New Year's Day 2012 - Hingham Harbor to Weymouth

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norm
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New Year's Day 2012 - Hingham Harbor to Weymouth

Post by norm »

First sea kayak trip of the year on the first day of the year! If the "L" Street Brownies can swim on January first, why can't we kayak? Well today there was no excuse not to go kayaking. It was beautiful out there. Have I started a new tradition or just got lucky with one nice day? Only time will tell.

I was worried I might have to go out alone, but Sue came through and sent me a PM New Year's Eve saying she'd join me. I was just about ready to give up and stay home and watch football, but the Patriots always stink when I watch them live, so better I get out and paddle.

The air temperature forecast was not as high as I had hoped for, but the real temperature turned out better than the forecast. It must have been in the 50's. There was almost no wind on the way out, but the forecast was correct and the south winds increased as the day went on and made the last mile back into Hingham Harbor a bit of a workout.

The water temperature was chilly. Sue and I both chose to go without gloves on the way out, but after our mid-paddle stop for a snack, we both decided to wear gloves for the second half. We both wore dry suits. Sue had her new Kokatat dry suit and found it very comfortable.

Hingham Harbor was empty of boats when I arrived, nothing on the moorings and nothing at the docks that I could see. Someone had written Happy New Year in the sand, but it was facing the water and too wide to get into the picture.

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I had arrived early and while I got my gear ready, a group of sailors arrived and started getting their small boats ready. I think they are Lasers, or at least something that size. A few set up on docks and a few launched from the boat ramp.

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We headed out without much of a plan. Sue mentioned hugging the coast toward Weymouth and that was something I had been thinking would be a good idea knowing the wind would be coming from the south when it picked up. We discussed deciding when we got further out into open water. We saw no power boats at all in Hingham Harbor or over toward Hull. Only the 6 or 7 Laser sailboats.

Sue had no issues at all with her new purple dry suit.

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When we got out to the open water, we turned left and headed along the Hingham shore. We kept going and going all the way to the channel that leads into the Fore River. Along the way we kept noticing that the water seemed very clear. The shallow spots were very easy to spot and seeing the bottom was easy. Since we had seen no boats, we paid no attention to where we were within the channel until we could hear a large boat directly behind us. It was right in that spot where you can't turn your head far enough to see what it is and which way it was headed. It seemed to be a little to our left, so we moved right to get out of their way.

At this point we were near Lora and Alice's house. I didn't think they were home this weekend, but it looked like both cars were there, so we headed across the channel and decided to stop on their beach for a break and snack. Sue noticed someone come out of the house when I wasn't looking so I turned around and saw that it was Alice. I called to her and she went in and brought Lora out and we all had a chat on the beach. After a while, Alice mentioned it was getting close to 3:20, so we figured we better get a move-on to get back to Hingham before dark. It was fun to surprise Lora and cause her a little "kayak envy"! Now we're even, since she surprised me last time, showing up unannounced for the trip out to the Graves back in October.

Sue and I both put on gloves for the paddle back to Hingham. Our hands had gotten cold standing around. We had seen a few more boats as we stood on the beach, but didn't come across any on the way back to Hingham. I think we saw a total of 4 power boats near the Fore River and only 1 heading in to Hewitt's Cove. Pretty quiet and serene out there this time of year.

We had the wind at our backs for a while, but as we rounded the corner at Hingham Yacht Club, we found we'd have to work the rest of the way back to the take-out. We tried to find relief by getting near the shore, but there wasn't much relief. It was nice to look at the Christmas decorations on peoples houses though. There is one house out on a point that has a tree decorated with white lights run out on each branch...looked great and had the sun setting behind it. I tried to get a good picture, but it did not come out very well.

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We landed back at the beach at about 4:40pm and it was starting to get dark. By the time we put away all our gear and loaded the boats on the cars, there was no daylight left and that decorated tree looked really nice. I tried to get another picture, but it was too far and dark for the little camera.

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Here is a topo map of the area with our track highlighted.

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A few specs from the trip:

Launch time: 1:17pm
Stop for a snack: 2:47pm at 4.93 miles
Back on the water: 3:22pm
Take-out time: 4:41pm
Total Distance Paddled: 9.83 miles


Thanks Sue, for coming out and starting off the new year on the water with me. I hope we can get an occasional nice day like this every month throughout the winter. It would be nice to say we paddle year-round!

Norm
centered
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Re: New Year's Day 2012 - Hingham Harbor to Weymouth

Post by centered »

I'm up for that, Norm! I hope the weather cooperates. It's only been about a month since our last trip, but it felt like 6. It was nice to get out again, thanks for posting it.
Sue
NorwayLady
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Re: New Year's Day 2012 - Hingham Harbor to Weymouth

Post by NorwayLady »

You guys rock! Keep it going!
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cgr
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Re: New Year's Day 2012 - Hingham Harbor to Weymouth

Post by cgr »

Glad to see that you got out on the water. I spent New Years Day in NH: http://www.citizen.com/news/local/artic ... f6878.html
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norm
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Re: New Year's Day 2012 - Hingham Harbor to Weymouth

Post by norm »

Lora said her "kayak envy" was due to the many posts she had read about all the whitewater action that was going on over the holidays while she was out of town. We just amplified her envy by showing up in her front yard right after she returned home. We tried to get her to jump in her boat for the return trip to Hingham, but she was too tired.

I guess it's much more common to go paddling in cold whitewater than cold ocean water. You guys are much more accustomed to the cold water anyway, since your best conditions are due to snow melt!

I read the newspaper story you posted - what's up with the heated tent?
cgr
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Re: New Year's Day 2012 - Hingham Harbor to Weymouth

Post by cgr »

They do the heated tent every year, and I suspect that it's as much for the spectators as for paddlers. They have hot drinks, and usually some vendors. There is a dinner at the church down the street.
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