Cruising World – May 2018

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cruisingworld.com

60


may 2018
may 2018

cruisingworld.com

60


LIVING ABOARD

H


ow can one possibly
enhance Maine’s mag-
nifi cent coastal cruising?
Our answer: carry stand-up
paddleboards. Indeed, the
explorations and exercise they
provide are high points of our
sailing journeys. We would not
want to carry our rigid boards
offshore, but in near-shore
conditions they travel without
diffi culty, lashed to the life-
lines outboard of our Finngulf
391 West Wind’s inboard chain-
plates. We still love rowing and
exploring with the wonder-
ful wooden Maine-built pea
pod we tow, but nowadays, we
more often fi nd adventure on
the paddleboards when the
water is calm.
A memorable paddle up the
Englishman River, a lovely es-
tuary draining into Englishman
Bay just east of Roque Island,
exemplifi es the fun and the

connection to nature we enjoy.
The anchorage off the river’s
mouth is exposed, but we saw
our opportunity on a sunny
early September day with on-
ly light southeasterlies fore-
cast. We slid the boards over
the side and were off. We had
been into the river once before
by pea pod and knew the im-
portance of playing the tidal
current, which sluices through
the entrance under a road
bridge at considerable velocity.
With the pea pod, timing our
entry and exit to the tidal con-
ditions had been crucial, but
with paddleboards, there would
have been the option of carry-
ing them across the road and
relaunching inside the bridge,
if necessary. This day, though,
we entered with a fair current
a couple of hours before high
tide. Once through the bridge,
the current velocity was less
but still suffi cient to give a wel-
come boost.

We were soon past a handful
of houses and into the riv-
er’s wild stretches. A forest
of spruce and fi r fringed the
marsh grasses, and in the wide
middle of the waterway, the
rising tide rapidly covered ex-
pansive fl ats. In many places,
we were slightly early in our
timing, the fi ns of our pad-
dleboards gouging the mud.
Where necessary, we dropped
to our knees and moved our
weight well forward to reduce
the fi ns’ draft, sometimes hav-
ing to pole with the paddles
to push our way to deeper wa-
ter. Our timing of the tide was
good enough that we never
had to hop off and wade, and

soon we had no worries as to
water depth.
September held the promise
of bird migration season. In
our belt packs we had small
10-power binoculars and a wa-
terproof camera for spotting
and recording. Enthralling was
the sheer number of yellow-
legs and smaller sandpipers
along the winding channel, as
well as herons, Canada geese,
the occasional eagle and oth-
er birds that one would expect
in such an area. It was an edu-
cation in how important these
estuarine stopovers are along
the eastern Maine coast.
Eventually, the channel
narrowed and grew ever more
winding between banks cov-
ered by marsh grass nearly as
tall as us. Within the curves
were pools in the grass with
water levels higher than the
channel except at the top
of the tide. From some, we
fl ushed black ducks.
As the tide turned, we also
turned to ride the current
down and out of the river be-
fore water depths dropped
too much. We clambered back
aboard West Wind and pulled
the boards on deck, exhilarat-
ed by yet another wonderful
cruising experience.
Our boards are relatively
high-performance fi berglass
touring boards. They have a
shallow-V cross section and
pointed bow with upward
sweep. Ben’s is 14 feet long,
Dianna’s 12½ feet. The weight
of each is just over 30 pounds.
We recognize the advantages
of infl atable boards for car-
rying aboard a cruising boat,
and for voyages farther afi eld
we might choose them. For
short sails in coastal waters,
though, we prefer the liveli-
er performance of our rigid
boards — and not having to
infl ate and defl ate them be-
tween excursions. Our oth-
er equipment consists of
carbon- fi ber paddles, leash-
es tethering the boards to our
ankles, life jackets and kayak
booties.
For clothing, we often just
wear whatever we have been
wearing on deck: bathing suits
or jeans, T-shirts or fl eece jack-
ets, whatever the weather calls

2 ON YOUR FEET


Easy to stow and quick to launch, a stand-up paddleboard is a welcome
friend to the coastal cruiser.BY BEN AND DIANNA EMORY

For coastal adventures,
lashing a paddleboard to the
shrouds or life lines works
just fi ne. The board stays
put and there’s still ade-
quate visibility forward.

BEN EMORY
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