Special K River Trip
May 17, 2012

One of the best days of the year for many sailors is that initial trip from your boat yard to your home harbor when spring arrives. For Brian Klinger and his boat Special K that trip happened this year on Thursday, May 17, 2012.

Special K winters at Great Bay Marina, in Broad Cove, just over 7 miles up the Piscataqua River above her summer mooring in Pepperrell Cove at the entrance to Portsmouth Harbor, New Hampshire. This year Brian had the exhaust system replaced, and Special K was launched, tuned up and almost ready for her maiden cruise of the year when Lise dropped us off at Great Bay a little after 0900.

Following the yard work, the last remaining step was to secure the battery box and battery which had been loosened to do the exhaust work. Brian had it secured in short order, and, following a good cockpit scrubbing we were ready to get under way. First stop, the fuel dock to fill the tanks for the year. Her capacity of about 100 gallons is typically enough to get half way through the summer season. Today she took on about 80 gallons, and we cast off for the trip down the river.

A beautiful, breezy day made the trip a delight. Tidal currents in the Piscataqua and Portsmouth Harbor are significant. Here's an excerpt from "A guide to the lower Piscataqua", by Mike Pothier, for Points East: "Like all tidal rivers in Maine, the ebb currents are stronger than the flood currents, but both can be formidable. Five to six knots are common, and extreme conditions may max out at 10 knots." A perusal of NOAA data found a 4.2 knot ebb at the Memorial Bridge station, at least almost into this scary range. This particular day we had about 2 knots to contend with - not a bad day at all.

Brian's newly installed Garmin chartplotter and radar were put to their first test and passed with flying colors. Right from the fuel dock leaving Broad Cove, and under the Little Bay Bridge into the main Piscataqua, the boat icon neatly tracked our progress across the chart. Latitude, longitude, speed over ground (SOG) and course over ground (COG) were all present right at the helm station on the flying bridge. Down below, the Dell laptop running Nobletec navigation software duplicated the information as an independent system for backup. All was well.

Once down river to Portsmouth itself, we tried tucking in behind Badgers Island to the tiny dock at Warren's restaurant. Unfortunately there was a work float and a small outboard already there. We continued down past the sprawling buildings and docks of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to Pepperrell Cove. A little deli at the head of the dock provided delicious sandwiches which we ate lounging in Special K's cockpit under warm sun. A persistent crow seemed to want some sandwich too and repeatedly landed on the railing above our heads looking for handouts.

After lunch we towed the dinghy out to Special K's mooring and left it there for our eventual return, and headed out of Portsmouth Harbor. We could clearly see the Isles of Shoals about 6 miles south southeast, but we turned south and headed for Little Harbor to check out Wentworth Marina, a major stop in the summer Javelin cruises.

Special K's 17' height above water to the top of the radar and antenna just cleared the low bridge into Sagamore Creek and the shallow passage around behind New Castle Island which forms the entrance to Portsmouth Harbor. After a poke up Sagamore Creek to it's shallow end and back, we continued through the back channel to reach Portsmouth Harbor at Henderson Point on Seavy Island (Portsmouth Naval Shipyard).

Turning down river past Kittery Point Yacht Club where Brian is a member, we returned to Pepperrell Cove and picked up the mooring. It was about 1500 and a perfect finish to our 7 mile river trip and 7 mile circle of Newcastle Island. Special K was successfully christened for another season.

Pictures and story by Rick Van Mell.

A breezy start ...	Lise drops us off ...	at Great Bay Marina.	Special K ...
is waiting to ...	get in the current.	Looking great.	Securing the battery ...
took a little time.	All done - cleaned up ...	Ready to go!	At the fuel dock ...
80 gallons later ...	KPYC burgee.	Captain Crow & Brian ...	at Pepperrell Cove dock.
A picture perfect ...	New England setting ...	Fishing & Wood Islands.	Time to bail and ...
put dinghy on mooring.	Little Harbor Bridge ...	looks low ...	we need 17' ...
hold your breath ...	made it.	This house has ...	one really, really ...
big anchor!	Good fishing area ...	but shallow!	Sarah Long & I-95 bridges
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard ...	another low bridge.	Kittery Point YC ...	looking good.
Current running at G-9	Tourist ride.	Safe on her mooring ...	Computer says so too.
Good time to ...	get some pictures ...	after a great ...	day aboard ...
Special K.