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Nor’easter Paddling - Lake Nippenicket - Bridgewater MA

Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2014 1:08 pm
by baron1701
I had my Necky loaded onto my van 10/23 to meet up with a buyer. The person backed out, not uncommon with craigslist. Considering the Kayak was on the roof and I had my wet weather gear with me I decided to go out and paddle the Nip. I drive by it on the way home from work. There was a Nor'easter in the forecast. By the time I left work and was unloading at the boat ramp the weather had cleared up for about half an hour. With the rain and wind died down I set out to launch.

It was noticeable how long the beach was. Lake Nippenicket is a shallow lake but the water level was real low. I haven't been there in a few months but it was very low. Not long after I paddled off the winds picked up and the rain was coming down hard. The weather ended up getting really bad. Wind was bad rain was worse. My wife texted me that the house lost power.

I wanted to paddle the coast but the water was to shallow. I know the Nip very well having paddled here dozens upon dozens of times. Even though I knew the low spots and I had a good idea where I would get into trouble I still curled up on a few rocks. The worst was paddling full cruise and getting the paddle stuck in mud. I was only able to get to the other side of the large island when I beached. After pushing back a few times and trying another spot - I gave in and headed back.

By the time I was loading the Necky the weather had calmed down again long enough for me to load onto the racks.