Deb Millar

Actually, Joel's shop was New England Small Craft. We still have pens and wiffle balls from there. Great place.

Actually, Carl Ladd is in Little Compton, RI, and he's still doing repairs. Carl put keel strips on Bob's Avocet, which is there now for skeg repair, and my previous NDK boats and my present Pilgrim LV. '

I have the older, heavier Kokatat drysuit, in black, as do a few of my friends and coaches. It's 13 years old, and going strong.

Watch New England Gear Swap, too. Disgusted.

Because I was getting wet inside my 12 year old Kokatat GMER, I sent it off for a dunk test, along with a request for new wrist gaskets. I was sorta kinda hoping that it'd delaminated as getting a new drysuit in a different color scheme would be fun. I paid, as I have before, for the dunk test and, potentially, the gasket replacements including the neck which, unbeknownst to me, was about to rip. The drysuit came back, new gaskets and all, with patches in all the presumably right places. Evidently, 2010 was a banner year for black, GMER drysuits as two friends and one coach, who bought their drysuits that year, have yet to have them delaminate. In honor of a prayer from the Iron Islands in "Game of Thrones", I use the phrase '"What is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger."' when referring to my drysuit.

Oh, no. I had no idea, either. He's one of the best. Deb M ExplorerLV, followed by RomanyLV (Bluetooth), and PilgrimLV (Stormborne)

Exactly. The Polynesians crossed the Pacific in outrigger canoes. According to Tim Severin in "The Brendan Voyage", Irish monks crossed the North Atlantic to North America in curraghs, which are open canoe-type boats made from leather and wood. Other oceanic cultures had open canoes and traveled in the South Pacific. The playwright Eugene O'Neill regularly paddled a canoe out of Provincetown and then down along the coast.

I'm not a member and no captcha for me, either.

You've received some great advice here, which I hope will be helpful to you as you buy your kayak. I just want to add a few things. Boat fit is extremely important for the investment you'll be making. I speak from experience, 4 or 5 boats worth since I first started paddling. Like Goldilocks, I had to find the kayak that was just right for me, and not necessarily what everyone else was loving and paddling. I've gone from a Current Design Slipstream (too big and I was also too inexperienced to paddle it happily; I almost gave up kayaking because of the experiences I had with it.) to a Vela, which was one of the first boats made by P&H for a smaller person. I also was one of the few people, 17 years ago, to show up at events with it when the boats du jour were Nigel Dennis Explorers and Romany's. It wasn't until I tried an ExplorerLV, followed by a RomanyLV, that I found "the boat" for me. While no boat is perfect, NDK/SKUK (Nigel Dennis Kayaks/known now as Sea Kayak UK) kayaks work, both for fit, comfort, and building confidence. My husband paddles a Valley Avocet, no longer (sob) made; he also has a CetusLV which, sadly, spends most of its time on its rack in our basement. It fits him well, but he also isn't into long, overnight paddles. So, try as many boats as you possibly can. Paddle in flat water and in bumpy water that you're comfortable in. Because it may seem everyone else is paddling the same brand, it may not be, as I found out, the brand that makes you happy and allows you to grow as a paddler with lots of adventures to look forward to. Right now I paddle a Nigel Dennis PilgrimLV, which has been replace by NDK the Echo. My previous boat was an AvocetLV, which didn't work for me on a few levels, and before that my still-missed RomanyLV. And, not get something started here, these boats have skegs rather than rudders. The first (and only) time I paddled a ruddered kayak was on the first tour I went on.While it made sense for the outfitter to put his clients in ruddered boats, I found I preferred a keg. My words of advice (finally): Try before you buy.

Hi Nancy, My guess is that The Trustees of Reservations, who owns Great Misery, brought the goat(s) over to control the vegetation. They've done this in the past on Hog/Choate Island.

Ah, but look on the bright side, Prudence. It's TEMPORARY, and when the virus is beaten, or as beaten as it's going to be, normalcy will be restored.?

Here's a list, although it dates to 2005, of every beach and possible put in on the North Shore and Boston. https://www.mass.gov/service-details/massachusetts-coast-guide-to-boston-and-the-north-shore-print-version-from-2005 There seems to be some confusion about "Beaches being closed to non-residents". This is reflective of the Covid-19 epidemic; whether it will become permanent is another matter. The main issue seems to be where you can park your car legally after dropping your kayak and gear off. A beach sticker entitles the bearer to PARK their car for free, and gives them access to the beach. Non-sticker holders have to pay a fee to a park, as exemplified by Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester. Conomo Pt, until the shutdown in March, had parking in designated areas, but no one was prohibited from using the beach. Singing Beach and Pavilion in Ipswich now have resident only parking and access, although it's my understanding, that you can park and launch at Deveraux in Marblehead by paying a fee. Again, we're all in the same miserable boat about access to beloved launch sites being denied because of the virus. From what I'm reading, there's fear that the non-resident restrictions will be permanent and, if so, something has to be done. Unfortunately, beach access laws in Mass are confusing, somewhat archaic as they date from the 17th Century, and not always easily understood. A PRIVATE beach, such as you see in front of the big houses lining the shoreline in Manchester and Marblehead, has restricted down to the mean low tide line; technically you can't and shouldn't land there and have lunch or a bio-break any further than that if the beach is private.

Pintail, LOL, we know first hand about paddling too close to swimmers, although this was years ago,at WIngasheek, and the teenage lifeguard really got his baggies in a knot when he claimed we were endangering swimmers. Truthfully, our group was well away from those enjoying the water, but, hey, testosterone is your friend when you're 18 and there are ladies present. I think Bob meant that TRYING, let alone even THINKING about launching off Good Harbor during beach season is not allowed, although I've read here that it's been proposed for trips. In the past, during storms, we've had friends surf off of Wingasheek, but that was well in the off season. I've tried, in my naive, early surf kayak days, surfing at Good Harbor, along with a few others, but, again, this was well before beach season when we could, indeed, present a hazard to swimmers.

Beach access is set by the town or city. The beaches in those municipalities essentially belong to the citizens and not the state. Yes, Revere Beach and the beaches in South Boston are public; I think Horseneck in Westport is also a state beach,. However, this ownership means that the Commonwealth is responsible for their maintenance; if things got out of hand, the state could legally shut them down. Do I like not being able to paddle in Maine or, it seems, RI,? We love paddling in Maine and RI, and miss launching from Conomo or Pavilion in Ipswich so we can paddle over to Cranes or play in the chop off the end of Plum Island, too. Because of Covid, these possibilities are closed to all of us who kayak. Hopefully, things will open up again once the virus comes under control as the infection rates continue to drop. However, complaining to the Commonwealth or to the town or city most likely would not work, given that, as I've written, access is controlled by those town or cities and the beaches are not public. A little bit about Conomo Point. It's a small community, composed of year rounders and summer people, and with its own combination of widgets. Essex itself has defined itself as being two parts: northern Essex, which is closest to Hamilton, and southern Essex, which is closest to Gloucester, and, obviously, includes Conomo Pt. I have friends who grew up in this town and were from the northern part, who were told they couldn't swim at Conomo because they were "from the wrong part of the town and therefore had no right to be there." While this was many years ago, and was illegal in the sense that their parents paid taxes etc to the town, it does give one a sense of the mindset of the community.