Paddle Log: North Monomoy Circumnavigation (hike?)

Today’s paddle was an adventure, and not the way we expected. I have a bucket list item of circumnavigating Monomoy Island. This was not the day to do it (it is about 20 miles round trip, and we were launching at 230pm), but in my past Chatham paddles I’ve been confused about all the sandbars between Chatham and Morris Island and North Monomoy.

The plan was to launch from Stage Harbor, paddle out into the sound, paddle south along N and S Monomoy Islands, turn around and come back. I budgeted for 8-10 miles and an hour for stopping/eating/viewing, which would easily get us back by sunset. At least that was the plan. The final route is below. If you wonder why our speed was so slow if you clicked on the link, the rest of this blog post will explain …

We were going to stick to the Nantucket Sound side, as winds were from the SE, and also the Atlantic Side of Monomoy is where half the sharks on Cape Cod seem to be seen (according to the Sharktivity app).

Shark sightings during the past week …

I had heard that the sandbars and shoals around Chatham and the Monomoys are ever-changing, and we really learned that lesson today! I live in Eastham, and I’m used to the Nauset inlet and the outer beach changing from year to year, but apparently the bars around Chatham change even more regularly that that. For some recent history on how much the sands around Chatham change shape, read this –> https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/14a225d316134b828e89a7cc3fc8ec29

I found this blog post from 2012 also useful (small world, I knew Vlad from my research career, we also served on grant review panels together) -> https://windagainstcurrent.com/2012/02/13/circumnavigating-monomoy/

We (me, Tracy, Scott) launched about 1.5 hours before low tide. Upon leaving Stage Harbor, into Nantucket Sound, we saw a ship where a ship should not be. Is it trying to get into the harbor? It would not fit. Why does it appear to be spinning? We finally realized it was a US Army Corps of Engineers ship and it was likely dredging. When I got home tonight, I found a Cape Cod Times article about his this started yesterday, is s 24/7 operation, and the dredger is from North Carolina on assignment for this task. The design of the ship is pretty cool: https://www.capecodtimes.com/picture-gallery/news/2024/08/31/corps-of-engineers-dredge-murden-stage-harbor-chatham-ma-boat/75013495007/

After getting past and through all the party boats on the sandbars outside Stage Harbor, the paddle was rather peaceful. The islands protected us from the winds from the SE. We were surprised how far out the shallow bars extended to the W from North Monomoy Island, and we eventually found we could paddle by following the “sand vs blue” line in the water marking the edge of the shoals. The seals apparently do this as well, and we had seals popping up and around our kayaks anytime we were not over the sand bars.

As we reached the end of North Monomoy Island, I told Tracy and Scott that we could continue paddling south along South Monomoy Island another mile or two, turn around, and retrace our path. That would get us back by sunset. OR … we could turn to the east paddle between North and South Monomoy, and paddle up the east side of North Monomoy, which is (in theory!) sheltered from the ocean by a spit of land from South Monomoy island that runs N-S parallel to the east side of North Monomoy island. I also mentioned I don’t know how shallow it will be, but we were an hour past low tide and the tide is coming in, so how bad could it be? Also we are at a neap tide part of the month, where the low tides are higher (by a foot or so) and the high tides are lower.

So we did. At first it was rather pretty. And a bit surreal. The shallows extended for a couple of miles. This island like the low tide mudflats in Brewster, Orleans, and Eastham at low tide on Cape Cod Bay. Those are just a mile of mud. But the shallow around North Monomoy (to the north, west, and between North and South Monomoy to the south) are flats with a dynamic array of water flowing within and through. This area is constantly changing due to water flow.

At first it was pretty

But it started getting shallower. We walked our boats a few hundred feet. But this looks tidal, and we are over an hour past low tide, so how bad could it be? I had 3 map sources: Google Maps, Navionics, and Blue Water charts on my Garmin. Nautical charts tend to suck at accurately portraying shoals (and marshes, though not relevant for this trip) and Navionics is updated regularly. I’ve found Navionics pretty reliable to assume this of their color scheme when there is no water depth: green – there is no water here at low tide, or near low tide, blue with red dots — a power boat cannot operate here, but for some fraction of the tidal cycle, you can get a kayak through.

We are running out of water as we head north!

Did you read that link about the ever changing sands above? Navionics is wrong, Blue Charts is wrong, Google Maps (that photo is dated 5/2/2023) is wrong. At present day, the “mud flats” to the east of North Monomoy (and west of the northern spit of South Monomoy) appear barely tidal, if at all. Just a big mud flat. [sidebar: when I got home tonight, I looked at my trip on the Garmin Connect website, and it had an option to choose from Google Maps or satellite imagery from HERE Technologies. THAT satellite photo more clearly shows this flat looking like it does not have water. Look at the Google maps image at the lower left: The inlet circled in red does not exist. The flats circled in blue do not have water, at least even at mid-tide. Navionics DID warn us (see below, lower right)

We got to a point where everything to the north looked like sand and mud. The north end of North Monomoy was at least a mile to our north. And it was an hour before sunset. It might take us an hour just to backtrack back to Nantucket Sound, and then paddling in the dark with few visual references for a couple of miles. Rather unideal in kayaks. That was not an option.

So we split up. Tracy and I walked 5 minutes to the east to view the ocean side of the north spit of South Monomoy Island and contemplate a paddle northward. Scott walked north along North Monomoy to see where the water might pick up in the tidal flat (if it is tidal!)

When Tracy and I reached the beach, we immediately saw we had a plan. While the beach dropoff to the ocean is steep, at the current tide the beach was protected by sandbars or shoals a few hundred feet offshore. So we had a protected paddle to the north if we stayed between the north spit of South Monomoy Island and the sandbars to the east. We were also at an elevation to clearly see that Scott was going to find no route out. I blew my whistle to get Scott’s attention, and Tracy and I headed back and started walking two of the boats to the beach.

the Atlantic Ocean is just over that rise!

We launched. The surf was mild but still annoying, I got water in my cockpit before I could get my skirt on. We turned on our navigation lights (USCG rules call for a white light visible for 360 degrees), I keep one on my PFD above my right shoulder.

This paddle was kind of fun. The mile or so paddle north we had the north spit of South Monomoy island to our left, and sandbars to our right. The extend of the sandbars varied, and we could use where we saw breaking waves as a visual sign the water was shallower. We also wanted to avoid that — shallow water and breaking waves give little room to maneuver, and the breaking waves turn you sideways but there is not enough depth to do much with your paddle. There were sandbars on both our left and right, and we found a path between. This stretch happened during dusk, with enough light to see what we were doing.

When we reached the north end of the spit we were following, we saw Chatham again, and even lights on at houses — civilization! We were staring at the small handful of large expensive homes on Morris Island. By this time it was dark, and we paddled in nearly total dark about a mile to the channel into Stage Harbor and then to the town landing that we launched from.

One surprise — we were paddling in the dark with lights. Sometimes we encountered power boats in the dark heading into Stage Harbor. To my surprise, about half the power boats we encountered did not have running lights. This was unnerving. We hoped they could see us, but we could not see them!

We got off the water around 815pm, an hour after sunset. It was not the paddle I expected, but it was the paddle we got.

I want to go back at higher water. Sharks be damned, I want to paddle the wave breaks between the sandbars/shoals and the shore on the Atlantic side, and also see if that tidal flat ever gets water even at high tide. Likely a trip in late September …

UPDATE! My subscription to caltopo.com includes access to weekly satellite photos — I wish I new this before the trip! Below is a satellite photo from 2024-09-05 with our trip superimposed on it. The image very accurately reflects what we found — there is an area of sand east of N Monomoy Island, and the sand spit that projects north from S Monomoy extends almost all the way to Morris Island. See below. I am still curious how much water makes it into that tidal flat at high tide.

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Greenland Paddle Version 2

So I wasn’t happy with Greenland version 1. It wasn’t crafted fine enough, too fat in places, kind of heavy. In hindsight, I was fighting mediocre wood AND learning how to use hand tools and make mistakes using them (power planer, hand planer, spoke shave, chisel).

I also wanted to tweak the dimensions – especially the location of the shoulders, based on how V1 felt and where my hands naturally go with the Akiak.

I purchased two western red cedar boards from Premium Plywood Specialities in Hyannis. Sure they were more than a big box store ($40 each for a 10 foot length), but they really were straight and knot free! Working with this board was a pleasure, and my hand tools did what I wanted them to do. I was less timid with the wood because I knew where I wanted it to go.

The finished product was coated with 6-7 coats of 50% tung oil / 50% organic orange solvent, 1-2 hours apart over 2 days. It sat for 7-8 weeks while I was back in Atlanta in April and May.

And — I love it! It fits me perfectly, is quite light compared to the pine, and fits like a glove. I’ve done several trips with it now, and I am quite pleased (plus there is something satisfying about the fact that you made it for yourself). The Akiak is a great 2 piece stowed as a backup. I also managed to more aggressively trim the pine paddle V1. I still don’t expect to use it much, but it is always there if I need another backup.

I’m still learning a bit about the paddle. I’m getting more comfortable with most paddle strokes and dealing with currents, still working my way up to larger waves. But after fighting the current in Nauset Marsh today and looking at my average boat speed with with a euro-blade, I think I’m dialing it in pretty well.

Only negative that after 7 miles today, both thumbs have a blister in the making where they rub against the shoulder. I need to sand those edges smoother!

greenland paddles. Akiak, home made version 1, home made version 2
Top: Akiak 2 piece carbon fiber, Middle: Version 1, pine, Bottom: Version 2, western red cedar
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Greenland Paddles – Comparison and Next Steps

I purchased a 2 piece greenland paddle for Christmas – the Akiak by Gear Labs. I also spent time this winter building one from a 2×4 and plans from Cape Falcon Kayak.

General thoughts paddling with the Akiak. It took about an hour to dial in, but once I figured out the paddle angle, I really liked it — so quiet! The lack of sound of my stroke is a sign that the paddle angle is just right. This angle (canted forward) is so different from a euro-blade, as well as the lack of paddle rotation (habit from whitewater kayaking). The Akiak also flutters a bit if the paddle angle is not right.

I also like how the blade can be slid to be held off-center left or right (it is a greenland thing to do) and keep on paddling, and the change in depths allow a steady kayak turn with no pausing the forward stroke or needing sweeps. I do not like that the transition from the loom to the blade on the Akiak is gradual, since when I do go off-center I cannot feel when I am back to center. The paddle does have dots every centimeter or so and I know where my hands should be — I’m thinking of putting tape on the blade so I can feel the center position.

In April I finished my 2×4 to greenland paddle using Cape Falcon’s plans. I made many mistakes, resorted to wood filler, misused several tools (band saw, power plane, hand plane, spoke shave) but learned in the long run the right way to use them.



Comparison of the two paddles. I compared the two paddles with two laps around the lake at Herring Pond in Eastham (and again later that day at two ponds in Brewster). Total on the 2 trips was nearly 6 miles, with my time spent 50/50 between my wooden and Akiak paddles.

The Akiak still wins. They both felt fine for the forward stroke. The wooden one does not flutter like the Akiak when the paddle angle is off (but I can hear it splash). The Akiak was much more comfortable sculling than the wooden one. The loom on the wooden paddle is a little thicker than I’d like. And I would definitely spend more time sanding the loom in the future. The one thing I DID like about my wooden paddle was the shoulder between the loom and the blade – a natural feel of the center point.

I am going to make version 2 of my wooden paddle, with the following changes from version 1:

  • Western Red Cedar instead of Pine
  • I will more aggressively shape the blades with both the power and hand plane, both thinner and more “wing like” cross section. I was too cautious planing the blades on this paddle, worried about over-cutting, and my later final shaping with the hand plane still wasn’t enough.
  • Make the loom a bit thinner and rounder
  • Shorten the blade a little to the length of the Akiak
  • Possible widen the blade maybe 1/4″, similar to the Akiak
  • Initially cut the paddle with 3″ extra at each end to avoid snipings when trimming down the board with the power planer. Only cut after the blade is at the intial thickness.

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Paddling Log: Nauset Marsh – Hemenway to Inlet via NW Passage

Beautiful day, 80F, winds were 15mph or so, but no chop in the marsh.

My goal today was to determine when the tide currents change in the marsh. Past experience has suggested that some paddling guides don’t quite have it right.

I launched from Hemenway around 1030, thinking I’d reach the inlet not long before the tide turned. I was half right.

Paddling was the typical Nauset trip, tide was low (but as I learned later, 2+ hours from low). I arrived at the Nauset rip, and there was still a healthy ebb current out the inset. The Atlantic surf was moderate and I really wanted to try some close in waves, but I didn’t know how the ebb current may add to rip currents and decided not to until the current turned. According to the tide charts, low tide at Nauset Beach was 1130.

I got out at a spit in the inlet to wait the current out. I could see the tide slowly coming in on the Atlantic side of the spit, but the ebb flow out was still significant! Out of stubborness, I waited about an hour (and enjoyed the views!) but the ebb flow still had no stopped.

View from a spit island in the Nauset inlet, Orleans side

Seeing how it had decreased, I decided to start paddling back. Before I did, because the surf was mild and rising tide had the waves starting to reach the inlet, I paddled through the cut and caught one long surf back in. I am not very experienced at ocean (vs whitewater river) surfing and the speed took me by surprise! It was a fun long run, and I clearly have a bit to learn about how ruddering and edges work on a surf in a sea kayak vs a whitewater kayak.

About 15 minutes in I made it to the narrowest part of the channel, but here the current was stronger again. I ferried over to the Eastham (vs Orleans) side of the channel and again waited a bit longer.

Waiting out the current a bit longer further in, on the Eastham side of the inlet

Finally, I started paddling back. Still fighting an ebb current, and also a significant head wind now (I passed several tour groups happily paddling with the current against me!) I made it back to Hemenway around 2pm or later, at what appeared to be dead low.

Putting the boat on the car roof while being savagely attacked by greenheads was not fun!

After a few trips out, my general rule for Nauset is this. The Nauset Beach tide forecast is for the water levels at the ocean. It is accurate, and I could see the levels starting to rise past low tide at 1130 or so. However, the Pleasant Bay tide forecast (where low tide was forecast for 2pm) appears to be a better guide for levels far inside the marsh and also for estimating the direction of tidal currents. It is a bit south but suffices for within 15 minutes or so. Useful for the future!

Being the academic I am I searched a bit — the issue of tides and shallow estuaries has been studied — in this very marsh. Many times over the last several decades. Every decade or so the inlet (or inlets) changes with new hurricanes and shifting sands, and there is an impact on the currents and march circulation that local boaters have to adapt to.

In hindsight looking at my speed on the GPS data, the currents were significant. I can paddle comfortably at a 3.0-3.3 mph page (not trying to speed). Outbound, my speed was 4.5 to 5 mph, going with the current. The return trip was 1.5-2.0 mph.

Pleasant Bay tidal station-> https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/stationhome.html?id=8447291

Nauset Beach tide and surf forecast -> https://www.surf-forecast.com/breaks/Nauset-Beach/tides/latest

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Paddle Log 2021-05-20: Rock Harbor to Namskaket Marsh (and back)

My first time paddling (whitewater or sea) since October! I decided to revisit Namskaket Marsh, about a 1.5 mile bay paddle from Rock Harbor. On my last visit last October, I did not follow the marsh all the in, only choosing to explore the branch that head to the NE behind the bay facing beaches.

The wind was forecast from the south, which had me anticipating a flat bay, but as is often the case the bay wind and waves seems to ignore the prevailing altitude winds in the weather forecast. The wind was from the west(ish) and the waves were from the WSW. This was also my first time paddling without a phone, but with the Garmin GPSMAP86sci, a marine-grade handheld GPS with built-in InReach for location tracking (and SOS). As always, I also paddle with a waterproof VHF marine radio in my PFD pocket.

I left about 2 hours past low tide, too low to put in at my usual spot so I walked 15 minutes to the Eastham Rock Harbor boat ramp with my kayak cart (which I stow in the rear hatch).

I paddled slow and into the wind with cross-waves to get to Namskaket. Waves were 1-1.5 feet. Partially dropping the skeg always help with the wind and maintaining bearing.

I have paddled all the Cape Cod Bay marshes in Eastham and Orleans. They are all unique, but Namskaket is now possibly my favorite. I arrived at probably the perfect time (mid-tide) where it was just deep enough to be navigable, with a sizeable mid-tide current pushing me in. Navigating marshes in a 16 foot kayak is always challenging (the 12 foot boat is much easier), and while this marsh is very twisty, it remains wide enough that I had little trouble heading all the way to nearly the point of no return — like other Marshes, this boundary is the Cape Cod Rail Trail, which along with Route 6 forms a natural barrier for the Bay marshes on one side and the Atlantic Ocean marshes on the other.

I almost stopped when I came across 3 Mallard ducks staring at me.

None shall pass!

I have a history with paddling and mallards. While kayaking the Toccoa River, I was low-flying dive-bombed by a few. While raft-guiding the Chattooga River, I was chased by 2 angry ducks for over a mile (bringing new meaning to “paddle faster”). Generally they are being protective of young nearby. We stared at each other for a few minutes, and I slowly did a sculling draw stroke to move slowly sideways and edge past them to see how they reacted. They appeared not defensive or uptight, so I slowly paddled by. They just stared with no apparent hostility. On the return trip they had the high ground on the marsh and again just glared at me as I passed by.

The return trip out of the marsh required fighting a significant tide-current. Once out in the bay, I had really good speed with a trailing wind and diagonal trailing seas from my rear port side. This kind of trailing sea makes me a bit uncomfortable paddling – the speed benefit of a trailing sea, but the instability that comes from not always seeing it and coming from one side. But I made great time back to Rock Harbor, with a max speed of 5 mph! (my typical paddling cadence is about 3mph)

I took out at the boat ramp and walked back to the house, hosing off everything.

It takes time getting into a rhythm after not paddling for a while. I cannot find my paddling knife. And I somehow torqued my PVC kayak cart that I made over a decade ago, breaking one of the support legs! I am really dependent on this cart, and Cape Cod Kayak tells me there is no commercial cart that fits in the rear hatch. Mine coincidentally “just fits” into the rear hatch with proper packing when I take one wheel off. I’ll likely rebuild the broken part this week.

My shoulders hurt the next morning. I tried focusing on torso rotations on the bay paddle, but navigating the marsh I likely use them less. I’ll chalk it up to being out of paddling shape for the season.

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An 80s Style Tribute to 2020

Using the display board described on this blog, I made a video tribute to the year 2020. I hope you enjoy it!

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32×64 Programmable LED Display Board

Background

I started working on this project *3* years ago. I had the idea, worked on it a few evenings per year, and put it aside.

This year has not sparked much joy. I had Christmas week off. I spent my Christmas week off getting it done! It took a week.

Yes you can buy a bigger and multicolor display at Adafruit. For less than I paid to buy parts and build this!

Yes you can download drivers and example code (like the Adafruit_GFX libraries) and get going in no time on that display you bought.

But the fun is in the journey and I wanted to build it all myself, from designing and assembling the display down to the bare metal device drivers. It made me happy, and the debugging was fun.

I did borrow the fonts from the MD_MAX72xx LED Matrix Arduino Library, because making fonts is not fun (but bitmaps are!). The MD_MAX72XX library just linked to is the most complete and fully featured MAX7219 library out there. Just use it and the examples, do not try to start with my code!

Quick Overview of the Finished Product

I had played with the MAX7219 based display boards for years. The MAX7219 can drive a single 8×8 LED display matrix or 8 7-segment LED displays. The integrated chip and display on a printed circuit board can be purchased as a single unit. A PCB with 4 daisy chained units can be commonly purchased as well, creating an 8×32 display. Tutorials abound online on how to program these displays. See examples such as here and here. And there are seeming dozens of libraries as well.

Physical Display. This display is comprised of 8 8×32 boards, each having 4 8×8 displays daisy-chained together. It is driven by the SPI bus, and data loaded into the first device in the chain shifts data from that device to the next device down the chain, and so on. Each row is 2 8×32 boards, and I desoldered the edge connectors and used a combination of soldering and wiring (to fix mistakes) to create a single 8×64 row. I created 4 such rows. Those rows were then aligned, lots of measuring occurred, and I drilled mounting holes in piece of 1/4″ polycarbonate. The displays were mounted with screws and standoffs. Additional pieces of polycarbonate were cut and glued to make the device freestanding. The base has a reassembled set of breadboards for circuit prototyping and the microcontroller, and the backside of the display has additional “buses” from breadboards for power distribution and easy interconnects.

Electrical Connections. The online tutorials make this look easy. 5 wires between your display and an Arduino, connect to your computer, and you are done! That works with an 8×32 display. And your computer’s USB port can (usually) source enough current to power it. But this larger display will pull 4A of current when fully lit! I needed wires with more gauge than the typical 28 gauge Dupont connector wires these kits comes with. I purchased a kit to crimp my own Dupont cables to make my own connectors, this also allowed neater wiring and a better physical setup, and I could crimp them to solid core 22 gauge hookup wire, which could handle the currents. The power to the device has a 5A fuse and is 18 gauge wire to the “DC bus.” Rather than daisy chaining the devices for power, there are 8 5VCD and GND connections, one to the connector for each of the 8 8×32 displays. To reduce noise and crosstalk problems, the CLK and CS lines were not daisy-chained but driven in parallel to each row. The DIN lines wrapping each row to the next had to be separated from all the other wires and had GND lines placed between each, also to reduce noise problems and enable the SPI bus to run at 10 MHz (without these mods, it was running at 300 kHz …). There is a standard 2.1mm DC power connector and it is driven by a 6A 5V power supply or a benchtop power supply. The breadboard has an ESP32 microcontroller, a 3.3V regulator for powering the ESP32, and a 3.3V to 5V level shifter.

Software. I wrote device-level libraries that facilitate register level programming of the 7219 devices over the SPI bus. They make it easy to send commands to all the devices or just target a single device in the display matrix. The demo code testing out all of these features, which I also used for determining display orientation and alignment (which dot is driven by which register, left/right and up/down). A video of my code running and testing these drivers is below. I then write display-level drivers that build on these libraries and enable common features to treat it like one integrated display, such as drawing bitmaps, writing text, drawing lines and boxes, etc. A video testing these routines is also below. I learned how to fight the Arduino IDE into using many C/C++ and header files and have them included and compiled the way they should be.

Bitmap Design. Besides writing lots of code at various levels (from display routines to hardware level writing), bitmaps play a major role. Besides drawing the bitmaps, each had to be translated into a long list of 1s and 0s. For small bitmaps, I created an Excel spreadsheet to play with different designs and generate the data I could copy into an array in my code. For medium sized bitmaps, I designed by hand (like the Pacman ghost and the covid particle) from online pictures. For really large bitmaps like the world map and Atlanta skyline, I imported an image or map into Inkscaped, created another layer with a grid, then placed semitransparent boxes snapped to the grid over the image. There is a bit of an art to this — sometimes the best looking result is not a simple mapping of the image to a dot or no dot, the low resolution means that sometimes key features need to be captured to look real. This was reminiscent of my Lego Globe that I built over 20 years ago, where I dealt with similar tradeoffs. Some pictures are below.

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Paddle Log 2020-10-24: Target Ship and Billingsgate Shoals

I launched around 1115 from the the Town of Eastham Boat Ramp. The weather at launch was beautiful and textbook perfect for an open water paddle — sunny, a flat bay, winds negligible, temp around 60F. This was my first open water paddle – destination Target Ship and Billingsgate Shoals. The Target Ship is the remains of the SS James Longstreet, a World War II Liberty Ship. In 1944 she became a target ship for experimental US Navy munitions, and was towed to Boston and scuttled on a shoal off of Eastham in 1945. Bombing stopped some time in the early 1970s. Over time the shoal has moved and the ship has sunk, and is still nearly completely underwater even at low tide.

Fishing boats can only enter or exit Rock Harbor within 2 hours or so at high tide. This part of Cape Cod Bay has 10+ foot tidal changes. At low tide you can walk out over a half-mile on mud, and the shallow water continues for another half mile. I had never paddled out of Rock Harbor at near low tide before and assumed a kayak would not have a problem. It was. There was under a foot of water in parts! It was not until nearly 1 mile out that the water was more than a few feet deep, and the shallow water boundary was very clearly defined — a line of breaking waves from the bay where the water depth dropped off suddenly.

It was about a one hour+ paddle to reach the site of the ship. There was little to see above water except for one metal structure. I could see signs of the ship beneath me, but it was hard to get a good view from the perspective of sitting on the water in a kayak. Weather was still sunny, wind <10mph, and seas still quite flat.

I set a new course for Billingsgate Shoals, which I reached in another hour or so. Billingsgate Shoals is a former island that is only visible at low tide. It once housed a community and a lighthouse. As I saw what looked like sand bars exposed at low tide in the distance, one mini island looked rocky instead of sandy. It also appeared closer. So I slightly changed course to head in that direction.

As I got closer, I realized that it was not rocks. It was a large group of seals, covering the entire exposed sand bar! Some of them must weigh many hundreds of pounds (they were huge). I gave them wide berth – I had no idea how they might react to my presence.

I shift course slightly to the left and head towards the next nearest sand bar. But too late. Almost as if on queue, nearly all the seals slide in the water. And start swimming after me. Reaching the sand bar, I got out of the boat, saw that they were still swimming towards me, and decided to get back in and paddle to a larger sand bar. I paddled faster than they swam, and they gave up.

The exposed island was much bigger than I expected! It was all sand, except for some high ground and what looked like rocks at the north end (I was at the south end), but it looked like it was nearly a mile away.It was now cloudy and the winds had picked up. I decided I would get there quicker if I paddled, and I was worried I would be too far from my kayak not knowing how fast the tide would rise here. So I launched towards the bay side away from Wellfleet, broke through the waves, and paddled to the rocks I saw. The rocks were the remnant of what was still clearly an old stone jetty or breakwater. I landed next to it. The only other sign of former human habitation was grid of rock slabs that was likely the base for a structure.

The views of Wellfleet Harbor were great, and I could see the Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown faintly across the open water.

The weather was now cloudy, I could see what looked like rain or dark clouds toward Brewster or Yarmouth. I decided to paddle straight back Rock Harbor instead of a longer excursion to paddle around Lieutenant Island. Prior to launching I learned that beach sand can jam a kayak skeg 🙁

It was a 6 or so mile paddle and took about 2 hours. At this point the wind had picked up coming from the W-SW. I was heading on a near south course (S-SE). Over the first house, the ocean swells became larger and gradually were about 2 feet in height. They were broadside to my course and becoming increasingly annoying. I tracked a slightly westward course from south so my course had some windward angle to the swells, and as they got bigger, I turned to windward a little more. The plan was to turn windward a bit more and paddle on that course until a left turn to leeward would take me on a course to the harbor entrance. I changed course to leeward and the last 20 minutes was a trailing sea off my starboard side. which probably added 0.5 mph to my pace as well!

All in all, it was a confidence building paddling day. I paddled open water, and my total trip length was about 13 miles. My moving average was 3.4mph, but I could sustain 4mph for 10+ minutes at a time when needed. The GPS navigation for setting a course for waypoints was invaluable combined with the compass on the kayak. I did realize post-trip that I really need to carry a paper nautical chart as backup. On this trip I could still always see landmarks all over the horizon, but this is also my home turf where I recognize all major landmarks from Orleans to Wellfleet along Cape Cod Bay.

When I got home, I found the GPS acting wonky (water in connector?) and I cannot download the track! Stay tuned. UPDATE: Communication is no longer possible. I hand-copied out waypoints I measured and estimated my route — see below for chart. I need to purchase a true waterproof GPS with navigation capabilities.

Trip parameters recalled from GPS: Distance 13.0 miles, average moving speed 3.4 mph, max speed 4.8mph. I left around 11:15 and returned around 1615. Estimated travel time 3:50.

UPDATE: 7 months later, I guess it dried out and I got the data downloaded.

Here is another blog post I found chronicling a similar kayak trip. Based on the above water exposed height of the Target Ship it was likely several years ago. I want to try visiting again during a lunar tide!

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Paddle Log 2020-10-17: Rock Harbor to Thumpertown Beach


I am working on building up my paddling endurance as well as just calibrating my pace. My goal for the next year is to be able to paddle at least 12 miles. I seem to be able to maintain a 3mph+ pace for several hours without any major exertion.

The goal today was at least 6 miles (2+ hours). I chose my paddle direction based on the wind. Wind was from the NE and 10-15 mph, but the bay was FLAT because the wind was coming from over the Cape. I chose north so I would have the wind at my back on the return trip. The goal was to paddle at least past First Encounter Beach and back down.

Because I launched at high tide, and it was a new moon, the marsh level was high enough that I launched from the marsh just west of our house! I had been waiting for the tide to be high enough to launch there!

Uneventful paddle, though the wind shifted to the E and sometimes SE on the return trip, so ironically I had a head wind on the return trip.

I noticed a weird effect (illusion?) on the return trip. I was using “The Rock” and the tower at the Community of Jesus as my reference point. Heading into my port side I had the wind as well as the ebb tide current. I could tell looking at reference that this was shifting my course to starboard. Yet I consistently had the physical sensation that the boat was sliding to the port side. It was weird. Maybe there is a name for this. Maybe it was just in my head. Having the skeg half down helped with maintaining my course.

The on-the-water perspective and the slow pace enables me to notice things I may not otherwise see. This cottage community on the water was somewhere north of First Encounter Beach.

I took out at the “usual spot” off Dyer Prince Road. Someday I’ll post a photo of it!

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Paddle Log 2020-10-11: Rock Harbor to Boat Meadow

Winds were 15-20mph, air temp was about 50F, waves were 1-2 feet.

The paddle out in the bay to Boat Meadow is close to straight upwind (NNE), with swells from the NW. I usually choose to paddle upwind first on these solo trips since it is the most strenuous. The wind determines my destination – it was going to be either Boat Meadow marsh or Skaket Beach. While out in the bay halfway to Boat Meadow, I hear on the marine radio “did you see those two great whites? 16-18 feet long, longest I’ve seen all season!” Based on horizon distance and height of a typical fishing boat, those two fishing boats were likely within 5 miles of me. I like to think “most of the sharks are on the Atlantic side of the Cape” but that is not always true! All I could do is just paddle and assume nowhere near me, given how shallow the bay is where I am. It was only 2 hours past low tide, so the water was likely 2-4 feet deep, even a half mile out.

In the shelter of Boat Meadow, I explored the marsh inland. The 10+ foot tide changes here result in mud walls in the marsh that were still 3+ feet tall at this time of tide. I see some movement about 20 feet away, above me in the marsh grass. On the grass, looking down at me, is a coyote. It seemed large compared to others I’ve seen around here at a distance, looking 3 feet tall from feet to top of head (and I likely overestimated as I’m looking up at it!) It just stared at me for a while (as I stopped and paddled backwards), then just turned around and walked away.

The return trip was uneventful with challenging trailing seas at about a 45 degree angle to my course. Trailing seas are both fun (reminds me a little of whitewater surfing) and a little unnevering at the same time (they can grab your stern and turn you if not careful). I dropped my skeg for stabilty, got back to the harbor, decided to take out at the new Eastham Rock Harbor boat ramp and walk 10 minutes back to the house. As usual, every car stares at the guy walking down the road in full kayak gear (PFD, drysuit, skirt) towing a kayak on a home-made cart.

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