Paddling the Nova Craft Bob Special - Joppa Flats, Newburyport, MA - 01/02/2020

Nova Craft Bob Special - heading out to Joppa Flats

January 2nd - a New Year, a nice day (40’s, a little windy), felt like a good time for a quick New Year’s paddle.  Grabbed the new demo Nova Craft Bob Special 15’ and headed to Joppa Flats in Newburyport, MA, just about 10 minutes from the shop.

Joppa Flats is located south of the center of the city, where the river expands out to river right of the main channel.  Protected by Plum Island, at the top half of the tide it’s a great area to paddle, and in the summer it’s out of the way of most of the boat traffic.  At the bottom of the tide, it’s an extensive mud flat - timing is everything when paddling the Flats. There’s parking for about eight cars at the ramp, and street parking is available, but limited.

Did the short carry from the car to the ramp, then back to the car to gear up - air and water in the 40’s, so it’s drysuit weather, especially for a solo paddle.  Bit of an offshore breeze - enough to be noticeable, but not enough to be an issue. Back to the boat, put in the paddles, bailing bucket and ballast, and pushed off.

A note on ballast:  Tandems commonly need a bit of trimming to flatten them out when being solo’d.  If I’m not carrying gear, I use a tip by Brent Statten (“A Weighty Matter”) in the Spring 2019 Paddling magazine:    

Take two dry bags (I use a 20 liter and a 35 liter), fill the smaller with water, roll it closed, put it inside the second, roll it closed, and position in the boat.  When you’re back on shore, dump the water back and you’re left with the weight of two empty dry bags. And there’s always water available at the put in. Simple, clever, effective.

Headed up river with the breeze quartering from the left.  The Bob Special tracked well, not pushed out of line at all.  Our demo model does have a shallow shoe keel, which helps with tracking.  I did some turns with the boat heeled and it responded very well (I’ll shoot some video of those on my next paddle).  Nova Craft makes the boat with and without the keel (no cost difference), so you can choose which you prefer.

Paddled just past the Coast Guard’s Station Merrimack River, where the two 44 foot steel hull surf boats were docked.  The Merrimack is one of two Stations on the East Coast that require surf rated boat crews, so be cautious close to the mouth of the river - it can surprise you.

Hung out there for a few minutes shooting some video (I’m still new at that, but you can see the results on our YouTube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJYiKCsvLc8 )

Back at the take out met a really nice retriever and her human.  She (the retriever, not the human) looked like she was trying to decide if she was supposed to retrieve the Bob or not, but decided to go for pets instead when I got out.  

I was shooting the last clip for the video when I realized I had made a bit of a safety error.  Not huge given the conditions, but still... I normally attach painters (lengths of line) bow and stern in case I have to exit the boat unexpectedly, manage it up a bank, etc., but had forgotten them.  Useful in a wide variety of circumstances, it’s a good habit to develop.

Got out of the dry suit, cartopped the boat and back to the shop - a good, albeit short, day on the water.

Keith

Bob Special ( http://www.novacraft.com/canoes/bob-special-15/ ):

Length:  15 feet. Width (gunwale):  35”

End Depth:  18” Center Depth:  13”

Rocker:  Minimal Capacity:  800lb

Weight (w/o keel):  Fiberglass:  58lbs. TuffStuff:  50lbs. TS Expedition:  56lbs. Aramid Light:  39lbs.   Blue Steel:  43lbs.