tyson

Launched from Lanes at about 10:30 and paddled east. The weather was beautiful, sunny and generally just wonderful. There was essentially no wind. The seas where generally 3-7 feet and very gentle. A bit of mixing of diffracted waves but generally very little chop. ...just a little rock-n-roll. Saw some great rollers out near Halibut Point. Paddled out NE a bit to see if we could find some good swell. It was all too long, fast and not so steep so we were unable to play surf ski. Paddled back past Lanes to Essex bay where we finally found some good waves. ...many a bit too good for Emilie and I in our tandem so we worked our way to get in the path of some that where "just right". In this case just right was the biggest we've ever surfed and we were attempting it in a tender tandem. When peeling out of a few waves I was able to spot 13-15mph on the GPS but I was never able to read it while really going. I later read 17.3mph as our peak speed. That nearly doubles our previous fastest speed in a kayak. We caught about 5 rides on the way in to the NW side of Essex where we parked for a bit. The boat perl'ed a couple of times which really put the brakes on and subjected Emilie to a bit of "water boarding" torture. The rip current created by the waves along that shore was strong enough to keep the surfers at bay. We stopped, ate drank and rested a bit and then paddled back out. We launched on the back side of the Essex entrance, crossed the rip current and paddled out the middle of the mouth. The waves were really rolling in and Emilie was attempting to get pictures. Frequently she had air under her seat and fell down the back side of the wave with quite a thump. My seat seemed to stay in the water over the tops. A bit further out were some pretty big breaking/spilling waves. We punched through a bunch of those but then one of them finally got us. I paddled hard, speared my paddle and tucked forward as it hit us. I did a low trailing brace. When the water receded a bit I lifted my head to look and though the boat was a bit leaned thought we were going to be able to pull it off. Thats when that low trailing brace suddenly pulled down and I realized that the wave had us and we were going backwards. Over we went. My thoughts were not nearly organized enough to pull off a tandem roll. Having to work a prearranged plan and coordinate after having already been mostly under for a bit was more than I could pull off. I pulled the eject loop for the first time in a couple years without even trying to roll. When I came up from under the boat I grabbed it and tried to roll it up as Emilie was still in it and trying to roll it. First attempt didn't quite get it there, but the 2nd did. I held on to the combing and my paddle while a few more breakers rolled over us. I had to really hang on as the boat was pulled by the waves. After that large set had passed I did a quick cowboy re-entry with Emilie bracing. The reentry was easy because the boat was completely flooded and barely above water. In spite of a rear bulkhead and a bow full of flotation, the bow of this low volume boat was under water, Emilie's front combing was at the water line and mine barely above. There was no way we would be able to pump it out in the waves. We paddled our submarine out to deeper water which was interesting because as each wave passed, the boat was a foot or two under water. Once we got out to deeper water I was able to pump it out. I ended up using both paddle floats to help stabilize the boat. At first I had to edge the boat away from the side I was pumping to get the combing above water where I had the skirt pulled aside (just a little!) for the pump. After getting the boat back above water we discussed going for an other ride. We both would have loved to go do it again but concluded that it was getting late and we were both a bit tired. During dinner we both concluded that it was the right choice. When we returned to Lanes we ran into Rick Cringle(sp?!) and Christopher who had been playing at the mouth of the Annisquam and had the chance to do a quick flat water tryout of Christopher's Pintail. ...nice boat. Dinner at Lobsta Land (was that the name?) and then the long drive home. New personal kayak speed records for both of us, my first eject in quite a while, our first real deep water self rescue in some fabulous surf and sunshine. Overall, I'd say that Bill was a lot of fun and we're looking forward to the next hurricane. Pictures and video aren't ready for posting yet, but for starters, here is the SPOT track: SPOT track Cheers! Ty

I believe that Emilie and I are headed to Ipswich Bay tomorrow morning. Cape Ann should provide some shelter as well as access to some big open water swell. The forecasts are saying anything from 1-8 ft, depending on where you look. However, I'm a bit suspicious of 1-2ft data. We are currently planning to put in at Pavilion Beach. If the computer reports that things might be rough in the morning, we will divert to Lanes Cove for launch. We are planning to arrive about 9:00-9:30. Cheers! Ty

We are considering a couple of places with the final choice to be made Sat evening/Sunday morning. - Lanes Cove and then go west if the bumps are just the right size on the sand bars or beaches, else go west and play some big swell. ...pretend our tandem is a surf ski? - If it doesn't look too rough, we could put in at Pavilion Beach on Little Neck. I'm not interested in needing a CG rescue so this option would be only after careful consideration. - Salisbury Beach/Black Rock Creek boat ramp at the mouth of the Merrimack. - Seabrook Harbor. Though Little Neck/Pavilion Beach can have rough access to Ipswich Bay, the rest of the launches are targeted because they look like they have harbors that we should be able to get in and out of if the waters outside are in the range we are looking for. ...though it could still be a challenging ride for some of them. Again, our target is bumps on the order of 5ft.

It looks like schedules the to-do list won't let us out Saturday. We will be going out Sunday. We'll be looking for something in the 5' range and haven't decided if it will be with our tandem or our solos. We'll be carefully watching the forecasts and trying to pick a place either with a "soft" beach to "land" on or a protected harbor to launch from. Cheers! Ty

NESeacoastPaddlers has 40+ people signed up for a trip in the Gerrish area on Sat. Though I signed up to these groups for the chance to paddle with other people, that is a hurd that's a bit too large for me.

Yeah, some places are forecast to be a bit taller that I'm up for. That suggests Saturday or a careful choice for Sunday. Would Ipswich Bay be a washing machine or have decent waves on the sand bars?

Surf in the NE is rare, so I'd like to not miss it this time. I expect we are looking at an L4 trip here. Any one else looking to get pummeled? Esp. after paddling the TideRace boats, we really hate our solos and so may take the tandem. Cheers! Ty

Yeah. I had found it. Thanks! Ty

Do you have any links or key words for this one? Cheers!

I've googled and searched what appeared to be the correct Pentax site and didn't find anything.

Woods Hole Photos are posted! We had a great day on the water looking to improve our surf/eddie skills in the 23' tandem. Found lots of eddies, but not so many waves. The few smal ones that were found were by the NE end of Pine Island. It took a couple of tries to figure out how to get out of the eddie by the bridge going onto Nonamesset Island. On the first try the bow swung out into the current a bit too strong for our efforts to head up under the bridge. When it was clear we were loosing the battle, Emilie and I both put in a strong back stroke in an attempt to avoid colliding with the bridge abutment on the far side. Unfortunately we had quite a head of steam going and slammed the boat into the rocks/abutment. An initial inspection showed no damage. However, on the ride home I noticed water dripping down the bow line a few times when I was sure that all dripping should have ceased. A closer inspection at a gas station showed about a 3 inch crack in the (carbon?) tape that joins the hull to the deck. Fortunately it is nothing that a bit of sanding an fiberglassing won't make stronger than new. ...and nothing that a bit of duck tape won't take care of until I get a chance to fix it. ;-) Thanks to Marc for initiating the trip and thanks to Bob for also enjoying the day with us. Cheers! Ty

The cover/window over the lens of my Optio camera was no longer shedding water like it did when it was new. I expect that I "cleaned" it too much and wore off the water repellent that the manufacturer had applied. I tried using some Rain-X on it. It seems to work well for fresh water, but not so well for salt water. The pictures from Woods Hole that I hope to post shortly had a lot of blurs and distortions from water. Does anyone have any other ideas? I may try carrying a patch of cotton for wiping the lens cover since the quick dry stuff doesn't work but I would be happier if I could restore the original water shedding performance. Thanks! Ty

Are there any other options? I'm not aware of any. I just wish that I had more faith in its ability to get a message through if I really needed it. If I don't find that faith, I will eventually get a PLB for the more "out there" trips and will have to consider how many electronic gizmos I really want to carry: GPS, VHF, SPOT, PLB, camera... Cheers! Ty

I expect the data to be deleted in a couple more days, but here is the Orrs Island SPOT Track. This is with tracker placed in the mesh top of a deck back facing up. It still misses more points than I think it should though the OK messages seem to always get through. Cheers! Ty

Emilie and I are in!

Video is up on Picasa with the photos. Cheers! Ty

Here are our trip photos posted on picasaweb. ...still working on the video. If anyone wants full resolution originals, just let me know. I'm even happy to send a DVD with everything on it if. Cheers! Ty

Hmmmm... Looks like you have to have a FB account to see the videos I posted. I'll get them posted somewhere else. Ty

Ed, (and others) thanks for the trip! We had a great time! Doug and Barb, thanks for giving us an introduction to Greenland paddles. I expected them to perform better than the stick that they look like but didn't expect the level of performance that seems possible. ...now I have a new skill to learn. Fred and Barb, thanks for the impromptu lessons balance brace and hand roll lessons. It was a great experience to try out the Greenland boat and now I may have a better chance of balance bracing some of the boats I've failed in in the past. All of the above is exactly why Emilie and I had been looking for a group to go on paddling trips with. We took a good number of photos. However, a lot of them needed to be rotated upright and cropped plus we've been quite busy. I hope to have them up before the end of the day. Most of the work has been done. In the mean time, here are a few bits: GPS track Emilie's first hand roll My first hand roll It is OK to be annoyed that Emilie succeeded on her 2nd try where it took me nearly half a dozen attempts? Cheers! Ty

I don't know your location, but I've had excellent luck with these stores: - Charles River Canoe and Kayak - http://www.paddleboston.com - Contoocook River Canoe Company (near Concord, NH) - http://www.contoocookcanoe.com I know that others have found excellent service at other places and may speak up. ...or someone may know where to get exactly what you need and installation may be trivial. Cheers! Ty

Home owners who think that they own the lake drive me nuts. They bought a piece of property that abuts the lake. They did not buy the lake. The folks that live on Nubanusit lake in NH would love to shut down the boat ramp so that they can have their own private lake for their own power (and other) boats. "Ben, Manchester" is disturbingly ignorant. ...again, power boats= don't own the lake either. If he thinks its OK to not watch out for objects as large as a kayak he's at risk of some serious hurt. One person suggested a flare. From what I've read about the day-time visibility of flares, I doubt it would have helped.

Two more! Assuming that there is space, Emilie and I would like to join you. Thanks! Ty

Whoops! Your comments are very close to inline with the experience that Emilie and I had. It sounds like you are a bit more experienced with tender hulls and so got a bit more out of it than we did, but we did have fun and Emilie now has a fast hull (though still a sit-in) and some more surf-ski rentals on her shopping list. Oh, and the short version of what I had not realized before starting this thread: 1 - A spray skirt slows you down so, yes, a ski is faster. 2 - It is a different sport from either sea kayaking or traditional surfing. Speed matters so these machines are optimized to the nth degree for speed without a spray skirt. Cheers! Ty

Yeah... that can be a big one. On the "paddle" back from the 'Shoals a few weeks ago we had to keep a healthy distance from each other. That is also how I became a speed bump on my first NSPN trip a couple of months ago. One of the guys (one of the Ricks maybe?) was working a wave while I was paddling back out in Ipswich Bay. It looked like his boat was set to zig so I paddled the other way in an attempt to stay out of the way. Suddenly the wave took his boat for a zag instead and I was suddenly diverting a bow coming up over my deck. ...it took two roll attempts to get back up from that one. Spending some time paddling around in the surf and soup zone can be excellent practice. It has done wonders for some of my skills. You can also learn how to use the surf, your paddle and shifting your weight fore and aft to get your boat pointed the right way when trying to (re)launch in surf. ...still waiting for the incisions in my knee to close up so that I can get back in the water. Cheers! Ty

Unless you found some fabulous waves, it often works. You need to edge into the wave aggressively and reach into the wave with your paddle. You may need to use a sculling brace for extra support from time to time. Having a decent offside roll can help here. Typically if you roll towards shore (come up on the off-shore side of the boat) the waves will either help or at least not hinder. Sometimes this means trying one side and if that fails, go to the other side. I consider myself to be a mediocre roller. I have one roll. However, I do have it on both sides and I've not exited my boat in surf in quite some time. ...though that may have as much to do with the less than stellar east coast surf I keep finding as it does with my rolling. This is an important lesson! I keep nagging Emilie about it as a wave can put a lot of power into a boat, not only pushing you over but possibly injuring. Speed is useful. I also find that mounting up a little further out of the surf and doing a bit of a monkey walk is a useful strategy at times. Cheers! Ty