Jim Snyder

Just saw this story on the morning news, set in a location familiar to a lot of us... https://www.wcvb.com/amp/article/massachusetts-robotic-mussels-may-hold-key-to-saving-new-england-shoreline/45530026

Present: Myself, Jim Doscher, Jody Harris, Barb Ryan, Bill Voss. It was a beautiful fall day but early arrivals found the parking lot closed for construction. Luckily, the group being small, we were able to relocate to Odiorne for our launch. We stopped at Wood Island to view the latest improvements but I hadn't been able to set up a tour for this day. Everything exterior looks complete. We continued on to the Gerrish Island side, working our way up the coast to a nice lunch spot near the northern margin of Fort Foster. After lunch we worked our way up the coast, careful to watch out for large waves occasionally breaking in the shallow waters. It always amazes me how 1' of predicted swell can develop into kayak breaking waves in this section of the coast. We navigated through and decided to turn back just short of Sisters Point to avoid the mud at the takeout. Total distance 7.2 nm.

Conditions look pretty mild with light winds and mellow seas. This trip will be in the spirit of weekday lunch paddles with route decisions determined by group make up. Windy.com says the water temperature is down to 62 so it's time to at least think about drysuits. I've contacted Sam Reid of the Wood Island Life Saving Station to see if he's on the island to show us around. Please indicate interest here and I'll start a PM for the group. We will plan on launching at 10.

We were three on this trip, Bill Harter, Fred Goodman, and myself. We launched into Little Harbor in beautiful late summer weather. The ocean looked fairly calm from the fort, but soon lived up to it's predictions with 2' swells piling up in the shallow waters off Gerrish Island. We mostly observed the reefs outside Jaffrey Point and set a course to pass by Wood Island on the way to the Maine coast. We decided to save a landing on Wood for the return trip and work our way up Gerrish Island. The areas between the coast and the Sisters were pretty gnarly and navigated with a lot of caution. There was a little surfing at Seapoint beach and we made it into Brave Boat around 12:30 for lunch. The surfing was pretty good in Brave Boat. You generally had to paddle hard to catch the waves but could be rewarded with a nice long ride on a good one. As usual the pictures don't do it justice. On the return trip I had a near disaster. I was behind Bill just east of Sewards Cove where we paddled through a large relatively quiet slot between a large rock and the rocky shore. Bill got slightly roughed up on the exit so I sat and watched for a while for a smooth passage. I should have backed out and gone around. I thought I had a good lull but I was barely out when a large wave stood me up and surfed me backwards. It was pretty scary knowing there was nothing behind me but rocks. Amazingly I survived that first wave upright but something behind it knocked me over before I could react. Now I had to choose between trying to roll up and a wet exit. I decided to come out, I'll never know if it was the right decision or not but I had an image of being bounced on the rocks while still in my boat and that sealed it. Then the waves were driving me and my capsized boat towards the rocks and one of them took the boat out of my hands. I eventually pulled my boat into a slightly sheltered area and managed to get back in and tried to paddle out but it was too shallow when there was a drain and every wave just drove me back in. This was not a situation where I could have pushed my boat out and swam out or where Bill or Fred could have got in for a rescue. The only way out was on land. Eventually Bill appeared on the rocks above me, having landed in a cove to the east where we managed to haul my boat over the boulders to the cove so I could launch again. I was uninjured but feeling pretty beat up with around 2 k to go back to Fort Stark. Thanks to Bill and Fred for managing the incident. Sadly the boat didn't fare as well as I did. In spite of this it was a wonderful trip. I may be looking for kayak repair tips.

This will be like a Wednesday lunch paddle only on Thursday. We will plan to launch from Fort Stark at 10am. Current predicted conditions are light winds and 2' swell. My inclination is to go to Brave Boat but final plan will be determined by the group and conditions. Weigh in here if you'd like to go and I'll start a group message.

Sincerely not attempting to hijack but I can't fight the traffic to Nahant on a weekday but will probably paddle in the Portsmouth area tomorrow. Let me know if you find yourself in the same boat.

Count me in.

Reluctantly wading into this. Pintail was out of line and should acknowledge as much. His question might have been appropriate regarding someone who did something foolish and survived, not someone with skills we know nothing about who succumbed to events we know nothing about and ended up dead. I doubt Christopher's intentions were bad but I expect anyone reading his post felt a little queasy.

We had beautiful summer weather and calm ocean conditions, with only 1' long period swell predicted. We were Bill Voss, Bill Doucet, Sandy Blanchard, Diane White, Jody Harris, Beth Miller, and myself. Although I had landed there many times to scout conditions or poke around, this was my first time launching there. Although the carries can be long at less than half tide, it's not muddy and I like the choice of being able to launch either from the protected beach or the ocean side cove. It puts you right out at the ocean without slogging through Little Harbor. We chose to launch on the outside. As is often the case, even the small swell provided some opportunity to play among the rocks. We passed Wood Island but decided to put off a landing until the return. Boat traffic was light and we headed over to Gerrish Island. Poking along the coast with occasional opportunities to play or surf we eventually decided to land in the small surf at Seapoint beach for lunch. During the return we decided to do a little rescue practice. We took a break on Wood during our return. They were in the middle of a little granite paving project. I can't wait to see this finished. Please feel free to add comments or pictures, thanks for a nice trip.

https://www.wmur.com/article/nh-chronicle-a-seacoast-maritime-adventure-all-aboard-with-captain-jack/44735437 Nice coverage for Jack on NH Chronicle.

I'm regretfully pulling out of this plan due to the forecast.

I added you to the group message Jody, see you tomorrow.

I'll start a group thread for those who have shown interest here. Contact me if you want to be added.

I'm keeping an open mind on this but the current forecast is for long fetch south winds gusting over 20kts. I don't think we'd have sufficient protection even inside Pepperell Cove.

This post is to replace the earlier post for Wednesday, which looks too windy to be fun. Park opens at 10, let's arrive then. Light winds and 2' swell predicted. Low tide at Gerrish 1:06pm. Island hopping possible, maybe some rocks or surf if we go up to Brave Boat.

I heard from Sam Reid of https://woodislandlifesaving.org/ that this event is on for next Saturday. I'm not starting a group thread until we get a little closer as the long range weather forecast is not encouraging.

I'm backing out of this trip due partially to insufficient interest and a conflict developing on my end.

Launch at 10. 2'swell and light winds predicted. Hopefully some rock and surf possibilities. Contact me by any method and I'll start a group message.

Barb, why not remove a screw and check if you can get a shorter one in stainless steel at the hardware that would work?

I guess when you post a trip the morning before there's a chance it will end up a solo venture. It was a day of blue skies, puffy clouds and mother ducks schooling their ducklings in coasteering. The predicted swell had been downgraded to 1' so I had given up on the possibility of surfing, although I still planned to visit the dedicated "multi use area" at Long Beach. Having chosen to launch at max flow it was slow going leaving the harbor. Approaching open ocean, it was evident that the ocean was bigger than predicted, but being solo I wasn't going to be taking many risks. I decided to leave the Black Rocks for the return trip as the action around East Point looked spectacular. IMG_E4251.MOV I found one pour over that looked inviting. Sadly the water sucked out and left me touching rocks. It's amazing how graceful these boats can be in the water but put a couple little rocks touching them and they're dead in the water. Fortunately the next wave was big enough to clear me out without mishap. Now in the open ocean it was clear that 1' long period swells were the norm but occasional sets of 2 to 3 footers were coming in. The water between York and Long Sands is pretty shallow and rocky so I had to be alert for large waves popping up. As I approached the designated surf area it was clear that I wasn't likely to get any rides. There were lots of board surfers and the beach was crowded with swimmers. The surfers were nice and offered to clear a lane for me to have a go but the larger waves were close to 3' and I feared not being able to get off before the beach so I declined. Determined to get at least one ride I headed south and finally noticed a stretch of what I thought was private and without swimmers. I caught a nice wave and rode all the way into the foam pile and had turned to point back out, letting the dying waves wash over me and waiting for a lull to paddle back out. Then a lifeguard appeared behind me telling me I couldn't be in that area. He was nice about it and even asked if I needed help getting back out but I declined. Because of the swell direction even the rocks inside East Point were fun, although I avoided the Black Rocks as by now the water was so high that they were providing little protection or safe zones. I treated myself to an ice cream cone in York to cap off a great day.

Very short notice for tomorrow. Nice conditions, long period 2' swell, very little wind. Surfing and rocks possible. Contact me if interested.

I've been happy with https://outdoornewengland.com. They might be a hike for you but you might be able to arrange for them to do it while you wait. Or you could do a lake paddle with me while they do it.

We got a break in the weather and although predicted seas were only 1', it was enough to provide some fun around the rocks if not much for surf. We were Jody Harris, Joyce Carpenter, Doug Stetson, Bill Voss, Barb Ryan, David Mercer, Prudence Baxter, Richard Blais, Joe Berkovitz, Ricardo Caivano, and myself. We had decided to split into two pods because of the size of the group, one planning on going a little further and faster and the other going a little shorter and looking to play around. I was in the second group. in reality there was some drifting back and forth between the two groups. My group had it's turn around lunch in Brave Boat Harbor. Sadly the hoped for surfing didn't materialize. Barbara and I took a short walk to stretch after landing and discovered this dedicated paddlecraft launch on the other side of the bridge: https://goo.gl/maps/eR84tEHcSsBCP9at8 It's a long ramp but might be a nice option to avoid the mud at low tide if you brought wheels along. Not much for pictures for me on this trip. Hopefully others will add some and report on the forward pod.

This trip is full, although some members have not yet fully confirmed, so a wait list is appropriate.

I use Windy for ocean conditions and wind and Weather Underground for other weather. It's possible to do it all from Windy.