[Paddlewise] Lower Piscataqua River, NH

Piscataqua River, NH or In With The Tide, Out With The Wind

Saturday, May 9, 1998 was forcasted to be in the 50's with rain, drizzle
and fog on the New Hamphire USA coast, in fact that was the forcast for
the whole weekend :-(.  I thought of Ari up there in reindeer land
dodging monsterous icebergs and stuff (hopefully better than the Titanic
did) and thought, how bad can this be?  Ari'd probably think it was
summer down here.   I got up about 6am, saw it wasn't raining, grabbed a
couple of English Muffins, loaded the kayak and gear and took of for the
coast, about 50 miles away.

My doctor started treating me for bursitis (sounds like an old man's
disease) in my neck/shoulder this past week.  (It's probably a pinched
nerve)  Just what I needed at the beginning of the summer paddling
season, right?  I have a 4 day camping/kayaking trip coming up at the
end of the month and another, maybe even two, weekend trips I want to go
on between now and then. 

So, I wanted to test my shoulder out paddling.  Plus the Kittery Trading
Post, a really neat (large) sporting goods store on the Maine/New
Hampshire border was holding a kayak demo day and I figured they'd have
lots of kayak stuff on sale too.

So I headed off to Portsmouth, NH and the Piscataqua River.  If you've
ever driven route 95 from NH to Maine, that big bridge right on the
border crosses the Piscataqua River.  There's a naval base on Seavy
Island near the mouth and I hoped to see some submarines up close and
maybe some big ships.

An online tide chart indicated high tide would be 10:46am (yes, I looked
it up) and I planned (yes, I planned) to arrive around 8am, follow the
tide up the river for a couple of hours and then follow it back out
again.

I arrived (as planned) at the public ramp behind Frisbee's store near
Kittery Point just before 8am and was pleased to see the tide was well
on its way in.  The Piscataqua has currents strong enough for large
ships to wait outside for the ebb tide to subside before heading up the
river.

I unloaded the truck and loaded the kayak with normal day trip stuff,
including my camera (in case I saw a submarine) and my new Garmin 12XL
and manual (in case I felt like dwaddling along the way).  I felt like a
synthetic sheep standing there in my fleece lined Henderson farmerjohn,
fleece socks, shirt, vest, gloves and hat.

Having lost (left behind) a PFD with my car keys on an island last year,
I took a quick look around after launching and there floating away was
my float bag with camera and GPS and I hadn't even blown it (the bag) up
yet.  Does that make me smarter or dumber than last year?  Smarter
because I looked around to see if I was leaving anything behind or
dumber because I did?

Probably dumber, because I also forgot to turn around and view my launch
area so I'd recognize it on the way back.  That wasn't going to be a
major problem this time, though.  The next landmark was Fort McClary, an
old fort (suprise) with a seawall made of huge granite blocks.  The next
landmark after that was the naval base and even I should be able to not
lose a naval base.

Of course now I have to pee and most of this section of the river is too
populated for any privacy.  Do real men pee in their wet suits?
Probably not while sitting in their kayaks.  Piscataqua is originally
derived from the Latin term pissthataway, which I think means downwind.
Oops, sorry!  Couldn't resist that one.  It was more than hour later
before I could contribute to the flood tide.

Part of the naval base perimeter is restricted water.  I had a chart and
had even studied it.  However, I didn't pay a lot of attention to it
other than to stay well away from the naval base island.  Well come on,
how lost can I get on a river?

Well, anyway...   I didn't see any submarines.  I guess they were either
in the garage or still sleeping on the bottom of the river.  I half
expected to see some big dumb looking shore patrol types with AK47s or
whatever, but didn't.  All in all, pretty boring.  There was a 50 foot
Coast Guard cutter tied up and a several little gray tug boat looking
things.  They probably use them to herd the subs around.

Most of the paddle was ok, but pretty uneventful.  I was paddling along
with a 2 or 3 knot current which is cool.  One or two strokes once in a
while and you're really flying.  There was a good deal of swirling,
confused water (I was pretty confused too).   For about a mile or so, I
had a mildly difficult time in tracking straight.  After I figured out I
should pay a little more attention to the water and less to the
shoreline, I started to see what was coming and to avoid the whirlpools
and brace a little when exiting mid-stream eddies, etc.

I guess I went up the river about 7-8 miles to another putin at Hilton
Park, just off the Spaulding Turnpike bridge in about 2 hours or so.  I
turned around and started back expecting the tide and wind to turn with
me.  Well, the tide just kinda sat there and the wind laughed right in
my face, all the way back.  That sucked!  Took about 3 1/2 hours or so
to get back.  At least there weren't any serious waves to deal with too.

On the way up the river I had passed a 200-250 foot freighter or
whatever on the other side of the river.  I was coming back down on the
same side as the ship, fighting a 10 knot wind, minding my own business,
trying to maintain a decent paddling rhythm when the ship lets loose
with the horn.  Scared the bejesus out of me.  I had been thinking about
a pit stop but didn't have to worry about that anymore.  I assumed the
ship didn't like me getting so close so I meekly paddled back over to
the other side.  It didn't blow at me again so I assume that made it
happy.

I passed what I assume was some kind of big oil barge discharging its
load at what looked like a refinery.  You know, where they have those
giant barrel resivoir type things like they have just south of NYC on
route 95?  They're not overly noisy but sure are annoying because it
just goes on and on and on and on and on........

There were only a few coromonts <sp> about and a couple of blue herons
flew overhead but that was about it as far as wildlife other than gulls
(which I hate after I saw them eating all the little sea turtles on
their way to the ocean on TV years ago).  The scenery was pretty drab
unless you like big crane things (the lifting kind, not the ones with
long skinny legs), sand and coal piles, refinery tanks and stuff like
that.

I found out the meaning of wrist fatigue on the way back and can see how
people get forced out of the sport because of it.  I had a pair of
fleece gloves on (couldn't find my rag woolies) and halfway back I
noticed the back of my right wrist and the lower part of my forearm were
really tense.  I tried flexing my fingers on each stroke but that didn't
help.  Took the gloves off and things relaxed pretty much by
themselves???  Guess that means I can't wear them poogie things in the
wintertime?

The closer I got back to the putin, the more the wind blew.  Ain't that
always the case?  I guess it got up somewhere near a steady 15 knots
with a few gusts above that.  Then I got to play peekaboo with this
nitwit in a large power boat.   I saw him coming and waited until I was
sure in which direction he was going and then went away from him.  He
changed course to intercept me, so I changed course again.  And so did
he.  I'm ashamed to admit a couple of epitahs regarding his maternal
side slipped out.  I wanted to offer him a one finger salute but he was
already behind me.  Just as well, I guess.  He'd probably want to play
tag with me or something for the rest of the afternoon.

As I'm unloading the kayak at the putin (or I guess it's the takeout,
now) I get surrounded by about 10 people.  There's a 2nd story
restaurant by the putin/takeout and one woman with a European accent
came over and said the entire restaurant was enthralled (her word) with
watching a man come out of the ocean in a skinny little boat.  I told
her I was glad I hadn't decided to change out of my wet suit right away.
Jeeze, I'm a celebrity.  Where's all the hot babes?

Two people had just bought Looksha IV (my model) and two others had just
come from the Kittery Trading Post watching a lot of people dump out of
the demo kayaks.

When they had gone, I finished unloading the kayak and lifted it up on
the Yakima saddles.  As I was doing this a big gust comes along and
blows the kayak out of my hands and off the truck and it lands on the
macadam with a god awful racket.  Boy did I look cool.

Went up to the Kittery Trading Post and found a couple of different
groups of friends had come up from Massachusetts.  Chatted a while and
watched some demos but started feeling chilled so headed home for a hot
bath.

All in all I'm glad I did that trip but I wouldn't make the same trip
again.  I'll go back to do the harbor and islands someday soon and check
things out further up river which is supposed to be a little more
scenic.

The neck and shoulder were not an issue at all.  I had a little pain in
the shoulder but that was where I usually feel it when I get tired (an
old pinched nerve?).  Looks like all those hours in the gym working on
the shoulders and back are paying off.  The lower back got a little
tired and an achy breaky nerve in one thigh started complaining.  They
all went away when I had to concentrate on the wind, though.

I probably have to do some cockpit modifications.  I have a seat Padz on
order and I'll probably have to replace the backrest with a back strap.

Looks like I'll be able to go on the overnighter next weekend. Hope the
bulwark thingies didn't get sprung when the kayak flew off of the truck.
I'll check them out when it stops raining.  Now where's that guy's
telephone number?


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