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Winging Up the New England Coast
When is kayaking like flying an airplane? In a two-week trip, this navigator rediscovers a useful
tool... by Tamsin Venn (courtsey of Atlantic Costal Kayaker)
Mike Falconeri of Wallingford, Ct., used to fly small airplanes. So when he decided
mid-September that in three days hence he would paddle from the Thimble Islands in Connecticut to
Portland, Maine, he tucked an aeronautical chart into his chart case. He reasoned that with such a chart
he would need only one, and that many of the aeronautical landmarks would prove useful for a coastal
journey. In effect, he was flying on the ocean, making the trip with the perspective of an airplane
pilot.
"Things start popping up, and you can follow them on the chart," says Falconeri, pointing out
the symbols for towers, light houses, high tension wires, factories, power stations, forts, hills, and
especially airports provide the landmarks.
When we catch up with Mike, he is at the Cape Ann Marina in Gloucester, Mass., on day eight of his
journey in which he averages 30-35 miles a day. He has tied his kayak to the dock and tried to ignore
the two-tiered powerboats and lengthy yachts, most with very high antenna by which to navigate. Mike has
no such thing. He has tucked his chart case under new decklines on his Nordkapp HM and tied on a
protractor. He travels simply.
The large-scale aeronautical chart masks the true length of the long paddling days, given small
airplanes travel hundreds of mph and paddlers average 3 miles an hour. The day before, he had quite a
journey, covering just a small portion of his chart. He paddled nearly 30 miles from Scituate to
Gloucester, Mass., 2 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. nonstop, several miles offshore, by passing Boston Harbor's
islands. Using his map, he steered toward the lights of Salem, like all cities and towns marked by a
yellow band on his chart.
The crossing, which he would not recommend, was at the end of a long paddling day. "It takes a lot
of nerve," says Falconeri but adds he would be paddling an extra three-four days if he didn't make
sizable point-to-point crossings.
Aeronautical charts are useful for landward landmarks and for kayaking at night because many lit towers
are marked. They do have drawbacks, however. Some of the information is open to interpretation as
Falconeri found when the fort he was headed for to spend the night turned out to he the old fort
foundations with a sewer treatment plant built on top. He had to keep paddling to find another stop for
the night.
Also aeronautical chart miss depth markings. Those would have proved useful paddling through Portsmouth
Harbor in the fog Falconeri paddled from Rye past Portsmouth abandoning shortcut point to point
crossings for shore hugging. Northeast winds had created big seas and breaking waves. Falconeri couldn't
see the breakers but tried to keep their sound 100 yards to the east while not getting too far offshore.
The trouble came when he had negotiate underwater reefs with breakers to the left and
more breakers to the right. "How did I get here?" was what he asked himself, not knowing what
lay underneath.
The tensest interlude occurred when he navigated by following the fog horns of two lighthouses at
different angles, only to find that the sounds kept getting closer together until he realized one of the
"lighthouses" was moving and was in fact a freighter. He stopped to let it go by and was glad
to leave the mouth of the Piscataqua River behind him.
As for long open crossings such as the Scituate to Gloucester run, the key is to stay calm and to stay
in a rhythm, according to
Falconeri. A tape headset and chewing gum help him stay in cadence and to entertain him when he runs out
of things to think about. Then at the end of the day, a steady pace should override your excitement
about reaching your destination, paddling faster, and wearing yourself out, advises Falconeri.
In terms of stamina, Falconeri notes, "I feel a whole let better than when I started. The first
hour I feel tight. After breakfast, I loosen up" then averages a 6-8 hour day. He took two days off
to dry out and some days he took afternoon naps and paddled at night. Falconeri paddled through the Cape
Cod Canal at night. The canal is one of the more crucial shortcuts on the New England coast. It cuts off
a lengthy journey around Cape Cod's elbow and arm and a 16-mile open crossing from Provincetown to
Duxbury (or thereabouts).
Falconeri was fully aware that the Coast Guard does not allow kayaks through the canal, which runs at
six knots, without being accompanied by a powerboat. But he couldn't afford the $80 fee the tow truck
companies he called to drive him and his kayak to the other side of the canal wished to charge. So he
started through after dark at 7:30 p.m.to avoid detection. Falconeri caught the fair tide and whizzed
through in about an hour, the biggest problem came from the bank side fishermen who turned their
spotlights on him as he went by, threatening to blow his clandestine efforts.
At night, Falconeri straps a high-powered dive light on the kayak's front and flashlight on the back and
tucked broken calamite sticks in his hat for color diversity. Falconeri accomplishes his 35-mile days
using a Greenland style paddle, made by himself. "The paddle carries the speed of a regular paddle
without stress or strain," says Falconeri who has under gone a wrist bone operation. Fatigue
affected judgment, Falconeri says. He stopped for lunch at Biddeford Pool, left at 5 p.m. for South
Portland. He only had 15 miles to go. He could see the fog coming in, the lights disappearing, and
finally stopped off on an island. He finally found a lee shore, did a seal landing, but when he prepared
to jump out of the boat, accidentally held his sprayskirt down with his paddle and got washed ashore.
The boat cracked.
Falconeri thought about the trip for two years before undertaking it and built skills. He has a secure
screw roll using a wide blade paddle and a secure extended roll using the Greenland paddle. He capsized
once while trying to tear the cellophane wrapper off a root-beer barrel - and rolled back up.
What are the most useful skills for his two-week journey? "Bracing," he says automatically.
That skill came in particularly handy in 10-foot reflective waves he encountered rounding a jetty at the
mouth of the Cape Cod Canal. On second thought, he says, navigation really is the most useful. We leave
Falconeri early afternoon. He plans to paddle out the Annisquam River into Ipswich Bay and head over to
the New Hampshire coast using the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant, marked on the map as a big inverted V,
as guide. After dark, he will follow the plant's lights and hope to reach Portland by the weekend for
his ride home (which he does as noted by daily schedule below).
"Anybody can do such a trip if you put the time and determination into it. There is really no
excuse not to do it. It's good to create some challenges for yourself," says Falconeri. "I'm
getting along pretty well with what I've got - a kayak and a lot of food. There are a lot of things in
your life that you can get rid of, but you've got to take a little scoot out of life to think about
them"
This summer Falconeri plans to paddle the coast of Ireland. This navigation strategy will differ. He and
his paddling partner have charts of the whole Irish coast. His partner will take photos of the coast and
match them to the charts so they know where they can land on this wild coast.
Mike Falconeri runs Urban Eskimo Kayaking in Wallingford, Ct.
Mike's Trip
Day 1: Sept. 13, Tues., start 7 a.m. Thimble Islands to Old Lyme, Ct.
Day 2: Old Lyme to Avondale.
Day 3: Avondale to Newport, R.I. to Sakonnet Point.
Day 4: Sakonnet Point to New Bedford, Mass.
Day 5: New Bedford to Sagamore Beach.
Day 6: Rest day (15 knot wind from the north) - tent gets buried in sand.
Day 7: Sagamore Beach to Mansfield.
Day 8: Mansfield to Scituate to Gloucester.
Day 9: Gloucester to Salisbury, N.H.
Day 10: Salisbury to Rye Harbor.
Day 11. Rye Harbor.
Day 12: Rye Harbor to Cape Neddick, Maine.
Day 13: Cape Neddick to South Portland.
Day 14: South Portland to Peaks Island.
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