lhunt

Looks like Mayor's Cup a no-go for all but the "elite" paddlers. Too rough. See here for ongoing commentary

I saw this beautiful kayak while on a recent trip to Washington DC with a friend, and thought to share it here. More pictures (and some explanation) here.

Thanks, all, that's extremely helpful! I'm going to get on the horn as soon as I get a free minute (been tied up like crazy this week...) Lisa

After a tragic accident involving a full carbon kayak and a garage door, I find myself looking for someplace that can do a repair, possibly involving a patch. Does anyone know of a good place? I live near Concord, MA, but probably anywhere on the Mass or NH coast would do, or even RI or southern ME. The wound (hull, where it was strapped to the stern J-rack) is about 3" long with a little "Y" shape, and just breaks through to the inside. (The bow, which made the most contact, was barely scratched.) There are a couple of other quarter-sized vinylester gelcoat issues. But man, you should see the garage door! Thanks! Lisa Huntington lisa underscore huntington at yahoo

Nah! Real gunslingers don't wear skirts. About distance: Green track is 5.5 miles; white track is 5.0 miles; yellow track is 3.7 miles; lunch was at the red spot.

Sorry if I was unclear - I didn't give a distance for the leg back. Only the "before lunch" leg (because somebody asked and I couldn't answer at the time) and the total for the whole trip. It was 1 mile from lunch to sandbars, and all that bobbing about does add up.

Thanks, Bob, for the trip report - had a great (if slightly damp) time, and I learned a lot, which is a major plus. I also have to sheepishly admit that we stopped, not for pictures, but for Leon to lend me some gloves as my hands were getting numb. Some people were asking about distance/speed: The distance before lunch was 5.5 nm, speed about 3.6 kn. Speed home (for me) was around 3.12 kn. So we were a little off in our estimates. My total distance was 12.9 nm (14.2 miles), but as you know we were going in circles for a while there, so your mileage may vary :-) Track is here on Google Maps (I think I can see a paddle floating there in the middle somewhere), with a few pix from Leon and me here. Lisa (email lisa underscore huntington at yahoo dot com)

I can't go :-( But would you please take a picture for me of the "garden" on Appledore Island, if you go there and can find it? Also, be sure to take advantage of the fine dining facilities on Smuttynose. Here is a reminder photo: And remember to use the beach next time, as parking is very limited on the cliff: Thanks! Lisa (ps more photos HERE)

Can't go Wednesday :-( Have fun, and hope we'll go again someday! Lisa

Looks like we don't have a quorum for tomorrow... I'll make other plans, then, and wait to see what shakes out next week. Thanks for arranging this, Kevin! Lisa

I'd like to come on Monday too :-) Found this in the putins page -

Binks - thanks! This was a big help. Also this article on your site NESurfski.net might be interesting to others. Lisa

That sounds a little extreme - glass houses and all of that. After all, here we are discussing what is basically someone else's sport, as though we know something about it. I mean, sea kayakers are never arrogant or ignorant ;-) Surf ski "zealots" are investing in finely tuned specialized boats to address the problem of going fast in both flat water and waves. That is not the emphasis many NSPN'ers have, OK. Different boats for different folks. It is an interest they have, and they have presumably spent some time researching the options and have ended up in a surf ski. I'll bet if they want to play around the rocks or go camping they paddle something else. That surf skis are faster doesn't seem to be arguable, given the Blackburn Challenge results. Remember, most of the surf ski paddlers in the Blackburn (and there were many), did not capsize on Saturday. Therefore, for them, anything that reduces their speed, even if it helps in case of a capsize, is wasted. Whether there is a fast racing sit-in that is as fast as the surf skis of course I can't answer. But it does seem that the surf skis are becoming more and more popular and winning by bigger and bigger margins. And your fast racing sit-in, to meet the other of your criteria, also must be rollable and re-enterable if the roll fails. Of course, if we have a Blackburn with rough weather I expect the sea kayaks will do better relative to the surf skis than we normally do (those of us who aren't helping the surf skiers back into their boats). But I'll bet the elite, really strong surf ski racers will stay up anyway. By the way, when I saw one of the skis capsize on Saturday, I swear he was back into his boat almost as fast as rolling. Anyway, it's a free world. To each his own. Live and let live. All the world's a cliche. Lisa

I'm #253, Greg Lesher is #182. #187 is CRCK's Mark Jacobson. I hope those numbers are the same as what you're looking at, because in what I'm looking at, #285 is Ms. Gull and her lunch, Mr. Crabby. Which is a pretty slick wildlife shot on its own. Lisa (If the boat number shows in the photo you can look it up in the race results)

Doug, many thanks for these pictures! My Dad, who used to paddle a bit, couldn't come to the event for health reasons. Your pictures help me bring it to him a little! I really appreciate it, Lisa

Uh, I'm hoping that's a typo, Ty.

Results are in - here

Ty, were you guys taking pictures during the race? And still broke 4:00? Hah! Anyway, thanks for the excellent pix.

It was definitely foggy. The crossing of Sandy Bay took us well out of sight of land. But surprisingly, considering the forecast last night at bedtime (5' wave height at the tip of Cape Ann and 15 kt beam winds), it was a flat and easy paddle. The water was calm, and the gentle winds were going our way most of the time. Times were fast across the board. And the sun came out for the party, so what more can you ask? I still don't know how I placed, really, but it was pretty low. Meaning I placed 3rd in the Fast Sea Kayak women class, but there were only 4 women registered, and I don't know how many paddled. Got to get some more women in this race! They said they will post the times tomorrow, so we'll know more then. I did about 3:42, which is better than I've ever done before, and I'm really happy with it. Of course, Leon was there calmly waiting for me when I got there, to take a picture at the finish line. Lisa Oh, and about surf skis - I saw one go down off of Halibut Point, but he was back in his boat before anyone else could get there. So it can be done...

Best route so far, taken at pretty much the "right" time relative to the tide.

An altogether exceptional paddle - why? No fog, no rain. 7 arrived at Tucks to launch, then we split into two groups. 3 of us headed out for Gloucester, riding easy with the wind at our backs, saying "going to be a slog home" all the way. As it was. But the sun was bright, the temperature perfect, the clouds artistically scudding, and the wave height mostly 2-3' (there were some higher ones in there too). We didn't see much in the way of tall ships, but we had some short boats of the motor variety keeping us alert and a-wake. Lunch with the holiday makers at Crescent Beach, all in all a great day. Total 14.75 miles, pictures here: Lisa

I'm in. (BP)

A few more photos of the Level 3 trip are here. Thanks, everybody! Lisa

I'm still wondering this, too. -Lisa

Don't have Google Earth? To view in Google Maps, click here.