Jim Snyder

New as of this date, 20% discount on subscriptions to OnlineSeakayaking.com. See Business forum post for codes.

On behalf of the club's board I'm pleased to announce that Online Seakayaking is offering a 20% discount to club members. Codes can be found on a post pinned on the NSPN Business forum on how to claim your club discount. Maybe, like me you've seen their videos on facebook or elsewhere. They are very high quality and taken together cover a huge diversity of seakayaking topics. See their introductory video here: https://youtu.be/N2xzDDE6ftk Also see their website here: https://www.onlineseakayaking.com/ Additionally Simon and James have donated one annual membership to the club, and the board has voted to match that donation. We will be picking random winners of these subscriptions at our upcoming General Meeting. More details to follow!

Thanks, Joe. Can you make a version of this available afterwards for those of us who may not be available?

I think the main difference in how we're looking at this is that you're assuming a standalone GPS device and I'm assuming a phone app with additional navigational features. Couldn't hurt to have both. Incidentally, the app I referenced, Gaia, is having some trouble displaying NOAA charts as they are morphing into electronic only. It still works but without the previous chart detail.

I disagree. While I would never recommend relying on GPS apps exclusively for all the obvious reasons, they can be more useful than you suggest. Let's assume you've been out to visit some islands out of Portsmouth and on your return a fog rolls in lowering visibility to 100 yds. With an app like Gaia you could go to your saved waypoints and select Jaffrey Point, at the entrance to Little Harbor. You then choose "guide me" and the app will show a straight line to the point and give a bearing, let's say 270 magnetic. If you have slack current and no wind, that bearing should bring you pretty close. You could check from time to time to see if your bearing has changed, or if it's calm enough you could secure your phone to the deck and try to stay on the line. After say 10 minutes of this you see that your bearing has changed to 2750 .This means you need a course over ground that is slightly more northerly because you have drifted to the south on the ebb. You make a correction in course to 2800 and paddle on. Eventually you find you can stay on a straight line course of 2780 by holding your kayak compass on 2850 , having empirically established a ferry angle of 70. I can almost feel the breeze from the purists shaking their heads. I know. These things fail. They can't be relied on. You can't deal with a phone in conditions. But neither can you deal with a map and compass in conditions. I've never had to rely on this in a real situation but I have practiced it and am glad to have it as a tool when the fog rolls in. Maybe we could do an island stabbing trip sometime using GPS only and see how we do.

Don't sell yourself short Ricardo. I've witnessed moments of splendid grace...

They're wholesale only. If you go to their dealer list you're back where you started.

A couple of years ago you could buy Bruntons on Amazon for around $60. Now they're hard to find. I went the cannibal route.

I can't resist watching these stories and think we should start a single thread specifically for kayak/nature interactions. So many stories with alligators, whales, etc. That being said, this particular rescue looks like a very dangerous situation.

Forecast looks a lot better for Friday. Do we want to consider a "New Year's Eve paddle"?

I'd be in if conditions allow.

Sometimes I have to re-open the track on my phone for the pc version to refresh.

I always use Gaia on the water and rarely have battery issues. When I do, its usually because I've left something on accidentally. Obviously a lot depends on how old your phone is. Also, I think you now need a paid version to get marine charts. I have a free version but was grandfathered in on the charts. I don't think there's an android version yet for Gaia but there are a couple other great apps that do.

Congratulations Jonathan and Kelsey on adding this to your business. I've been thinking of switching from Werner and would like to come demo the Lendals. Will pricing from you be the same as on the Lendal site?

We ended up being eight paddlers at the beach parking lot, which was more crowded than expected do to a classic car show which was kind of cool. We were Janet Lorang, Stephanie Golman, Jane Cobb, Nick Pearson, Fred Goodman, Vladimir Gersht, Dan Foster, and Jim Snyder. The walk to the water on the ocean side was pretty long and the water pretty surfy so we decided to launch into the river, even though there was some flood current to overcome on the way out. We decided to forgo surfing until the return and headed out and down the coast. Despite low winds and predicted 1.5' swell, piling up in the shallows made for fairly sporty conditions. Initially the rock play was mostly deemed to be sightseeing only but eventually we found some places that were doable. Not far down the coast we got an opportunity to practice rescues in bouncy water. After a second capsize the group went into incident management mode as the swimmer, once back in his kayak, was warm enough but reported feeling like he had lost his equilibrium. The decision was made to abandon the original lunch destination of Cape Neddick Harbor and turn back towards Ogunquit with a lunch break in Perkin's Cove. We decided to raft the kayaker and tow with two kayaks, leaving four of us free to relieve or assist. After a long break in Perkin's, the kayaker having difficulty felt ready to give it another try and made it back to the launch without event. Typical of an NSPN paddle, teamwork dealing with a problem was amazing. No disagreements or disappointment about shortening the trip, just teamwork to ensure the safest outcome. Once back in the river mouth some of us got some good rides on the short period surf as the sun came out.

If you didn't see it, Dan Foster posted some charts for this venue in a separate thread. Thanks, Dan. I've always been a little frustrated at how little detail there is on the chart in this area, but as you said somewhere, remembering which side of the boat to keep the ocean on will also serve well. As an aside, I plan to do this trip at least once or twice more if this date didn't work for you. It's really a spectacular place and pretty easy to get to. [Link to chart downloads: Downloads - NSPN Message Board]

Forecasted conditions continue to improve slightly. This trip is on, details to follow in the group message.

Long range forecasts are available now for the 23rd and if they don't change much the trip will be on! Bob Levine, Nick Pearson and I did a dry run yesterday. The surfing was spectacular! Please reply to the pm for the trip if your availability changes.

Updates to lists have been made. A few more days and we'll have some forecasting.

I was miserable for a long time with a too tight neck and didn't try any of the aforementioned fixes. Recently when I had my neck gasket replaced, I was able to try on different sizes at the shop to get the best fit. So if all the above fails, there is definitely a solution. Now my neck fits great.

Thanks for the enthusiasm! I will start a pm thread for participants and one for waiting list. Please post here if you'd like to be added to the wait list.

Assuming Prudence is in, (she sort of sounded like a maybe) this trip is full. A wait list would be good, as when we get closer, some may drop out. I will start a group pm when we get closer.

I'm hoping for the third annual Ogunquit paddle to occur on Saturday, October 23 pending weather and conditions. I spoke with Ray at Ogunquit Visitor Services. After Columbus Day parking is free and the two handicapped accessible bathrooms will now be open all year. Please use this thread as a signup, I'll post more details as we get closer. Trip limited to 10, likely level 3. Here are links to previous trip reports:

Jonathan, I think if anyone didn't watch it before, they're not going to be able to resist now...