Jim Snyder

Rye Harbor State Park. The green line is us. For reference, the red line is from a large group including you on June 27th.

Jim Snyder, Nick and Allie Pearson in their Valley tandem, the "Bismarck", and John Dowd. Calm winds, swells ranging from under a foot to occasional 2'-3'. Air temp low 30s, water temp mid 40s. We launched from the State Park beach just north of the harbor as I had been told they were dredging the harbor and it would be unavailable. It turned out that the dredging operation was taking the day off but our launch was probably easier anyway. Heading South towards Hampton was a stretch of coast I had yet to paddle. As we paddled on both sides of a fairly high tide, there was not a lot of opportunity for surf or rock play as the waves were breaking very close to the beach. There were a fair number of board surfers catching nice short rides. Even so the calm day was very enjoyable and we were all happy to be out on the first day of the year. We landed, almost without incident at Bass Beach for a stretch and lunch. The Bismarck can apparently be a bit of a trick to land. As the launch after lunch was fairly steep we all tried variations of a seal launch from the slots between soft rocks. After successful launching we decided to paddle out to some exposed rocks that were the inside margin of Rye Ledge. For me this was the highlight of the day. If the water had been warmer it would have been fun to explore all the breaks and features that were mostly still submerged. As the water wrapped around the huge submerged ledge it formed a spectacular zipper along the narrow spit that uncovers at low tide. I got a little surprise ride passing over the zip. Coming back to the launch it looked much as we had left it, having passed through the slack at high tide and dropped back down. It was a good thing we had four people to get the Bismarck back up to the parking lot. Happy New Year everyone. Hopefully by the time the water warms up we will be back to something like last year (2019)!

Kayaker loses paddle rescuing goat?? https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newscentermaine.com/amp/article/life/maine-woman-police-rescue-escaped-goat-from-belfast-bay/97-6562a3f7-83c5-4fd1-bba6-27a002b5767d

Again, and risking sounding stupid here, isn't the idea of neoprene gloves that they act like a wetsuit for your hands? I know they are advertised as being waterproof but that doesn't make sense to me. If I just wanted waterproof I have much warmer gloves I could wear but they would be useless if water got inside them. Likewise I wouldn't think of grabbing my glacier gloves to go play in the snow. What am I missing here?

I think part of the problem is that we wear neoprene gloves and expect them to keep us warm and dry. They are a wetsuit for your hand and depend on a thin layer of water warmed by your hand to keep it from losing heat. This doesn't work if either your hand can't warm it up, or the warm water gets flushed by cold water, or if you're trying to stay dry. You couldn't imagine reaching for your neoprene gloves to go skiing on a cold day... https://www.explainthatstuff.com/howwetsuitswork.html

Or you could bring one of these along...

Is that Lego's?

Wait, I think we can do this! If we each put in $1000 we'd only need 2000 of us. I'm in!

All blanketed for this storm. They're actually happier in this than a cold rain. Me too. I skied on my road but need a posse to break the trails...

If I hadn't been thinking about it last night I might have had trouble finding it this morning. I dug it out a couple of hours ago and it's almost gone again.

In case anyone else was wondering... https://www.google.com/search?q=bob's+your+uncle+meaning&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS835US835&oq=bobs+y&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0i10i457j0l3j0i10.8482j0j7&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

The case was brought by owners along Moody Beach in Wells, about halfway between Wells Harbor and Ogunquit. The case went to the Supreme Judicial Court which affirmed the public's rights were limited to fishing, fowling, and navigation. In my opinion, clinging to this archaic language only creates confusion. We could start a North Shore Fowler's Network...

Maybe one of us will turn into a test case. In the 80s, the Maine legislature "enacted The Public Trust in Intertidal Land Act. The Act declared that “the intertidal lands of the State are impressed with a public trust,” and therefore the public has the “right to use intertidal land for recreation.” This was subsequently overturned by the State Supreme Court. Realistically it was probably too broad.

That probably made some sense in 1641 if landowners were trying to restrict travel. I found this here regarding how the courts have interpreted "navigation": https://www.maine.gov/dacf/parks/docs/public-shoreline-access-in-maine.pdf Navigation: The term “navigation” has always been construed to mean that the public may sail over the intertidal lands, may moor craft upon them, and may allow vessels to rest upon the intertidal land when the tide is out. These activities may be conducted for profit, such as ferry services in which the boat operator picks up and discharges passengers on intertidal land. As an incidental use, if a person reaches the intertidal land by means of navigation, the person can walk on the intertidal lands for purposes related to navigation. This right to travel through the intertidal lands does not, however, include the right to remain on the intertidal lands for bathing, sunbathing, or recreational walking, or to cross privately owned dry sand or upland areas. Additionally, a boat operator may moor a vessel to discharge and take on cargo in the intertidal zone, provided that the cargo does not spill over onto the uplands and provided that the flats are unoccupied. In keeping with the importance of the intertidal area for travel, it has also been held that the public may ride or skate over the intertidal area when it is covered with ice. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has determined that “navigation” does not include the right to use private tidelands for general recreational uses such as strolling along the beach, sunbathing, picnicking, bathing, or Frisbee-throwing. But “navigation” continues to draw a substantial amount of judicial scrutiny.

Where can I land? I've been reading a lot about the history of public rights to the intertidal zone. Excuse the long quote but these paragraphs summarize the basics for most states, and how Maine and Massachusetts are different: "Tideland" is the legal term for all land beneath the waters of the ocean, including lands that are always submerged as well as those in the intertidal area (i.e., between the high and low tide marks). In every coastal state, the use of tidelands is governed by a concept in property law known as the Public Trust Doctrine, which dates back centuries to ancient Roman law. The doctrine states that all rights in tidelands and the water itself are held by the state "in trust" for the benefit of the public. In most states, this means that public ownership begins at the high water mark. The Massachusetts Bay Colony originally followed this rule, until its legislators decided to transfer ownership of certain tidelands to coastal landowners, in order to encourage private wharf construction on these so-called "intertidal flats." This general land grant was accomplished by the Colonial Ordinances of 1641-47, which in effect moved the line between public and private property to the low water mark, but not farther seaward of the high water mark than "100 rods," or 1,650 feet. This intertidal area (now called "private tidelands") is presumed to belong to the upland property owner, unless legal documentation proves otherwise for a given parcel (as is true in certain segments of Provincetown, for example). Although the Colonial Ordinance changed the ownership of most intertidal flats from public to private, it did not transfer all property rights originally held in trust by the state. For one thing, no rights to the water itself (as distinct from the underlying lands) were relinquished by the Ordinance. Moreover, the law specifically reserved for the public the right to continue to use private tidelands for three purposes-fishing, fowling, and navigation. https://www.mass.gov/service-details/public-rights-along-the-shoreline As kayakers, maintaining a positive public image and good relations with shoreline landowners is important. It should be balanced by our rights to this "public trust". In Maine and Massachusetts it boils down to the phrase "fishing, fowling, and navigation". This language has been tested in courts but not as far as I can find with respect to landing small boats. For example, you can fish there, but not just carry a fishing rod with no intention of fishing. Also, fishing and fowling are different because in many cases you would have to access the zone by passing over private land. It seems to me that in MA and ME you're within your rights to land if you're "navigating". This language dates to the 17th century. As applied to seakayaking, when are we not navigating? Are we only legal if we have a chart and compass in hand? It makes you wonder what kind of navigation they were contemplating might take place in the intertidal zone in the 1641.

What a trip, great report Joe!

This is disturbing because I LIKE PADDLING IN THE SUN! Not to mention this thread has been hijacked but that's ok. Maybe someone ten years from now will find some tips on fixing up their skeg.

Drilling out the blade made all the difference. I did try a smaller diameter bungee because I wanted to replace it and that's all I had. It might get caught between the big washer or the blade and the housing and gum things up, we'll see. I don't use it that much either but I might now that I know it's working. My conversation with Tom Bergh was interesting. He says he loves these old rope skegs for their reliability, especially because they rarely get stuck down. Imagine getting caught in a hard west wind and being unable to turn your boat back into it. Nothing to stop you before Portugal. I suppose if your pull up rope failed the only way to get the skeg up would be to rig some kind of belt or get your friend to try to break it off...

I wanted to give this it's own thread and include Maine people as it seems travel between ME and NH is unrestricted for now. We are planning trips by group text. It looks like as covid gets worse travel between NH and MA will be increasingly difficult. I would like to develop a list of NH paddlers who are interested in continuing to paddle through the winter as conditions allow that we can contact for short notice paddles out of NH or ME launches . Some trips may be listed here and some may be more informal. If you would like to be on this list please email or text me your phone and email (my contacts in profile). I will distribute the list to everyone on it.

Anyone else unable to post pictures in iphone's .heic format? I am converting them to .jpeg before posting but it's a pain in the ass.

Still having problems with this skeg so I took it all apart. There seemed to be too much friction for the bungee to pull the blade down. There's a 1 3/6 plastic axle that is a friction fit in the slot in the skeg box. The blade has a 1 3/16 hole in it. The question is, is the axle supposed to turn in the slot, or is the blade supposed to rotate on the axle. I decided that if I were designing this thing, I would want the blade to rotate on the axle. It may have done so 22 years ago but now was just too tight. With Tom Bergh's encouragement, I drilled the blade out to 1 1/4. It seems to be working fine in the basement, we'll see what happens.

Are you sure you're logged in?

It looks like as covid gets worse travel between NH and MA will be increasingly difficult. I would like to develop a list of NH paddlers who are interested in continuing to paddle through the winter as conditions allow that we can contact for short notice paddles out of NH or ME launches . Some trips may be listed here and some may be more informal. If you would like to be on this list please email or text me your phone and email (my contacts in profile). I will distribute the list to everyone on it.

Prudence, more pictures?

The day certainly turned out as advertised, sunny skies, balmy air, and just enough bounce to provide some excitement. We paddled out of the Ogunquit river into some 2' surf but decided for the most part that it would be better on the return with a little more water. It turned out we were right. We headed down the coast paralleling the spectacular Marginal Way trail between Ogunquit and Perkin's Cove. It occurred to me it would be fun to have a walker up there with a good camera while paddlers worked among the rocks below. Some eyed the cliff just south of Perkin's where some jumping occurred last year but deferred as the water was still a little low. This file will open in Google Earth: track-11720-94610am.kml We continued working our way down past Bald Head to eventually beach for lunch in Cape Neddick Harbor where the news that the presidential election had been called was greeted with much enthusiasm. On the return trip we had an incident to manage. One member was feeling ill, likely a combination of heat exhaustion and dehydration. A tow was set up with Andy at the front and several taking turns on a stabilizing raft, appropriately masked. It was never considered critical and with a light tailwind and following seas and and Andy on the tow we progressed at a pretty good rate. I checked in with the "victim" the next morning and he reported that with rest and hydration he was feeling 100%. Because of the tow, we had to put off the cliff jump until next time but the surf at the river mouth had really perked up. I think most of us took advantage on the way in. Sadly the aperture of my camera salted over fairly early and I don't have much for pictures. Hopefully others will add on below. Stay tuned for Ogunquit, December.