assignment. BTW, I noticed what looks like a large parking lot right next to the beach in Wallis Sands State Park. From there to Appledore is showing as 5.3 nautical (6.1 statute) miles. Is that a possible launch site?

Assuming the launch would be from Odiorne Park, using the ruler tool in Google Earth I get 6 miles from there to the closest point in the Isles, Appledore. Blaine

I'm definitely interested. Weekdays are out, but any weekend should be good. Blaine Bjornstad

We ended up with five guys for the Crane Beach circumnavigation - Bill G., Bob C., Tom H., Dana ?, and Blaine B. Near launch time, it was getting decidedly warm, and we all opted for lighter clothing than might normally have been prudent for that water temp, reasoning that, in addition to hypothermia, heat exhaustion and heat stroke were also real dangers to be considered on this day where the high was predicted to reach 93 degrees. After a 100 yd. carry to the water we launched from Pavilion Beach at 10:45 AM just past low tide, crossed the boat channel toward Plum Island, then headed over to Crane, crowded with hundreds of very pink sunbathers. Halfway down the beach, we came upon a stretch of irresistable 2-4 foot surf breaking over sandbars. A delightful half hour was spent honing surf skills. A couple of us opted to practice swimming (actually, wading) skills as well. And Bill and Bob put on an instructive demo of surf rescue technique enjoyed by the rest of us. Reluctantly, we left the surf behind and continued around the tip of the beach to the back side, right smack into a swarm of growling, hulking powerboats. We hurried on to a grassy spot out of smell- and ear-shot of the boats where we took a 20 min. snack and water break. Only a brief, minor problem was had finding Fox Creek. Tom's GPS showed is up a dead-end alley, confirmed some folks on a nearby dock, who pointed to the right way a short distance back. The paddle up the creek was pretty, uneventful, and much warmer -- confirming the wisdom of our clothing choices. After emerging from the narrow creek into the wider estuary, we were treated to a brief encounter with a young powerboater who did not comprehend the "No Wake" sign, and when we pointed that out, gunned it to show us what a real wake looked like. Emerging from the estuary into the sound between Little Neck and Castle Neck, we hit a fairly strong tidal flow requiring some ferrying and digging in of paddles. Ten minutes later we arrived back at Pavilion, at 2:45 PM. A beautiful day with great companions! Blaine

Tom - Welcome aboard! Look forward to seeing you at Pavilion tomorrow. Blaine

I'm going to be hauling a load of antique bricks all afternoon. If anyone wants to reach me, call my cell # (listed in my profile).

Thanks Bob B, Gene, Nancy for your tips and recommendations. Bob C - are you still interested? It sounds like leaving Pavilion Beach just after low tide, say 10:30, should work for you and allow you to make it to Lowell by 4. That doesn't leave us a lot of play time along the way, but the pace should still be reasonably leisurely. Forecast is for a scorcher, but what better place to be! Winds should be light, so the 1st leg heading south along the beach into the wind won't be a slog. We should hit Essex Bay by noon and will have the incoming tide with us. We'd get to Fox Creek by 1:30 or so, about 2 1/2 hours before high tide, which hopefully will be enough water for us to get through. We should make Pavilion by about 3. Karen, are you still interested? As of now, it's only the three of us who have expressed interest. Maybe once others realize how hot it's going to get everywhere else, they'll come to their senses and want to get out where it's cool. Blaine

I'm interested in exploring the Essex Bay/ Hog Island /Crane Beach area this Sunday, 6/8, with a possible circumnavigation of the latter. Also, possible surf action at the south end of the beach. Put in could be either at Pavilion Beach or Conomo Point in Essex. The tides should be favorable -- low at 10:10 AM, high at 4:05 PM. Anyone else interested in joining the fun? I'm flexible in terms of what the outing will entail, and the circumnavigation would only be if others also wanted the same. Basically, I want to finally explore by kayak what I observed on several hikes around Crane Beach this past winter. I have never done this trip and am looking for advice from anyone who has. Is there any benefit, other than tidal flow, to doing the circumnavigation clockwise versus counter-clockwise? Anyone have an estimate of average paddling time for the loop, not counting play time along the way? Long-range forecast is for isolated thunderstorms both Sat. and Sun., so this will obviously be weather-dependent. Blaine B.

Rick -- Anything going on at L.Garner this Wed. night? If so, I'm interested. Thanks. Blaine Bjornstad

In case anyone is interested in the other Avocet for sale, it's in Mansfield MA near Foxboro. It's teal blue and virtually new. Seems to be in near perfect condition, and the price will be very good. You can find my contact info in my profile if you want more details. BlaineB

Ok, I have to make a confession to all of you who have been so genereous in spending your valuable time offering this newbie advice on purchasing a first kayak. After my posting Tues. night regarding the pair of plastic Avocets I saw for sale, and my vow to forget about them and heed all your good advice to try different boats before I buy, I hit the sack and woke up 5 fitful hrs. later baffled by the fact that somehow during the night my mind made itself up to buy one of those Avocets regardless. I thought I was sleeping, but apparently my mind spent the night rationalizing and justifying it's rejection of all the wise admonitions it had received only hours earlier. I apparently had little say in the matter, as it was a done deal when I awoke and I could not get my mind to change. I've pieced together the logic which went something like - The Avocet has been high on my wish list, although in composite. - Christopher pointed out that for playing in rock gardens, plastic might not be such a bad idea. - Several people have raved about this boat and recommended it highly. - The price is amazing (asking $1200 but willing to bargain) for a virtually new boat. - With the money I save by buying this as my day boat, I can get another boat later for expeditioning and point to point travel, AFTER I've had a chance to try those I'm interested in. - I'd have a boat to use now even if it's not the perfect boat for me, and could relax and take my time demo-ing other boats at my leisure, this time following all your great suggestions. - If I find the Avocet isn't for me, I should be able to resell it easily. Then, I read a couple new posts from Joe and Subaruguru that very coincidentally made many of these same points that had just coalesced in my mind, and decided to give in and at least go check out the boat. Of course there's now an pretty red Avocet perched on my car roof in the driveway, and I keep running outside for another look at it! But, irony of ironies, next week I leave for 3 weeks in the DESERT of California, Arizona and Utah and won't be able to get her in water until mid-May. So instead of enjoying my vacation in God's country, I'll be wishing I were back home in my boat! Blaine

Thanks for the translation! I've been scratching my head trying to figure out what Fishman might have meant. Googling 5* obviously was no help. I agree with your statement that being an expert and being able to teach the subject of your expertise are completely different. I appreciate your input.

Thanks for the input, Bill. I suspected as much, but thought it worth considering the one listed in the classifieds. Blaine

That sounds like another great suggestion, Phil. Not sure I'm going to last that long without owning a boat, but if I can wait, this would be a great way to save some bucks. Thanks for the idea. Blaine BTW, if anyone is still following this thread, there's a gorgeous Nordkapp for sale -- one of my dream boats, but not on my list of candidates because from everything I've read, it's a thoroughbred strictly for the experienced paddler. Anyone think it could be suitable for me as my expedition boat?

Rick, Ed, Heidi, Suz, Christopher, Deb, Phil, Al, and Peter -- I'm amazed at the response to my posting. You all sound like a such genial, fun-loving bunch, even if a bit opinionated. Being half Norwegian, I'm not a stranger to strong opinions myself. I say it's a sign of intellect. My wife says it's a sign of being bone-headed. Tons of great advice there, which I will take to heart. The one thing EVERYONE has pointed out is the need to paddle before I buy. So, I'll just try to ignore that pair of Avocets (plastic) I saw today in the Want Advertizer ($1200 ea., used only a few times, in case anyone is interested). Suz and Deb, I agree with the need for lots of lessons in order to fast track and shorten the learning curve. That's been part of my strategic plan right along. At my age (slightly over 60 but most days I still feel 40-ish, and occasionally act an awful lot younger than that), I don't have the luxury of taking 10 years to become proficient. I will definitely contact those of you who offered to help me find some good instruction. I may be just a bit over-eager and impatient -- part of being hooked -- but I accept your sage advice and will hold off registering for that rough water symposium until I'm pretty sure I won't end up out to sea in more ways than one. Rick, I really appreciate your generous offer to let me try a couple demo boats at the lake. I'd like to take you up on it -- I've got to get off dry land soon before I go nuts! I'll contact you offline to get more info. Phil, Heidi - thanks for the idea of getting a "season's pass" or renting in order to try before buying. I will check that out. And I'll be watching for those post-N2SK Symposium lake and pool sessions. Peter - thanks for the tip to get a dry suit for the next couple months. I still have an old wet suit from my windsurfing days but suspect it might not be very comfortable in a kayak, so I'm in the market for a dry suit, as well as a spray skirt and PFD. Christopher, I don't know if you still have the dry suit you were selling, but if you do, let me know if you think I would fit into it (5'8", 150 lb.). Also, thanks for the tip about the Exlorer. I had assumed that because of my size the LV made the most sense, but I'll hold off making any judgment until I've tried them both. Al and Suz, I'll put the Cetus LV on my short list of potential 2nd boats, which from what I'm hearing, I'll be getting a lot sooner that I ever imagined (hope my wife doesn't read any of this). And thanks to all of you who gave me advice on paddles. I didn't know where to begin but now I know what to look for, and not to skimp. Lot's of wisdom there in all your replies. I want to reread them over the next few days and try to absorb it all and begin putting it to use. I really appreciate all the time you put into replying. 10 replies in less than 24 hours, several of them before breakfast! Don't you guys go to work?! Looking forward to paddling with you guys, Blaine

Hello I'm looking for advice on purchasing my first kayak and hope some of you who have paddled different boats will offer your opinions. I'm an eager newbie who's ocean kayaked just a few times, but enough to know I love it! A while back I did a fair bit of whitewater canoeing up to class 3+ so I know how to use a Apaddle and make a boat go where I want it to go. I'm counting on some of that experience transferring and getting me to intermediate quickly. I'm 5'8", male, 150 lbs., reasonably athletic, in pretty good shape, and probably older than most of you but don't intend to let that hold me back! All winter, I've been reading everything kayaking-related I can get my hands on, researching kayaks in back issues of Sea Kayaker magazine and on the web, watching DVDs on rescues, rolls, etc. (does this mean I'm hooked?), and coming up with a list of boats I think would work best for me. Here's my current list of candidates (none of which I've tried): NDK Explorer LV VCP Avocet VCP Aquanaut LV NDK Romany P&H Sirius or Capella (161 or 163) I'm leaning strongly toward composite rather than plastic. I want to get competent in rough water as soon as possible and start weekend expeditioning under moderately rough conditions. I plan to work hard this season to acquire the skills I need for a rough water symposium Labor Day weekend. I realize that most of my time on the water will be day trips, so I guess I want a boat that will also be somewhat playful. I hope to eventually play in surf once I've learned to roll. I expect I'll be getting a 2nd boat in a few years, but for now have to decide which one to start with. Should I get the playful boat first like an Avocet or Romany and plan for an expedition boat sometime down the road? Or should I compromise and go with an all-around boat that won't be the best at anything? Or would I be better off with the stability and performance of the Explorer LV for that rough water symposium? If you have tried more that one of these on my list, I'd like to hear which are your favorite(s) and why. If there's another boat you think I should consider, please let me know. I'd really appreciate your opinions since I want to make a purchase soon and am having trouble deciding. I know I should demo first, but my only experience is with wide, tandem plastic boats, and I'm not sure the demo-ing will tell me much other than comfort. If you made it this far, many thanks for your time!! If you still have energy left and don't mind offering advice on a paddle, dry suit, and PFD, I could really use that too. Unfortunately, I booked a vacation before I heard about about the New to Kayaking workshop. Hope to join you on the water soon. Blaine B.