Joseph Berkovitz

The people: Fred Goodman, Britta Magnuson, Joe Berkovitz, Mike Habich, David G Mercer, Ricardo Caivano, Bill Voss.

The launch: Rockport Granite Pier.

The tides:
08:58 am    high    7.42
02:46 pm    low    1.97

The journey:

We launched just after 10 from the pier in clearing skies and mild temps. The forecast (which seemed to be holding) was for light NNW winds to switch over midday to S winds as high pressure passed overhead. So it seemed reasonable to head south and have a tailwind in both directions.

Despite the sea state forecast having diminished since the trip was posted, there was ample wave energy with about 2 feet at 6 seconds. It seemed to me that there might also be a longer-period swell that emerged at odd moments to deliver a little surprise. So we played along the rocks at a relaxed pace down past Straitsmouth.

Around this point the wind was dying down and Thacher looked inviting. We could see that the tours had ceased operating and the ramp looked empty. Off we went across the channel to Thacher, going around clockwise first, inspecting (and turning down) the waveswept beach at the southwest end and opting for the ramp. The ramp was a bit squiggly and slippery but it worked well enough, although the land/launch process was slow.

As we arrived we said hello to two other well-equipped local paddlers who were just in the process of leaving. We had a nice lunch on the tables at the top of the ramp, looking out at the Rockport coast:

Eventually we returned, passing around the outside of Straitsmouth and indulging in some very leisurely play in the occasional rock features in the diminishing swell. The south wind did not really get around to building and the air and water were both in the 60s. A drysuit was pleasant for me this day thanks to the gathering cloud cover in the afternoon.

Thanks everyone for a beautiful day on the water! Please post pix if you have them.

-J

Let's WLP (it's now a verb)! This Wednesday on Sept. 21 let's launch from Rockport Granite Pier (Google maps link: https://goo.gl/maps/wcKibL4ABWToCR2U9).  Please bring $12 in cash although parking may in fact be free — I don't remember if it's officially seasonal there. I will try and find out.

Let's meet up no later than 9:30 am and depart at 10:00 am.

Weather is supposed to be partly cloudy, high of 68ºF, NNW wind 5 to 8 kt dropping at midday becoming S in the afternoon. (The wind direction change is one reason for the choice of venue.) Seas 3-4 ft, so there may be some substantial swell.  LT is at 2:46pm.

Here's the registration link: https://forms.gle/cxbK3s7ysQUqTkCYA

You can get tide/current information, charts and weather forecasts for the area here: 

https://coastalpaddling.com/42.66773/-70.62012/13?tides=y&date=202209211200

To join the trip you must be a paid-up NSPN member, and have signed the club participant waiver for this season. Your signup information will only be shared with other members on the trip.

Covid-19 paddling: this trip requires paddlers to be vaccinated/boosted against Covid-19 and symptom-free, as rescues or first aid may require close physical contact.

Trip level: WLPs do not have a specific level. All properly equipped members are welcome: please bring boats with rigged deck lines, bulkheads, spray skirts, and dress for immersion. For this trip a helmet is recommended also.

NOTE: The Wednesday Lunch Paddles are cooperative adventures, not guided trips. We encourage paddlers to make their own independent decision about their comfort level with conditions at the time of the paddle. 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. 

Please PM me if you have questions or if you haven’t paddled with me before.

Hope to see you there!

Joe Berkovitz

Yes, that’s the ENC version coastalpaddling already uses. However it’s still quite different from the raster charts in many smaller details - I assumed perhaps wrongly that these were the differences that Ed was referring to. 

either way, in the long run, we’re not getting the old charts back, folks! But at least the data is still free, not like in many countries. 

Eel- In theory one could legally make electronic charts from that data that look like anything at all. But noaa doesn’t have a big incentive to preserve the legacy symbols. What they are doing is to make the new charts look like the electronic displays used in  commercial nav equipment around the world. 
 

So it wouldn’t be hijacking to use a different symbol set but it would be a large effort with uncertain reward since paper charts aren’t used by “big maritime” anymore. 

You can get all the traditional NOAA charts from MA to ME on my site coastalpaddling.com (as well as the new ones) along with printable PDFs, weather, tides and basic route planning. 

I have long since given up on Gaia and use the Navionics app for GPS tracking. Its charts are not pretty but they work, unlike Gaia’s which simply don’t show sufficient detail.

In the long run though: the old charts will eventually become nonviable due to inaccuracy so don’t get too emotionally attached to them. Hopefully NOAA will improve the new electronic ones before that happens. 

Sounds delicious! Count me in.

Interesting! I had heard that there was a GWS spotted at Nahant not long ago. Not surprising that they would be around though with the warm water and the seal population...

A few years back David Mercer and I saw a 6+ foot shark jump out of the water in Sandy Bay right next to us. Surprise!!! We were too shocked to notice what it even looked like.

When I was up in Campobello with NSPN folks a few weeks ago, some people in a powerboat told us they had seen "a shark following you". Could be true, sure. On the other hand we had seen several ocean sunfish recently nearby, flopping their fins around.  Either way... what were we gonna do? Take evasive measures?

Keep on paddling...

Joe

Current FC is for winds W 14 kt gusting to 23 kt. Maybe let’s keep an eye on this since that stretch of coast doesn’t offer much lee in those conditions.

https://marine.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lon=-70.78680&lat=42.54486#.YyCAhiUpAlR

I’ll be there too. 

Useful addition - though hard to tell if they will integrate it into the regular marine FC web pages if approved. 

Nancy: Yes, you’re definitely signed up. At the end of the signup you should have seen a confirmation message on your screen. 

I will be sending an email to participants later this morning and then everyone will be  in on the action. 

Trip is now full — PM me If you want to be on the wait list. 

If you had trouble signing up to this a few minutes ago, I made a dumb mistake and the form was disabled. Fixed now.

Wait, wait, hold on... is this allowed? Is it OK to have a FRIDAY Lunch Paddle? That sounds wrong and possibly illegal. Also, many NSPN folks will be away in Bar Harbor at the annual retreat. But I did google this question and no one on the internet said I couldn't do it. How's that for a justification? If you want to do something questionable, this sketchy rationale may also work for you.

(My backup reason is that I may still be recovering from some minor oral surgery on Wednesday and I don't want to schedule and then cancel a paddle. If your heart is set on paddling Wednesday, PM me and perhaps I'll be doing fine and going out anyway.)

Riverhead Beach is no longer charging parking fees, and it should be a fine venue for conditions Friday. We'll finally be seeing the return of high pressure with gentle winds in the morning, a sea breeze in the PM and likely some nice long swells from Hurricane Earl south of Bermuda.

Let's meet up at 9:30 am at the Riverhead parking lot in Marblehead (see map location) with an aim to depart around 10:00 am. 

Here's the registration link:https://forms.gle/2s69AYNhPbGZKLFd7

You can get tide information, charts and weather forecasts for the area here: 

https://coastalpaddling.com/42.51191/-70.84620/13?tides=y&date=202209091000

Tides are nice for launching:

We'll pick an appropriate route based on conditions and the group's preference as per the usual improvised process.

To join the trip you must be a paid-up NSPN member, and have signed the club participant waiver for this season. Your signup information will only be shared with other members on the trip.

Covid-19 paddling: this trip requires paddlers to be vaccinated/boosted against Covid-19 and symptom-free, as rescues or first aid may require close physical contact.

Trip level: WLPs do not have a specific level. All properly equipped members are welcome: please bring boats with rigged deck lines, bulkheads, spray skirts, and dress for immersion. For this trip a helmet is recommended also.

NOTE: The Wednesday Lunch Paddles are cooperative adventures, not guided trips. We encourage paddlers to make their own independent decision about their comfort level with conditions at the time of the paddle. 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. 

Please PM me if you have questions or if you haven’t paddled with us before.

Hope to see you there!

Here's my report on this year's Bold Coast trip, which included Dan Carr, John Harkey, Philippe Gassin, Beth Sangree, Paul Sylvester, Ricardo Caivano, John Haile, Catherine Kimball, John Power and myself. Let me say up front: this was really a terrific group, very well matched and mutually supportive, and I had a great time paddling with everyone. Definitely one of the best club trips I've ever been on.

Note on pictures: this year I am including only a few photos (hopefully some of the best ones) in the trip report as highlights. The full set of photos can be viewed online in this Google Photos album:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/QoVZvXn2ypg1rKHL8

Friday, Day 1: Cobscook Bay / Reversing Falls

Conditions: Heavy fog and overcast, occasional showers, light winds increasing to S 12 kt in afternoon. Air temps around 65-70 F. Water and air warm enough that most wore neoprene.
Mileage: 19.5 nm
Slack Before Ebb at Falls: ~11.45 am

Due to the forecast for T-storms we scratched the original plan of starting out on the Bold Coast where takeouts are few and sometimes iffy. Instead we opted for Cobscook Bay, doing a direct paddle from the Sunset Point campground to Reversing Falls, riding the flood in and the ebb back out. This would have been better for the 2nd day; as a starter day it was slightly less than ideal since slack would be 1 hour earlier and we humans were not really prepared for a super early start on the first day.

The first couple of miles did not really get a current assist as the flood comes in further north next to Eastport's Estes Head. We passed outside of Rodgers Island and headed northwest towards Comstock Point where we expected to pick up more of the flood. We were a bit wary of getting way out in the channel to get the current though what with the dense fog (the opposing shore was completely invisible) and the occasional sound of boats motoring through the murk. We finally got some stronger flow as we came up towards the top of Seward Neck, landing at a pleasant beach on Grove Point for a short break.

Continuing from Grove Point we wanted to aim for the general vicinity of Denbow Point across the mouth of South Bay, which was completely invisible: we were heading out into white nothingness, with the exception of passing by tiny, barren Razor Island. We started getting pushed south into the bay by the flood and had to correct towards the end. By the time we reached Denbow Point it was apparent that the flood (and our precious current assist) was coming to an end. This meant that we might altogether miss the flood. Paul and some folks opted to go straight through the falls, as they would still be flooding but would likely not really be falls anymore. A few others and myself took the long way around Falls Island. Normally this is the prudent route to arrive at the falls without committing to go through them, and even so it is usually quite a horizontal torrent of water requiring careful ferrying and eddy hopping. This time, as it was so close to slack, it was more of a wide graceful river which made it seem strange and unfamiliar!

As it happened we saw Paul and his group come out of the exit of the falls ahead of us at the west corner of Falls Island, unscathed by the falls which were approaching slack. Our roundabout group arrived a few minutes later and we both grouped up for a lunch on Falls Island, watching the ebb flow start to develop after 15 minutes of relative calm.

Not long after that photo, the fun began as we traversed the falls. It is always surprising here to me how the water doesn't really just go in one direction, there are so many different eddies and the flow is so strong that it feels like the falls are alternately switching directions as you cross the various eddy lines. Eventually most of us wound up playing in one or another of the various standing waves. The photo album contains some good action videos of different folks playing on these waves, but here's a representative one of Phil:

After over an hour of all this, people (well, at least me) started to get tired and we still had a long way to go! So we rode the ebb out of the falls and did our best to follow the current home.

There was another rest stop on Grove and then, thanks to the improved visibility, a fast (5-6 kt) ride down the channel to Johnson Bay. A short slog into a headwind and we were back at the campground, ready for some food and a damp evening in the tents — but with the promise of drier and calmer weather arriving the next day.

The night brought with it a strange tide of sound that washed over us and gradually revealed itself to be someone shouting very loudly from far away, their bullhorn-like bellow carrying over the water. Whoever it was appeared to be very angry but talking to everyone or to no one. The content was disturbingly laced with swearing and ethnic/racial slurs but the overall thread was hard to make out - if there even was one. This thing never occurred there before to my knowledge, and it didn’t happen again during our stay, thankfully.

Saturday, Day 2: Bold Coast / Baileys Mistake to Moose Cove

Conditions: Partly cloudy becoming sunny, drier. Winds NNW 10+ kt, seas 1-2 ft. Air temps 60s reaching upper 70s later. Water surprisingly warm for this area, not really a need for a drysuit.
Mileage: 11 nm

Before leaving the campground this morning, we were lucky enough to be treated to a stretching session courtesy of our very own athletic bodywork expert John Power who generously shared his expertise with us. I hope he’ll share more of that in the future!

We launched from the newly reconstructed boat ramp at Baileys Mistake, now an MCHT property. It used to be a sketchy drive over mud and gravel to get to the water at lower tides, with no parking lot; now it's a spankin' new grooved concrete ramp with an ample gravel lot that accommodates quite a few vehicles. Wow!

We launched around 9:45. We had excellent lee from the northerly winds all day thanks to the landscape, and nice 1-2 foot long swell coming in from the ocean. The day opened with a trip across Baileys to Balch Head and an investigation of the ever-popular wrecked sailboat in Haycock Harbor, near around high tide. Then we moved on to some fun rock play in a high protruding ledge with a couple of slots and swell piling high along its outside. No photos of that, unfortunately!

Somewhere along this stretch we encountered an ocean sunfish, sometimes mistaken for a shark if you only see the fin and don't notice how floppy and lazy that fin is. It's easy to see why from this picture, in which Ricardo and Cath are being "menaced":

Onwards we went along the impressive bold coastline to our ravishing lunch stop on a pocket beach outside Moose Cove. Thankfully Dan Carr was on hand to remind us where it actually was...

We proceeded a bit further to paddle along the enormous headlands past this beach with swell piling up next to them. Then we returned to visit a MITA campsite on Maine state-owned land at the ravishing Sandy Cove. Not only a beautiful campsite but one of the finest sand beaches in the whole state, if you ask me... that's Grand Manan out there in the distance...

By this time it was truly a sunny, crisp day. We reached Bailey's and loaded up in the warm sun.

Sunday, Day 3: Campobello / Head Harbour to White Horse Island

Conditions: light SE winds, sunny, air 70-80 F, calm seas (Bay of Fundy)

Today was our first of 2 paddles slated for Canada. Previously we'd all used the ArriveCAN app to set up our Covid and passport documents. The app works well except for one bizarre wrinkle: even if you are doing a day trip, you are forced to supply an address where you are staying in Canada. We gave the address of Head Harbour Lighthouse, which seemed appropriate.

Our route today was somewhat improvised, as we hoped to find some whales. We launched from the customary deserted marine equipment warehouse and snaked out of Head Harbour to the lighthouse. The light was bright!

Soon we were out in Head Harbour Passage:

We headed north up the chain of islands at the far west of the Bay of Fundy, to an area that had been literally choked with feeding whales at the same time and tidal cycle last year. But... no whales here in 2022! However, we saw a large number of harbor porpoises, doing their porpoise thing.

We meandered up to Barnes Island where we ate lunch on a hot deserted beach and watched a fish farming operation on nearby Simpsons.

After lunch, at Ricardo's suggestion the group decided to strike out into Fundy to visit nearby White Horse Island, about a 1 nm crossing. On the chart it looked strange, a thin crescent of rock. It looked odd from the water too:

As can be seen above, one side was darker and more vegetated. When we headed around the other side and passed through a magical slot in the island, the picture changed entirely!

White Horse was a wonderful visual surprise. Check out the full photo album for more pictures and videos of this amazing place.

On the way back, we stopped at Nubble Island to resolve an ongoing mystery of how the owners of a shuttered cabin managed to access it from the intimidating cliffy shores of the island which mostly looked like this:

Answer: via a wooden ramp elsewhere on the island (not shown).

Then it was off for a brief break on well-named Sandy Island. Some people were sunbathing there, it is probably a nicer beach than anywhere on the larger islands or mainland in that area. Finally we returned across Head Harbour Passage. Along the way a motorboat stopped and a woman told us that they had been watching a great white shark follow us for quite some time. Or something like that. Beth had the perfect, calm response, or so I thought: "Thanks for telling us!". If it was true, it wasn't something we could usefully act on. If it was false, the same. And we continued on our way, sans shark (or ocean sunfish) bites. Presumably, whatever the accuracy of what the people told us, sharks are out there somewhere, as always.

Day 4: Head Harbour to Nancy Head

Conditions: bright, sunny, dry, air around 65 F. Wind SE 8-10 kt.
Distance: 6 nm

For our last half-day paddle with a somewhat reduced crew, we visited the northeastern cliffs of Campobello Island:

The cliffs here are high and tortured-looking, but without the ocean swell of the Bold Coast. The water color and behavior are different, and a current runs alongshore:

We took a slow, contemplative paddle along the cliffs on the way out. As we paddled there were areas further offshore of steep chop coming in against us at an oblique angle. When we turned around, it was a great opportunity for a mini-downwinder, riding the waves and fairly flying by the landscape on our way back to the harbour. A fun way to end the trip!

In Conclusion

Another wonderful trip with wonderful folks! Thanks again to everyone who made this journey what it was. This photo (from Saturday at Sandy Cove) says it all:

Peter - thank you for a “read royale”. I really appreciate your sharing this description of a trip I didn’t know existed! It sounds like a fabulous waterborne vacation.

joe

Hi friends,

Nate Hanson of Pinniped Kayak will be leading a 4 day camping trip Sept. 26-30, on which I have the pleasure of assisting. Nate says this about the trip: it 

“One or two spaces are still available for an exploration of the Downeast coast with me and Joe Berkovitz at the end of September. On this 4-Day Journey, we’ll get out to some of our favorite islands of the Downeast coast, and develop skills around navigation, tidal planning, and expedition paddling.”

You can find out more about this trip and register here on Nate’s website. 
 

Bob and I are both out of town on Wednesdays until September 7th. If anyone wants to organize some WLPs between now and then, please be our guest!

People: Fred Goodman, Stephanie Golmon, Ricardo Caivano, Barbara Ryan , Jody Harris, Vladimir Gersht , Sue Henry Morin, Sherry V. Smith, Chris Carroll
Co-organizers: Joe Berkovitz, Mike Habich
Route (8+ nm):

(Link to explore the area further)

We took off around 9:30 am from Granite Pier on a calm and sultry day that was growing hotter by the minute. Once on the water it was mercifully cool and calm. A misty marine layer hung over us softening the view and the sunlight. The water was almost glassy with a barely defined horizon. Swell was almost nonexistent. Our plan was to begin with a visit to the Rockport Breakwater, and then continue out to the Dry Salvages, after which we could lunch at Straitsmouth Island or, as a plan B, Loblolly Cove.

We could just barely make out the dim line of the breakwater, confirming its direction with some quick viewing of charts on the water.  A little under half an hour later we arrived. The journey through the quiet haze was peaceful and we quietly paddled around the breakwater taking in the sights, sounds and sometimes smells of the water and birds. Some gray seals hung around the north end of the breakwater. The history of the never-completed breakwater is interesting: thanks to Ricardo for finding this overview and also a much older, more detailed article that was written during the construction. Although it doesn't do much for the maritime economy, it is an atmospheric place and very much worth a visit.

On the far side of the breakwater the glassy conditions became tiny wind ripples in a slight onshore breeze. The Dry Salvages were clearly visible and we felt good about heading out there. A magical garden of exposed ledges with cushiony seaweed awaited us. Normally this is a very rough place with breaking waves coming from multiple directions, but today it was a place of quiet repose:

The above was the Little Salvages — we went on to explore the larger Dry Salvages right next door, which has similar ledges clustered around a rocky pinnacle. Making our way around we suddenly encountered many gray seals giving us (as Mike put it) the "seal of disapproval":

We know how to take a hint, so we set off for Straitsmouth. It was around 11:30 and lunch felt like a good idea. However low tide was around noon, and Straitsmouth was not a good place to land 11 boats. The end of the nice new boat ramp there is close to 2 feet above low water, and the other options were pretty injury-prone at this tide level. So Loblolly Cove it was.

The beach at Loblolly while inaccessible to nonresidents by car is a nice place to land and we got a friendly greeting from people there. Some of us (including Jody and Barb) set ourselves up on rocks above the beach for lunch. While up there, a couple of snorkelers emerged from the water in wetsuits and started talking to the club members who opted to eat lower down on the beach. After a some conversation we heard a yell come up: "Jody, is that you?" "Barb, is that you?" It turned out that the snorkeling party included Jody's son and daughter-in-law and a friend who—completely unknown to Jody—had decided to snorkel that day at Loblolly Point! Family snapshot:

Finally it was time to return to the heat of the mainland. We made our way back to Granite Pier, occasionally stopping to play in what bits of swell we could find—and there was a little.

A superb day on the water with friends. Thanks everyone! Please post additional pix to this thread if you have them and would like to share.

J

This trip is now full and accepting a waitlist. Please feel free to register at the link above to get on the list.

People: Britta Magnuson, Sue Hriciga, Mike Habich, Jody Harris, David Mercer, Amy Chiuchiolo, Ricardo Caivano, Barbara Ryan, Joe Berkovitz
Route: (or browse on CoastalPaddling.com)

We launched from Fishermans in downtown "Swampie" a little after 9 am. There was a light northeast wind that reached us once we were a little bit offshore, which was a relief as the heat was already building. Conditions were impressively calm and almost glassy, although some light swell lapped at the beach.

The group headed out to Dread Ledge where conditions were still calm but there was slightly more swell - as in, perhaps half a foot. The low water environment was very conducive to play on the soft cushiony seaweed-covered rocks. It was fun to explore the ins and outs of Dread at low tide including many little slots and channels that are normally far too rough to paddle in.

Thence to Egg Rock. At Egg, as is usually the case, there was more wave energy. A group of us circumnavigated the rock, with many approaching the steep-and-deep cliffsides more closely than they might have in the past. It was incredibly peaceful in Nahant Bay this morning, with very few fishing or pleasure craft out.

From Egg we made our way to our lunch spot on the "secret beach" on East Point. It's not really secret but it is hard to get to from land and not always that easy to land on even in a boat. It was quite low water and the landing, while in calm water, was on algae covered cobbles with difficult footing. But a lovely spot as always with beautiful views out over the bay and ocean.

The post-lunch chapter took us around the corner of East Point to the "ball of the foot" (if you think of Nahant as a foot, and I definitely do). This area has impressive ancient rock formations and also very impressive rock gardening. But with the gentle swell, this too became a great playground for some of us who haven't played in rocks so much. We found a nice pourover that served as ocean playground equipment for maybe 20 minutes or so while its water level was perfect.

Our last stop of the afternoon was Nahant Beach, which did not disappoint - unless you count our getting kicked out of the first place we stopped by lifeguards, who very politely explained to us that as kayakers we needed to go down the beach to the non-guarded section, which we happily did, finding a section with no swimmers where we could play safely. The day delivered its final dose of light conditions ideal for practice—this time, surf practice in the warm shallow water!

Thanks everyone who made yesterday the delight that it was.

I’ve been thinking what Fred just said! There is no reason to hold back from signing up, we’ll simply split into manageable pods.

I made a terrible mistake and put Lanes Cove in the title of this thread, but the trip is running out of Rockport Granite Pier (https://goo.gl/maps/77FwvbHQnnrJHNKd7).

MANY APOLOGIES FOR THE SCREWUP! Please take note of the actual location.

I am sad but due to other commitments I won't be able to do this trip for the remainder of the month. If you do go, have fun!

No specific time to be off the water as yet.