Cruising World – May 2018

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