We left our hero last time soaked after a club paddle on the Harraseeket... With the shame of having bailed on a club paddle, our hero decided to pick up some skills on his own. First a 2 1/2 hour paddle up the Royal River and then a 2 1/2 hour paddle down the Royal River... Which brings us to present day North Yarmouth...
"Huh!" our hero says. Pretty loquacious fellow, eh? Well, I'm sure that he meant, "This flat water stuff is all fine and dandy, but I'd like to get out on the Gulf of Maine. If I never do, I'll never be able to do anything fun like visit the islands!"
"Ok!" says our hero, "I'm gonna do it! I'll just go around Cousin's Island! It's pretty protected and the water is shallow for quite a distance in most areas!" On sunny days, well, he goes for a nice bike ride, but on cloudy/rainy days he consults the NOAA website...
http://gyre.umeoce.maine.edu/GoMoos/gomweather.php
[Ok, ok. It's not a NOAA web site. All of the links, especially the one our hero consults, go to NOAA web sites. So just give him a little break, ok?]
The first rainy day there is a small craft advisory. Our hero, being only a hero and not an expert kayaker, decides to work some more on that table he's been building.
But, as surely as the sun will shine, there comes a rainy day with a heartwarming forecast - SW WINDS AROUND 10 KTS. SEAS 1 TO 3 FT. VSBY NEAR 1 NM IN SHOWERS AND PATCHY FOG. Of course, our hero is concerned that this VSBY character might come within 1 NM (newton meter?) of his 'yak, but he tries to get over it and get out there anyway!
Our hero's goal: circumnavigate Cousin's Island.
http://tinyurl.com/cwps
The air temp is about 65F and the water temp is still near 50F. It's good and cloudy with a nice breeze coming out of the SW. The time is just before 3pm and low tide will hit at 4:15. There are nothing but tinky waves - maybe a foot from peak to trough. It's a go!
Something of a portage to get the 'yak to the water (~200ft), but whatever. Our hero thinks to himself (and perhaps mumbles out loud) that he should rig a better carrying system - one that places the weight on his shoulders and not on an arm or the other.
And he's off!
Because our hero likes a nice easy finish, he heads of into the wind - to the SW, then (from the landing which our hero may have forgotten to mention is situated right next to the bridge to the mainland).
He finds the 'open' ocean to be much scarier in general than a River. What if he capsizes in the middle (of the ocean) and can't do a self rescue? Why, it would be the tragic end of our hero! Luckily he has added his name and address in his dry pouch so that the appropriate authorities will know where to deliver the corpse (and such a cheery lad!)!
He stays 10 feet from the shore - he has to be able to walk or swim in if there is an emergency! After 5 minutes of that, he sees that it will take about 10 times (he exaggerates) as long to get to the SW point of the island as to cut straight across. "Sigh!" And he cuts across his first bay! This one must be deep enough water as there are quite a few mooring bouys out (hard for the novice he is to avoid running into one or two of them!).
This first bit is rather uneventful. Perhaps our hero espies some lobstermen, but hardly much in the way of classical wild life.
Oh and on and on. Around the island. Hey! Finally! A small fleet of cormorants (6 of 'em) and then a small fleet of eiders (12+).
Our hero decides, rather randomly, that he's had enough and so he will just skip the Little John part of the loop and he enters into the narrows between the islands. Turns out that, near low tide, the narrows are also shallows. The closest our hero gets to the bridge between the islands is around 1/4 mile away - bearing in mind the need to drag the boat through shallow waters and then to portage several hundred feet. Fine. He turns around and continues around Little John. Sure, this adds a bit to the loop - but not too much.
Our hero continues around Little John. He notes that maybe it's harder to take waves from the stern quarters than from the bow quarters. In particular, if one is paddling nearish the shore waves from the rear have one of two effects (please note that these waves are not running || to the shore!): propelling the kayak towards the beach or spinning the kayak around so that it is pointing away from the desired destination. "Sigh!"
Somewhere near this point of the journey our hero crosses and hails 2 kayakers who are paddling in the other direction. He does not stop to chat or whatever as he does not feel stable in his kayak when it is not moving.
He gets to the last point on Little John (NW corner) and decides to get out and take a break. He sees a wreck (in the shallows between the islands) and an osprey nest. He chows on starburst and has some water (this is getting to be a longish adventure). Ok! All set! Our hero leaps into the kayak (he must have in light of ...) and promptly breaks 2 of the 4 points of attachment of his seat back! "Criminy! Gadzooks! Eek! Drat! Curses!"
"Well," thinks our hero, "who needs a seat back? There's the coaming!" And off he goes - heading for the easternmost north point (see it?) of Cousin's. No problem. No, wait, uh, how do you balance a kayak without a seatback? Why, this must be why our hero's first kayak venture failed so miserably! Anyway, we're fine - the water is calm in this protected area. It's not far back. He'll make it.
Oddly, things -did- go well for a while! Who would have guessed? Of course, all good things must come to an end and so did this. Our hero hit the chop of the unprotected waters and was again hit from stern quarters with small waves. This was no longer even remotely fun. It is extremely difficult for our hero to retain even a slight semblance of calm in his manner as he crosses the open water. He makes it to within 100 feet of the point he was aiming for when an enormous (1 1/2 feet) swell capsizes him. Ok, this time there's no one around - anywhere - so our hero decides to skip slapping on the kayak hull before practicing his wet exit. Oops! His paddle didn't end up under his arm either and there it goes! Oh no! Then our hero stands up and walks over and grabs it and stuffs it in the kayak.
No, don't be silly. Our hero did not know that the water was only 3-4 feet deep right there before standing up.
Abondoning all hope, our now intrepid (no need to shake any longer - he is out of the 'yak and back in the safety of the water!) hero rounds that point and then walks his boat through the water to the dock at the end of Sea Meadows Lane.
The End.
Epilogue:
A nice homeowner drives our hero back to fetch his vehicle and wishes him a nice day.
*NM*
