Exploring the Back river with Annabel

HERE is the whole slide show. Click on the photos below to get the whole image.

Idylls of Spring

A man, a boy, a dog, a boat.

Life on the Back River, Friendship, Maine

Discovering new lands: James Landing, Nikolas Landing (picnic landings), the Meduncook and Back rivers

Delivery & Launch

Darrin and crew from Carpenter's Boatshop in Pemaquid delivered, on moving-in day in Friendship, my Monhegan skiff, and Marilyn's Adirondack chair.

The bank of the Back River, more on that later, is the kind of environment in which Water Rat and the Mole thrive in The Wind in the Willows, which opens with the famous soliloquy to messing about in boats.

A Foggy Day - Part 2 - Rowing to the City Island Bridge

It was a misty day, high of 45 as a big low pressure system moved up the coast. A steady 10-12 mph breeze blew right out of the east. Visibility of 1/4 mile kept me a couple hundred yards off shore as I rowed my 8 foot injection-molded plastic dinghy the mile from City Island YC to the City Island bridge.

I hope the City stays broke for a while - and does not implement the Department of Design & Construction's plan for a modern bridge to replace it. It is a steel swing bridge, rotating on a central pedestal. At least it did. It doesn't open any more.

And I hope they take down that ugly cyclone fence. Why do they want to obstruct fishermen? They do no harm and can be easily found if they get out of hand. They'll be waiting at their favorite spots hoping a fish will bite.

Here is the photostream for the day. It was a landmark: I have rowed my boat at least once in each month of the year!

Year-end voyage

The shortest voyages can be the most gratifying.  Today in a December thaw I rowed my 8 ft. plastic dinghy out .48 nm, past Big Tom (a rock)  to  R2 - the nun buoy that marks the entrance to Eastchester Bay.  Outbound is a lot farther than inbound.  Rowing into the sea and the wind, aiming for the bridge, and pulled south on the ebb, you earn the leisurely slide back to the dock, feathering the oars, cutting across the sea, spinning and pulling to put the stern into the swells when a big one rolls in.  When you get to the dock that .48 nm looks far again and you're glad the pump can still put out enough to carry you there on the strength of your arms and your back.

Then check North River 2 at Barron's.  Boat yards are at their best in winter - full of boats.  Looking at the keels, hulls, and spars you can tell how they sail.   The functional shapes and  primary colors look their best against the gray sky.

And then Brian Dempsey's American Ale House.  Vikings 20, Giants 19.  Season not over.