Joseph Berkovitz

I have done it a couple of times and it's definitely not an easy place to cross when there is traffic. Off season and weekday would be better to be sure. My experience (limited as it is) is that it's much safer to go outside of Long Island and cross from Nixes Mate or Lovells so that you have good visibility for all three of the outside passages which connect to President Roads: Boston North Channel, Boston South Channel and (especially) The Narrows which sees high-speed ferry traffic during the season. Crossing from Lovells has the advantage that you can first cross the Narrows quickly from Georges and get that traffic out of the way, then deal with the North/South Channels and President Roads itself in full view. If you go even further offshore you can even cross the South Channel first and then the North Channel. I'm curious to hear from more experienced hands on this too.

@pintail the water temp in the ocean was about 55 F. The Estero might be different but I didn’t notice it.

this will be excellent - see you there!

Great to hear! And yes, I should give credit to Danny Forer and Susan Snow of Bay Area Sea Kayakers (BASK) whose Thursday Lunch Paddles inspired this idea.

Hi all, I wanted to call your attention to a new series of trips that Bob Levine and I just posted, to run on Wednesdays during the peak paddling season. The idea is to have a regular midday trip on the ocean in the middle of each week, on a day that makes conflicts with other club activities less likely. Bob and I will jointly act as initiators for these trips. The circumstances and skill level of each trip will be tailored to that week's participants and conditions. Here's a link to the Calendar entry, which says more about it:

I'm on!

It was a Delphin 150 - a familiar sensation! ”And we had fun, fun, fun, till her daddy took the kayak away...” — The Beach Boys (adapted)

Will not be able to make it tomorrow night -- I am in the Bay Area visiting my daughter Rose this week. I will miss seeing you all. Have a wonderful time! I'm also managing to get some paddling in out here... ...Joe

I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area this week to visit family. While out here, I thought it would be fun to take a trip with our older-sister sea kayaking club BASK (Bay Area Sea Kayakers), founded in 1986. So I joined up as an out of state member a couple of weeks ago and signed up for yesterday's Thursday Lunch Paddle, a regular midweek BASK trip that's been going for about 10 years. With the generous help of Danny, the trip initiator, it turned out to be pretty easy to find a club member who could lend me a boat -- all I needed was to bring my gear on the plane. The locations for these paddles vary. This one was on Drakes Estero, a relatively shallow estuary that reaches deep into the scenic Point Reyes National Seashore. It is very rich in marine life thanks to the fertile eelgrass habitat carpeting the bottom. Birds, seals and fish abound. As part of the Phillip Burton Wilderness, Drakes Estero is one of only two marine wilderness areas in the National Parks system. The other one is in Alaska. Our 7.5 nm round-trip began near the head of Schooner Bay, one of the several arms of the Estero that reach into Point Reyes. Arriving at the put-in, a parking lot by the estuary 1/4 mile down a dirt road, the Greeting Committee was out in force. (Yes, ranching does take place on leased areas within this "wilderness". The put-in itself was formerly the site of a successful commercial oyster farm that was recently removed after NPS declined to renew their permit to operate -- a very contentious affair that divided the community. Opinion aside, the oyster farm apparently did have a substantial footprint in terms of metal racks, plastic waste, motor boats, etc. which have all now been removed) Folks gathered in a mood of pleasant anticipation and camaraderie that reminded me of our club back home. People were greeted. A club waiver was signed. The cool, mild weather reminded me that it had been 5 F on the day of our departure from Boston. The day was bright - temperatures in the low 50s, wind < 5 knots (although it blew against us in both directions), high tide around 1 pm. The tide timing for this trip was important, as at lower tides the estero flats out and becomes hellishly muddy. After a quick beach briefing and safety reminder we set off down towards the mouth of the estuary. Swells were forecast at 6 feet @ 14 seconds, and the ebb would be beginning around the time of our arrival at the mouth, so people weren't in mind to get out past the breakers into the open ocean. Helmets were left behind. It would be a mellow paddle. In Home Bay (the finger just to the east of our main route) we stopped to look at a WWII plane propeller lodged in the mud and sticking up from the water, the remnant of a practice bombing run that went awry long ago. The water here was murky with nutrients from the eelgrass and the many critters living in it; bits of eelgrass kept getting churned up on our decks. We continued on up the estuary. The water became clearer and long strands of kelp began to replace the eelgrass. Harbor seals swam by, and an osprey launched from the south-facing cliffs above us, which were lit by the brilliant light. We turned the corner just north of the mouth into the adjacent Estero de Limantour: I briefly branched off with another club member to explore the area just inside of the surf breaking on the sandbars just outside the estero's mouth. Most of the energy was being dissipated but there were some nice mini-rides to be had. I would have wanted my helmet with me to go further; it seemed quite possible to find one's way out to the ocean on this day with relative safety. However, the ebb current had not set up yet. A beautiful, inaccessible beach awaited us for lunch, nestled among cliff faces and looking out at the barrier of Limantour Spit: Our return to the launch site was relaxed. The wind had shifted 180 degrees during lunch, to the north, so we were paddling back into it, but it was nothing much. More relaxed conversation and time in the beautiful open space of the estero. Then some hanging out and conversing after the boats and gear were put away. A marine layer began to form over the water as the sun grew lower. Time for the long drive back through the hills of Marin. So... if you find yourself in the Bay Area, I highly recommend joining up with BASK and going for a trip. You will have a great time on the water with a great bunch of people!

Even though it's not quite a king tide today, it's plenty high with the storm conditions on top of the tide. Big sets are rolling in every 5 minutes or so. Here are some pictures I just took on Front St in Marblehead near Fort Sewall at the tip of the harbor. This whole area is still being repaired from last March's storms, but it's taking a whack today:

I leave the boats outside, inverted on a rack. Try to keep the ice and snow off them. There's not much alternative here. Inside, all the gear lives in the guest shower... unless there are guests!

I like the idea, although the paddling option sounds fun if conditions permit. +1 on the Neponset River. I like industrial paddles. Another option is the whole Lynn Shore Drive waterfront promenade. It's a very nice walk with great views out to the Graves and beyond, and the water should come right up to the sidewalk at that tide level. If there are any kind of conditions at the time, water will be coming up on the roadway for sure. If there happens to be swell coming in that day, you can come up to Marblehead and watch water shooting out between the houses near Fort Beach, plus see our seawall be destroyed again just after it was rebuilt ?

See you there!

Lunch sounds good to me. I’ve given up on paddling Tuesday given the worsening forecast. Prudence’s plan seems fine!

I’m not free at all on Monday. Wednesday would work for me though. I would also be happy to go out on Tuesday in the wind since it will be warm. I went out yesterday with Bob and Jim Snyder around Marblehead Neck in similar conditions and you can rig it so there is only about an 0.75 mile slog against the W wind at the top of the harbor. Theres plenty of lee available elsewhere. With temps in the 50s and sun, not too bad .

Yes, I want to paddle!

Wow! That looks a super fun time! I hope we'll do this next year...

I paddled out with Bob Levine this morning from Marblehead to check out whatever might remain of the marker. We took down cross-bearings to the nearby buoys G "11" and R "12" so we could find it in case there was no visual (well, I had a GPS as a backup too...) Anyway, there was a visual, and here it is: The tower is no more! This was taken at about mid-tide (about 5'). Bob and I couldn't see any sign of it until we were about half a mile away, when we began to be able to spot swells breaking over the remains. Once we were there, I had to wait for a drain before a larger wave in order to get any rocks into the picture at all; most of the time all that was visible was foam piles from waves breaking over the feature, (Today was quite a nice rock and roll session in Salem Sound - the wind shifted from NE to SE and swells built to around 4' off of Peach's and Brown's, by the time we got off the water.)

I would love to join. At the moment looks like a big high will be over us both Fri and sat!

Launch: 10.00aLand: 4.00pDistance: 12 nm LT: 8.30aHT: 2.20pWeather: wind NW becoming N 5-10 kt, Seas 3-4ft @ 15s, air 70F water 65FPeople: Joe B (organizer/leader), Liz N, Bob L, Dan F A very beautiful trip from Rockport Granite Pier. The story of today was a story of constant long-period swells which were typically around 2-3 feet, which would every so often amplify to a short set of huge 5-plus ft. waves. We really needed to keep on our toes during the whole trip for these big sets and there were a number of near-misses. We made our way around the outside of Straitsmouth where the huge waves breaking on the shelf in front of it made for a majestic and awe-inspiring scene. After that we handrailed through Whale Cove and Loblolly Cove. Occasionally the action would become really big. Bob went in to play in a rocky area and got caught at the beginning of one of these sets; he rolled up immediately and gamely made his way out through the remainder of the set back into more open water. At Thacher we discovered the light keeper's motor launch occupying pretty much the whole ramp. The ramp itself was being swept sideways by water during big swells, making it a very unappetizing place to land even if it had been empty of other boats. We let the keeper know we'd leave them to their business today and land elsewhere. We proceeded to the cobble beach at the SW of the island, but that was also super dicey looking in the swells. From here though we could see Milk, and it looked like a much better option... We proceeded to Milk and scoped it out. Huge waves were breaking on the ledges all around the outside of it, but the beach on the inside looked doable at a small sandy section just inside the bar that juts out of the NW corner edge of the island. As we got closer it became apparent that there was dumping surf here, but it was much smaller than elsewhere and we all landed successfully. Dan, Bob and I circumambulated Milk and found various interesting bones, and watched the huge waves breaking on the outside. Getting off Milk was a bit of an ordeal though. The water had risen and the dumping was more pronounced. Bob and Liz got off pretty nicely. Dan had a few tries on a forward seal launch and then succeeded after having the boat turned and wrenched away by incoming waves once or twice. As the last to depart the beach I had planned a reverse launch, but decided to follow Dan's approach instead since it looked very easy during one of the many lulls. Alas, it was not so easy... I had to let go of my boat at one point to avoid being hit by it, and a wave carried it up the beach where it connected with some small rocks. (I've been repairing the gash in its side today.) Anyway, Bob counseled patience and after waiting for a suitable moment I, too, left Milk Island. We more or less handrailed back, opting for a more direct and inshore route. The wind had been supposed to die, but instead picked up a bit. There were some very sporty and bumpy conditions at times with combinations of wind waves, reflected swells and some sort of wind-against-current effects (it was just after max flood). On the inside of Straitsmouth we had a chance to observe a new boat ramp that the town of Rockport is in the middle building there (near where the stone steps go up to the top of the island). It looks pretty peachy. This day, however, would not have been a good day to land there even if the ramp had been completed! I think we all agreed this was a great day, and as usual, one where the ocean was in charge, not us!

Yes, this looks suspiciously like the trip I posted last weekend, but that trip was relocated to the Beverly/Manchester coast due to ripping winds out of the N. However, this coming weekend's forecast is looking much nicer for the moment with 6 kt WNW wind and nice long-period swells in the 3' range. Temps are predicted to be around 70 with sunny skies. Hopefully this forecast will hold up. Once again, let's start from Rockport Granite Pier and paddle southeast to Thacher I. via Straitsmouth I where we can stop for lunch. However... let's also consider adding on going a bit further to Long Beach around the corner to surf the long swells, if they arrive as predicted. (I wish I could join Sunday's NH trip posted by Jonathan, since the surfing that day looks even better.) Total round-trip including the beach will be around 12-14 nm. This is going to be an L3 paddle so please be sure that you are comfortable with the trip length and the open ocean conditions. A helmet is strongly recommended; even if you are not playing in rocks the landing at the Thacher ramp can be bumpy. I believe there is a launch fee of $5 at the pier, and also a landing fee of $5 at Thacher, so bring a wheelbarrow full o' cash! Please respond if you're interested and I'll start a PM thread eventually. ...Joe

Launch: 10.15a Land: 2.30p Distance: 7.8 nm HT: 10.20a Weather: predicted winds WNW 15 kt decreasing and veering to NNW Seas 3ft @ 10s, air 70F water 65F People: Joe B (organizer/leader), Rob F, Cathy F, Prudence B, Sandy B, Liz N, Andy S, Sue H Track: https://www.gaiagps.com/public/vdMHL4wHFez9K1jQeKcqKLmz/?layer=gaianoaarnc Launched from West Beach Beverly. Most of the group paddled to Great Misery Beach to get on the water while Rob and I waited behind for the final member of the group. Eventually everyone was reunited near Chubb Island and the group headed east to keep the wind either blocked by rocks (by hugging the coast) or roughly behind us. This strategy worked although the stretch from W Beach to Gales Point was very windy indeed with a quartering wind from the rear. A feature of this paddle emerged which remained consistent throughout the day: occasional sets of large long swells (3-4 feet or more) with long unpredictable lulls in between lasting 10-20 minutes. It kept us on our toes during rock play and in some of the underwater ledge/boulder areas like Lobster Cove. During the big sets places that had been quite placid would turn into washing machine conditions. There were a few close-to-capsize moments or times we had to power over waves that were about to break. Just east of Manchester Harbor 3 paddlers decided to go back together; 2 were experiencing some minor physical issues unrelated to the paddle and the third offered To provide additional companionship and security. This left 5 who wanted to go on. We proceeded to White Beach in Manchester as a lunch spot playing near rocks along the way. The water level was gradually dropping. Some of us had some big water encounters when the large sets came through areas with ledges like the “NSPN rock” area. After lunch the return was similar in character with a few more big sets. We landed and reunited with the previously separated group on the beach.

I have promised my patient wife to do something with her on Sunday... so I'm afraid I must bow out of this one!