Bremen? We are soo close!
– Last Updated: Jun-27-05 7:29 AM EST –
We stay on Ames (or Flood's depending on how new your charts) Cove. Neat island. Thanks!
GPS, comapss, chart, and VHF always
Yup.
We always go out geared up for any possibility. After our usual three weeks paddling Maine coastal waters, it is dificult to ‘de-gear’ for local paddling. One local outfitter jokes that we paddle with more gear than his store contains 
Boothbay Dunk - How Recent?
Were you out there within the last couple of weeks? How’s the general traffic looking this year?
Boothbay – Sunday
I was out Sunday (yesterday). There was very little boat traffic between Ocean Point and Damariscove. We crossed paths with maybe 5-6 sailboats and recreational powerboats the whole day, and nothing commercial. Does this generalize to Muscongus?
Traffic
We are most familiar with the area just east of Friendship Harbor and west over to Round Pond, out as far as Wreck and Frankling Island, but so far we have found very little annoying traffic like jet skis and transient vacationing power boaters. It’s really a sailing and working boat area, I suppose due to the cost of houses and land long being fairly high so the madding crowd can’t easily get a foothold.
The other thing we have found is that it takes two days of good weather in a row after a bad run for a lot of pleasure kayakers and small boaters to go out on the water. So if we take the first overnight of good weather to camp on one of the private islands we can usually get the spot we want.
lobster bouys
Muscongus Bay is said to have the highest concentration of lobster pots of anywhere in Maine. This may be an additional discouragement to pleasure power boaters.
Fountately, in a kayak one dosen’t have to worry about snagging a lobster pot. This may also contribute to the benign relationship with Lobster boats.
kayaks are speed bumps
Bay temps should be a little better as its not as deep as the ocean.
Forecast for weekend is air temps in seventies. Today it was 55 in Rockland and 86 in Fryeburg and they are less than 100 air miles apart.
Lobster boats and kayakers dont have a benign relationship especially around Muscongus Bay. There have been several run ins including some near misses. (I got shot at near Georgetown , a couple of peninsulas west)
Kayakers forget that lobster boats have the right of way.
In New Harbor a kayaker friend of mine says that inbound boats are on autopilot and at full throttle. Crew is cleaning up and not at helm…
So dont assume that you will be seen
Never assume…
We never assume lobster boats see us. It is our responsibility to stay out of their way. It is big enough water that it is usually not all that difficult to stay clear.
We always give as wide berth as possible to lobster boats. We try to note which bouys they are working. We try to be as alert to them as possible. Afterall they ARE working.
In over a decade of paddling Muscongus Bay, only once have we had a lobster boat apparently come at us. By that I mean turn directly towards us with open throttle to bear down on us when we were well clear of any lobster bouys.
So - back to water temps…
I’m hearing that low 50’s sounds right for well out in the open, say by the three mile line, but we may encounter closer to mid 50’s within the first couple of miles from the mainland?
familiar territory
I’m speaking as someone who’s only been around heavy fog only a few times in a kayak in NEW territory. I’m assuming that Celia is inquiring about new territory.
If a person isn’t familiar with fog AND they’re in a new place it’s a significant factor like wind/waves/paddler skill for general fun and safety.
Thank you
Bouys conveying better news on water temps than weather services.
Buoys on Wunderground.com
> Bouys conveying better news on water temps than weather services.
Yes… unless your weather service is Weather Underground (wunderground.com), which has a color coded water temp map with clickable buoys on their marine forecast page. For example, see…
http://www.wunderground.com/MAR/AN/150.html
and scroll down a page.
–David.
Much Better…
Though I think the Portland buoy is overly optimistic for Friendship… yes, it looks like the buoys closer in on the bays where we’d be paddling are showing nicer water temps than those way out.
Thanks too!
Warmer close to shore?
– Last Updated: Jun-28-05 5:55 PM EST –
> it looks like the buoys closer in on the bays where we'd be paddling are showing nicer water temps than those way out.
That's a good question. I'm not so sure that principle always works. The tides do a pretty good job of exchanging the water just about everywhere off the coast, and even in a lot of deeper cut bays. I suspect there may be more subtle things going on, like ocean currents, rivers, etc. For example, nearer the Gulf Stream I can imagine farther out water temps actually being often higher than close to shore.
Anybody know how this works in general?
Anyway, I have anecdotal evidence both ways from the 4-star training around Damariscove Island on Sunday. On one side, John Carmody seemed to suffer no ill effects from five minutes in the water with play-acted hypothermia -- yeah, we did a lousy job getting him out quickly. And he wasn't even wearing a wet suit -- just shorts and a T-shirt! But he's tough. I, not so tough, found it uncomfortable but bearable for a minute in my shorty wet suit. But I wouldn't have enjoyed five minutes one little bit.
Your call, of course. But you know, whenever you choose not to pack some marginal item -- archetypically an umbrella -- you turn out to need that more than anything you did pack, and vice-versa. So, if you take your dry suits, you won't need them; if you don't, you will!
Dunno…
– Last Updated: Jun-28-05 6:46 PM EST –
last couple of times surfing in ME, I felt the water was pretty temperate (actually perfect for surfing). I used only a 2 mm FJ, rashguard, drytop and a nylon cap under my helmet. My buddies were in shorts and drytop. But, none of us swam though we got wet a lot and rolled a lot. About a month ago I was trying my waveski in the MA. I swam alot in the same outfit and the water was just a tad over 50. I felt fine. But, I was moving alot, remounting paddling, swimming, etc. My drysuit at this point is put away (actually need to send in to Kokatat for refurbishing).
As posted before many times, you have to know your own tolerance to cold and basically the level of trust for your self recover and rescue skills.
sing
You are tough
– Last Updated: Jun-28-05 7:44 PM EST –
Hey, Sing: I definitely put you in the tough category. What that means is I'm not sure I would accept any cold-water advice from someone who thrives on surfing -- and thereby always getting pretty wet -- straight through the winter. ;-)))
But seriously... what we are talking about here is two paddlers, if I understand Jim & Celia's situation, going out as a pair far enough offshore that swimming or walking in is just not an option, as it might be with surfing.
From my e-knowledge of them, I'd be willing to bet that they have rarely, if ever, swum involuntarily in Muscongus over the years. So what we are talking about here is the unlikely but not inconceivable emergency situation where the difference between 10-15 functional minutes in the water and 60-90 minutes might be the difference between you-know-what and you-know what -- like whether a mayday on their VHF (which I assume they carry ;-) will produce a boat soon enough to be of use. So, whether their tolerance is 10-15 minutes, or 5-10, or 15-20 is not the big issue.
Frankly, if it was me and one other paddler competent in handling scenarios, offshore in 53 degree water, I would suffer my dry suit without hesitation, and we'd roto-cool a lot. 58 degrees, it would depend on other factors. 63, most always a wet suit would do. Three competent paddlers, subtract 3 degrees from those figures. Or something like that... and so on.
Cautious? Yep. Wimpy? Mebbee. --David.
Dunno, Again…
Not that tough. I dress for winter surf in drysuit, surf hood, drygloves, etc.
. I go alone alot. The surf and whitewater pretty much challenge and test me than most of my touring paddles. Perhaps, I am just (over)confident of my own self recover/rescue skills.
Of course, the safest thing is to wear the drysuit if one thinks that one is going to be in the 50 degree water more than 15 minutes swimming…
sing
It’s not the routine I’m concerned about
– Last Updated: Jun-29-05 3:21 AM EST –
It's about the unexpected but "normal" event turning life-threatening.
For example, if I'm out walking around the neighborhood, a severe sprained ankle is hardly a mortal emergency. Even at the top of Mt. Adams on a warm, calm Saturday in July, I'd be fine, if a bit embarassed, as they litter me down. But change that to some obscure peak in winter and a badly sprained ankle could have serious consequences, depending on the size, skills and equipment of the climbing party.
Taking this back to kayking... If I'm out alone in 53 degree water, dislocate my shoulder and can therefore neither roll nor do any other self-rescue, my life is in real danger. Likewise for severe abdominal cramps and fever (from that lovely shrimp dinner) and I can't stay upright. A dry suit might well buy me enough margin to mayday and get help in time (having a flare in my pfd would be nice too). Adding a second competent paddler reduces that risk a whole lot, but common agreement and sense still say that there's a well-above-zero risk of a routine emergency turning tragic. Add more competent, well-equipped paddlers and that risk heads down to the Mt.Adams-in-summer level, that is, essentially zero.
So, to me it's all about margins of safety and reducing the risk that an unlikely but far from inconceivable "normal" problem could kill me.
--David.