Resending an email from when paddlewise was down... Since then a video was added: http://vimeo.com/30933075 Lynch Park to Manchester Harbor ----- Original message ----- Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2011 10:11:19 -0400 Subject: another fabulous day on the water - if you like wind. Saturday at about noon 11 of us got together for a downwind jaunt from Lynch Park in Beverly Massachusetts to the harbor in Manchester-by-the-Sea. This course is roughly due east. The wind was out of the south west, or south south west. Winds were brisk in the 20 to 30 mph range. I noticed Ken wasn't suiting up and asked what he was doing "The little voice in my head said this is a bad idea". Ken hasn't been paddling much this year so I wasn't surprised that 'the voice' had spoken to him and that he was listening. Jim also wasn't interested in joining, he hasn't gotten comfortable on his Huki s1-x special and wasn't interested in an energetic day. He was interested in watching so Ken and Jim played spotter, a lot of the route we paddled is visible from route 127. Since the wind was primarily onshore we headed across the harbor to the Salem Willows, this would give us a better wind angle to be pushed toward Manchester. After a bit of a slog into the wind we looped and headed for Manchester. Rod on his Scorpion outrigger canoe picked a wide line, heading down the middle of the harbor - this would pay off later with some fabulous rides on the wind waves as he came in by Misery island. Ed, Gramme, Mike and I took a middle line about a half mile offshore. The other 4 took a line closer to shore. The wind/waves were entertaining. If following Rod's line they were beam waves, for the first 2 or 3 miles, I chose a zig zag course alternating between beam and something rideable. The conditions were not clean, with waves from at least 2 directions most of the time. I got a couple good rides between salem willows and Endicott college. Just past Endicott college I noticed Mike had gone in. I don't recall the last time I saw Mike in the water. He was in a stretch with multi directional slop, most of the waves shoulder height, from a seated perspective. I turned more shoreward and rode some waves toward him. As I got closer, to the still swimming, Mike, I noticed the harbor master hanging out, closer to shore. The harbor master appeared to be there pulling a sailboat off of the beach - it may have broken a mooring, or been a trio of sailors who were overwhelmed by the breeze. The harbor master looped back toward the beached sailboat after seeing Mike remount and resume the trip. It took Mike 4 tries to remount, more than he was happy with, he got twisted up in his leg leash on one of the remounts and tipped over when trying to get unsnarled. During this stretch I realized why they have a footwell cover for the Epic V12. The cockpit filled on multiple occasions when I got caught between waves travelling in different directions. The boat got so sluggish that at one point I turned around to see if the boat was sinking - the stern was above water so everything was good... After Mike remounted, Graeme, Mike and I headed out to join Rod. Rod was near Misery island headed upwind. We wondered if he was headed back to assist someone (no one else was on his line so that was unlikely). He was simply headed back upwind to get some more rides on the nicely formed clean waves. During this stretch I understood a second problem with my new boat. The stock rudder isn't big enough when surfing. I broached multiple times, I found sweep strokes to be more effective at correcting a pending broach than a low brace. A reverse sweep would pull be off the wave. The final stretch into Manchester harbor was fabulous, nice clean rideable waves all the way to the rotunda/gazebo. Bill, in the stern of the Fenn XT tandem said on one of their 'cockpit filling' waves got enough water in stern paddler area to get floated up out of the seat, but relanded in the seat when the wave moved on. Overall a terrific day. 3 different people swam, all with safe remounts. Lots of smiling in the parking lot at the end. It's good to have the fall breezes. Kirk followup: http://vimeo.com/30975507 is a video from a different boat on the following weekend Lynch Park to Gloucester MA, in calmer conditions. -- Kirk Olsen -- Kirk Olsen *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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