Joseph Berkovitz

This was a hot summer's day of a paddle from downtown Gloucester out to Kettle Island by way of the big Cape Ann rocky coast. There was a breeze at times but mostly it was fairly calm with 5-8 from the south. Along the way some of us played in rocks. A number of people went into Rafe's Chasm which was actually very sedate inside today. Others enjoyed bobbing on the waves which became pretty active in the ledgy spots along the outside of Normans Woe and Magnolia Point. At Kettle there were two new Mass Audubon signs, somewhat conflicting. One said "No Landing on The Island" while a different one said "No Entry to Interior of Island"; both cited nesting protected birds. Ben had an equipment issue that needed fixing on land, so we elected to just stay and eat a brief lunch at the very northern tip of the island where few birds were hanging out on the exposed sand and rocks. We left quite quickly as the tide was coming in; most of us did a CW circumnav of the island where conditions became quite sporty on the SW side. Ben's boat issues recurred on the way back; an inline tow ensued, and most of us paddled along the shore up to Mussel Point where a beach permitted another repair. While the tow/repair took place Mike and Bob took a route along Normans Woe where they staged some swimming exercises. These two pods finally reunited at Mussle Point and we headed back to the beach. Ice cream was eaten!

Great video. The area is off the outside of Eagle Island. Lots of things to learn or reinforce here and there was great teamwork.

This week's Wednesday Lunch Paddle is on August 11, 2021 at Pavilion Beach in Gloucester (link to map). Please be there no later than 9:30 am and be ready to get on the water at 10 am. If you need more time, please come before 9:30. (Note: do not go to Pavilion Beach in Ipswich by mistake!) Location: Pavilion Beach is located near the heart of Gloucester. It lies off of a small parking lot that is on a fairly busy city street (Western Ave). It is fine to drop your stuff in the lot; after that, best practice is to try and take advantage of nearby onstreet parking, of which there is usually more than enough. On the beach side of Western Ave there is a nice smooth sidewalk to wheel your boat and gear down to the lot, so consider just grabbing a space there if you see it without bothering to stop in the lot. Registration: To attend, please register using this form which will also add your information to the float plan: https://forms.gle/Y2Tieq3CiHzYYk6R9 You must be a paid-up NSPN member to join this trip. Your signup information will only be shared with other participants. Weather: Winds southerly 8-10 kt, sun with possible showers, seas < 1 ft. Tides: 2021/08/11 Wed 01:37 AM 9.90 H 2021/08/11 Wed 07:53 AM -0.29 L 2021/08/11 Wed 2:09 PM 9.27 H 2021/08/11 Wed 8:08 PM 0.28 L This trip doesn't have a specific level: we'll determine the route based on who shows up, what people want to do, and what the environment wants to do. All properly equipped members are welcome: please bring boats with rigged deck lines, bulkheads, spray skirts, and dress for immersion. If you're not sure if you have a safe vessel or gear, please get in touch via PM and ask. NOTE: The Wednesday Lunch Paddles are cooperative adventures, not guided trips. Each participant is responsible for her/his own safety. Don’t assume the trip initiators are smarter, stronger, better at rough water, more attractive, or more skilled paddlers than you are. For more information, see this description of our trip philosophy from the NSPN web site. We encourage paddlers to make their own independent decision about their comfort level with conditions at the time of the paddle. Please PM me or Bob if you have questions or if you haven’t paddled with me before. Hope to see you there!

There are no NOAA current stations in that whole Jonesport region other than the two at either end of Moosabec Reach. The map features only summarize the same station data that you can already get from the various NOAA web pages. that whole area is very complicated. The currents run almost west/east near Jonesport which is a reflection of what is going on further east on the Bold Coast. That could have an effect on the north side of Eastern Bay. What did you expect, why did you expect it, and what did you find instead?

Here is the link to the full documentation: https://joeberkovitz.github.io/qgis-nautical/ the current arrows were generated using a new feature that I have not publicly released yet.

People: Robert Levine, Shari Gallant, Janet Lorang, Joe Berkovitz, Joyce Carpenter, Jody Harris , Ben Rechel, Barbara Ryan, David G Mercer This trip took place on an overcast morning (Wednesday, of course!) with initially very light wind, air temperatures in the upper 60s: a continuation of the not terribly summery conditions we've had of late in the region. We began a little before 10 am with a group discussion of the options for safely and efficiently making the crossing of the President Roads shipping channel towards Lovells Island, with an awareness of wind, current and boat traffic. Slack before flood was not due to occur until around 3 pm, so the ebb would be occurring most of the day. We decided that there were two decent crossing options: 1) cross from Deer Island Light to Nixes Mate and the entrance to The Narrows, allowing the ebb to push us to the east while heading towards the Nubble Channel. 2) take the ebb around the tip of Deer Island and then separately cross the north and south Broad Sound Channels. Deferring this decision until we could see the area, we headed out of Winthrop along the shore of Deer Island. A couple of large ships were anchored in the "parking lot" off to our right but they weren't going anywhere. Eventually we got to the end of Deer Island. A modest tide race was running on the shoals south of the point, fed by an easterly breeze against the west-moving current accelerating over the shallows. Pleasure boat traffic seemed to be minimal and the Salem Ferry passed by right in front of us, taking itself out of the running. So we opted for option #1: drop-down crossing to Nixes Mate. We crossed in a nice formation and reached Nixes Mate quickly enough with a current assist. As we arrived there, a whale watch out of Aquarium Wharf zoomed out through the channel we had just vacated, traveling 20 kt or so. Looking both ways in President Roads does not buy you very much time! At Nixes Mate a long-awaited goal of Janet and Bob was fulfilled using a set of coarse stone steps that somehow we had never noticed before: On we went to Lovells for a lunch stop. At that point, Bob and Sherry and I — for different reasons — all had to turn around and leave the group to return to Winthrop, which we did via option #2 above. We were treated to a close view of a cargo-ship-sized barge pushed by a tug in the Broad Sound channel, as well as an outgoing LNG tanker sounding its sonorous horn. What happened next on this trip? I DON'T KNOW! (except that everyone did come back safely). Hopefully someone can supply the remainder of this trip report!

This trip is now full - PM me if you would like to get on the waitlist. Thanks.

This event has filled up already since many slots were carried over from the originally scheduled date for the session. Please contact me via PM (not this thread) to get on a wait list, if you would like that.

This week's Wednesday Lunch Paddle is on August 4, 2021 at Winthrop Boat Launch (link to map). Please be there no later than 9:30 am. Be ready to get on the water at 10 am — if you need more time, than please come earlier than 9:30. This trip will run later in the day than most W.L.P.s because of the tides; slack before flood at the entrance to Boston Harbor is around 3 pm, before which time the current will oppose our return. So we are not likely to get off the water before 4 pm. Before we get on the water we'll do some navigational planning as a group, considering both tidal currents and summer boat traffic and making a safe plan to get to the outer islands. We hope you'll participate: please take a look at a chart and the currents (see below) and come prepared with your thoughts. At the very least we expect to head south to the tip of Deer Island, then cross President Roads to reach Lovells Island (about 4 nm from the put-in). Depending on conditions and the group's desires and abilities we can add distance/time to visit other potential destinations such as Georges, Calf or Green Islands. Location: Winthrop Boat Launch is part of the Winthrop Town Landing complex. There is very ample free parking. Park on the left hand side of the lot when you enter, on the side adjacent to the boat ramp. Registration: To attend, please register using this form which will also add your information to the float plan: https://forms.gle/kypJpWXLVNsS4o6k7 You must be a paid-up NSPN member to join this trip. Your signup information will only be shared with other participants. Weather: light winds becoming easterly 8-10 kt in the afternoon, cool air temps in upper 60s F, seas < 1 ft. Tides (Deer Island, 0.7 nm ESE of (BOS1110) Depth: 7 feet? 2021-08-04 06:18 AM flood 1.03 2021-08-04 09:30 AM slack - 2021-08-04 12:30 PM ebb -1.17 2021-08-04 03:36 PM slack - 2021-08-04 06:18 PM flood 0.93 This trip doesn't have a specific level: we'll determine the route based on who shows up, what people want to do, and what the environment wants to do. All properly equipped members are welcome: please bring boats with rigged deck lines, bulkheads, spray skirts, and dress for immersion. If you're not sure if you have a safe vessel or gear, please get in touch via PM and ask. NOTE: The Wednesday Lunch Paddles are cooperative adventures, not guided trips. Each participant is responsible for her/his own safety. Don’t assume the trip initiators are smarter, stronger, better at rough water, more attractive, or more skilled paddlers than you are. For more information, see this description of our trip philosophy from the NSPN web site. We encourage paddlers to make their own independent decision about their comfort level with conditions at the time of the paddle. Please PM me or Bob if you have questions or if you haven’t paddled with me before. Hope to see you there!

(Rescheduled from 7/25/21 - This event is now full.) The next Skills Practice Session Saturday 8/7/21 at Cedar Point Boat Launch in Durham NH (https://goo.gl/maps/yNj3YYBwNqPjsqqz5). Please arrive at 9:00 am, with the objective of getting on the water at 9:30 am. We will be finishing up a little after noontime. This session will focus on skills for paddling in tidal current, in a location which is perfect for a gentle introduction to this topic — but also can serve up challenges if desired! There will be a range of conditions available at different times and in varying locations on the upper reaches of the Piscataqua. We will also land on Goat Island, a small public island that is a great place to take a break and eat a snack. The flood current will reach a maximum at 10:30 or so. Some of the things we can practice include: understanding currents, eddies and eddy lines reading the water surface to recognize what is happening entering and leaving bodies of water that are moving relative to each other (crossing eddy lines) maintaining a ferry angle when crossing current maintaining position and/or doing rescues in current advanced: playing in faster current under the SR 16 bridge Parking: There are twin parking lots in this location, directly across from each other on US Route 4. We will be launching from the lot accessed from the westbound side of the highway (i.e. on your right if you are coming from I-95 and SR 16). If this lot starts to fill up we will ask you to drop your boat & gear in this lot and park across the street on the eastbound side. There is no fee for parking in either lot. Registration and Insurance: NSPN insures participants and facilitators through the American Canoe Association (ACA), similar to club pool sessions. This protects everyone involved. If you’re a regular ACA member ($40/year), you can fill out an annual online waiver once for all skills practices, and merely provide your ACA member number on each signup. Non-members have to pay a $10 ACA event fee through the NSPN Store, and fill out an ACA online waiver for each session. The registration form is here, and will walk you through the insurance steps (links are provided to the ACA and NSPN websites as needed). https://forms.gle/Sq3VBUk3uvQv4cvy8 We will be limiting the size of this session to about 12 participants (not including the facilitators). Hope to see you there! Please PM me with any questions you may have.

This session filled up today. Sorry, Chris, there is no room. I will put you on a wait list and let you know if a space opens up!

My favorite is the WRSI Trident, originally recommended by Nate Hanson. It is extremely comfortable and solid and I have tested it (not by design) in a very ugly scenario off the water involving a fall on ice, in which it probably saved my life. Not cheap. But neither is your brain. You are welcome to try it on when I see you Saturday. joe

People: Jody Harris, Mike Habich, Ben Rechel, Dana Sigall, Joe Berkovitz, Sue Hriciga, Robert Levine, Barbara Ryan Today's excellent paddle began from Tuck Point, Beverly MA which is a friendly and free place to launch near downtown Beverly. We started with a beach discussion on where we were, where we might be going, where the wind was blowing (from the north), where the current was flowing (to the east), and the meaning of life. No conclusions were reached on that last topic, but we did decide to head east to the Misery Islands, with the expectation that we would get some lee from Cape Ann to our north and the potential for a nice tailwind on the way back as the wind was expected to veer to the east. At this point it had just stopped drizzling and was cloudy but even so, some blue patches could be seen. So it was onwards to the pleasant and poorly-named Misery Islands. (Originally they were called "Moulton's Misery", Moulton being the name of their owner at the time. Somehow he managed to sell them off though.) We arrived at the ruins of the 1900s-era country club/casino, which once may have looked like this: (The text above is pretty vintage stuff too. "Sons of Fair Harvard" indeed! The Daughters of Fair Radcliffe were apparently not invited either. And could there really have been 8000 of these male scions of privilege cavorting around the island? A bit of research shows that the Class of 1890 consisted of about 350 "sons".) Anyway, one of those once-impressive bungalows once kitted out for the Harvard boys now looks like this: Times change, and it was now time for lunch, without which a WLP is no more than... a WP. The sky was blue now, with 70 F air and water. Pretty hard to beat! The magnificent view from the top of Little Misery was taken in by those brave or foolhardy enough to traipse around the extensive plantations of poison ivy: Then it was a turn around the rocks on the outside of Little Miz, and back along the Beverly shore to our put-in with many opportunities to fool around. On the way back we had a pretty nice tailwind plus the flood current. You can see some of the effects of wind and current on my GPS track from today (it includes some other "commuting to work" segments on my way to and from the WLP). The speedup in the Beverly channel at the end is pretty impressive: https://www.gaiagps.com/datasummary/track/0e58bf038cbedea2327c9f6f516918eb/?layer=gaianoaarnc We expect to do something this fun again... next Wednesday! If not sooner. [Thanks Ben for the pictures. Others please post your own pics to this thread if you have any!]

The expected time for a very fit person is going to vary hugely according to technique and to the vessel used. The Olympic kayakers use specialized racing boats that are super skinny and tippy. Regardless of the vessel and the level of fitness of the paddler, technique will also play a huge role since making a boat go fast is about much more than strength.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/26/florida-man-washes-ashore-bubble-device

The next NSPN Skills Practice Session will take place Saturday 7/31/21 at Riverhead Beach, Marblehead (link to map). Please arrive at 8:30 am, with the goal of getting on the water at 9 am. Getting a timely start is important as this location becomes very busy later in the day. We will be finishing up around noontime. This session will have two areas of focus. We'll be practicing assisted and self-rescue skills, and then (conditions willing) go play safely in some local rock gardens. Should rescues be needed, we will be able to apply the rescue practice we just did! Please bring boats with rigged deck lines, bulkheads, spray skirts, and dress for immersion. If you're not sure if you have a safe vessel or gear, please get in touch via PM and ask. Please bring a watersports helmet to this session. If you do not have one, contact me via PM and we will do our best to rustle up a spare one to lend you! Parking: Park in the left hand parking lot (facing the harbor and sailboats, not the ocean) just before the start of the Ocean Ave. causeway. Bring $20 in cash. Registration and Insurance: NSPN insures participants and facilitators through the American Canoe Association (ACA), similar to club pool sessions. This protects everyone involved. If you’re a regular ACA member ($40/year), you can fill out an annual online waiver once for all skills practices, and merely provide your ACA member number on each signup. Non-members have to pay a $10 ACA event fee through the NSPN Store, and fill out an ACA online waiver for each session. The registration form link is below, and will walk you through the insurance steps (links are provided to the ACA and NSPN websites as needed). You must register in order to participate and you must be a paid-up NSPN member to join. https://forms.gle/MfRByNxjaXrHCNXC9 Hope to see you there!

Salem Sound Coastwatch is seeking safety paddlers for Saturday morning August 7th for the B&S’s Wild Fish Open Water Swim. Instead of holding our Swim & Fin, we are the Wild Fish non-profit sponsor. We are looking for Paddlers to help with swimmer safety. The Wild Fish starts at 10:30AM start with swimmers arriving around 9:15am. The location is the Collins Cove Beach, Salem, MA. (GPS 102 Webb St. Salem, MA), next to our new living shoreline. Kayaks and Paddle Boards are welcome. B&S will give instructions and have noodles for you to hand out if needed. The swim is entirely in the Cove – no other boat traffic. Please let Barbara Warren know if you would like to volunteer, Barbara.warren@salemsound.org. There will be a drop off parking location close to the beach, if you are not able to paddle over. Street parking along the beach is limited, but neighborhood parking is available. All overflow parking will be at Bentley School Parking lot (25 Memorial Drive, Salem, MA). Paddlers will be included in the Post Race Festivities: Several packaged food items, fruit and both hot/iced coffee will be available for swimmers and paddlers. We encourage you to head downtown Salem where there are several restaurants, bars, cafes and boutique shops that are worth checking out. If you’re looking for breakfast or a post-swim beverage we recommend visiting The Derby and/or Brothers Taverna! Just wear your shirt and they’ll take 15% off your food bill!

This week's Wednesday Lunch Paddle is on July 28, 2021 at Tuck Point in Beverly (not Tucks Point in Manchester!). We will meet at 9:30 am with the notion of getting on the water at 10:00. Location: Tuck Point (singular, not plural) at the end of Water Street in Beverly MA, also known as Sandy Point (https://goo.gl/maps/n95xYqwcduuKf9az6). As you head east on Water Street and keep going along the sure, the street passes some condos and a yacht club and ultimately dead-ends at a boat ramp. Drop your boat and gear near the ramp and then park at any public parking spot on Water St (most of these are further back on Water, before the intersection with Lothrop). The spots are unmetered. Registration: To attend, please register using this form which will also add your information to the float plan: https://forms.gle/nXE87hjMf8P9qbDV8 You must be a paid-up NSPN member to join this trip. Your signup information will only be shared with other participants. Weather: a mix of sun and possible showers; cooler temps near 70 F. Wind 5-8 kt NNE; seas 2 ft. [Link to forecast] Tides (Salem Harbor): 2021/07/28 Wed 09:09 AM -0.22 L 2021/07/28 Wed 3:27 PM 9.16 H This trip doesn't have a specific level: we'll determine the route based on who shows up, what people want to do, and what the environment wants to do. All properly equipped members are welcome: please bring boats with rigged deck lines, bulkheads, spray skirts, and dress for immersion. If you're not sure if you have a safe vessel or gear, please get in touch via PM and ask. We may have the opportunity to play around rocks on this trip. If you feel like doing that, please bring a helmet! Bob and I will be happy to provide a safe introduction to rock play if you have never done it and want to try. NOTE: The Wednesday Lunch Paddles are cooperative adventures, not guided trips. Each participant is responsible for her/his own safety.Don’t assume the trip initiators are smarter, stronger, better at rough water, more attractive, or more skilled paddlers than you are. For more information, see this description of our trip philosophy from the NSPN web site. We encourage paddlers to make their own independent decision about their comfort level with conditions at the time of the paddle. Please PM me or Bob if you have questions or if you haven’t paddled with me before. Hope to see you there!

This trip has been cancelled due to forecasted poor weather.

We will make the call on the weather tomorrow. The timing of potential wind and rain on Sunday is still uncertain.

This was a cool paddle as it turned out to be me and Bob plus 3 NEW NSPN MEMBERS: Jody Harris, Ricardo Caivano and Barb Ryan! So exciting to go out with new people — we love the good old people but it's great to see new faces in the club and on the ocean. It was also great because the expected bad weather did not close the curtains on our day. Far from it — instead, it never arrived. We had a lovely excursion out to Dread Ledge and then turned north along the rocky Swampscott coast to Devereux Beach, the little pocket of it that lies on the Neck side of the Marblehead causeway, which was our lunch spot. There was a light westerly wind at the outset which built a little bit to 5-8 kt during the day, but most of the time the cliffs protected us from even that. On the way back we did some assisted rescue practice with Bob and myself as swimmers. I can report that the water was not at all cold. Eventually everyone was back in a boat and we headed back to Fishermans Beach. Fishermans Beach is a lovely launch spot, by the way. There were perhaps a half-dozen parking spots or so when we arrived at 9 am, which is pretty amazing for a free parking lot right next to a beach in Massachusetts.

It is Sunday not Saturday. Sorry about the error, I will edit the post

Ricardo, that’s great. Would you mind signing up using the form so we can keep track? This paddle is almost full and we only look at the official registration list to figure out who asked first, otherwise it gets very complicated.

Due to a dumb mistake on my part, signups were turned off yesterday for this Sunday's session. If you received a message that the event was full, please go ahead and register.

Due to a dumb mistake on my part, signups were turned off for this event. If you received a message that the event was full, please try again.