I'm planning to cruise from Boothbay to Portland via Bath, with its Maine Maritime Museum. I've read conficting reports on the difficulties of doing so via the inside passage, rather than up the Kennebec (which I plan to sail down to Portland), and wonder if anyone who's done it recently can offer advice. Chart 13296 shows a fixed bridge where the Sasanoa River joins the Kennebc that supposedly only has 51ft of vertical clearance. Since my air draft is 58ft, this would seem to conflict with the tide state required to avoid trying to buck strong ebb currents - especially in some supposedly bad "hell gates" Can anyone who's successfully taken this route offer any tips or cautions? Thanks, Al
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If you've never...
If you've never done either the Upper Hells Gate or the Lower DON'T. Especially don't do it with a mast height of 58 feet! I have been stopped dead in my tracks, with my inflatable and it's 5hp motor wide open, and was going no where! I've done the boilers at slack water, which is really a misnomer, because that part of the river is NEVER slack even at slack if you know what I mean. Can it be done? Yes. Should it be done by someone not familiar with the river? Probably not but it sounds like you already knew that... The mean range of tide is 8.8 feet at Robinhood and Mill Point, and 7.0 feet at Upper Hell Gate. The velocity of the tidal current at strength is 1.8 knots off Lowe Point; 3.0 knots on the flood and 3.5 knots on the ebb at Lower Hell Gate; and about 1.0 knot at Upper Hell Gate. Velocities up to 9.0 knots have been observed in the vicinity of The Boilers, the toughest area, at Lower Hell Gate causing dangerous eddies and whirlpools; navigation through this area should be attempted only at or near slack water if at all in a sail boat. Once while fishing, below Lower Hells Gate I watched an Island Packet 31 get spun about 270 degrees and spit back out of the boilers nearly forcing the boat into the rocks before the captain could re-gain control of the vessel. It was like he was stuck in a black hole! For tide predictions, see the Tidal Current Tables. It has been reported, by many, that the ebb current sometimes runs for 8 to 9 hours at Upper Hell Gate so don't necessarily trust the tide tables.. Oh and if heading up the Kennebec ride an incoming tide and when leaving ride the outgoing tide...
If you've never done either the Upper Hells Gate or the Lower DON'T. Especially don't do it with a mast height of 58 feet! I have been stopped dead in my tracks, with my inflatable and it's 5hp motor wide open, and was going no where! I've done the boilers at slack water, which is really a misnomer, because that part of the river is NEVER slack even at slack if you know what I mean. Can it be done? Yes. Should it be done by someone not familiar with the river? Probably not but it sounds like you already knew that... The mean range of tide is 8.8 feet at Robinhood and Mill Point, and 7.0 feet at Upper Hell Gate. The velocity of the tidal current at strength is 1.8 knots off Lowe Point; 3.0 knots on the flood and 3.5 knots on the ebb at Lower Hell Gate; and about 1.0 knot at Upper Hell Gate. Velocities up to 9.0 knots have been observed in the vicinity of The Boilers, the toughest area, at Lower Hell Gate causing dangerous eddies and whirlpools; navigation through this area should be attempted only at or near slack water if at all in a sail boat. Once while fishing, below Lower Hells Gate I watched an Island Packet 31 get spun about 270 degrees and spit back out of the boilers nearly forcing the boat into the rocks before the captain could re-gain control of the vessel. It was like he was stuck in a black hole! For tide predictions, see the Tidal Current Tables. It has been reported, by many, that the ebb current sometimes runs for 8 to 9 hours at Upper Hell Gate so don't necessarily trust the tide tables.. Oh and if heading up the Kennebec ride an incoming tide and when leaving ride the outgoing tide...
HELL Gate
Lower Hell Gate is everything Maine Sail says it is! When you see a nun almost completely under water,ya gotta wonder! In a moment of inspired insanity,I ran Lower Hell at full flood,past Beal Island in my sea kayak last year. It looked ok till I saw the 4 ft overfall at the north end of the island. I went over it,got spun 180,and ended up going backwards thru 4 ft standing waves. Great fun,but only 'cause I lived thru it! I don't think I would ever take my sailboat thru there... Kids,don't try this at home! Pick your tide very carefully....
Lower Hell Gate is everything Maine Sail says it is! When you see a nun almost completely under water,ya gotta wonder! In a moment of inspired insanity,I ran Lower Hell at full flood,past Beal Island in my sea kayak last year. It looked ok till I saw the 4 ft overfall at the north end of the island. I went over it,got spun 180,and ended up going backwards thru 4 ft standing waves. Great fun,but only 'cause I lived thru it! I don't think I would ever take my sailboat thru there... Kids,don't try this at home! Pick your tide very carefully....
Too much precision required to be enjoyable?
Thanks, guys. Since slack water in Lower Hell Gate and high tide at the Preble Point bridge appear to both be estimated for 1500 on the 15th, it looks like I'd have to do some pretty tricky scheduling in order to avoid rigorous conditions at the former in my quest to fit under the latter. Since I sail out of Newburyport, I've often had to cross the Merrimac River bar while surfing swells that turn into breakers against a full ebb that has me struggling to make much more than 2kts over ground while doing 7kts. Unless the current got over 5kts, I'd not necessarily be put off by a stiff ebb, alone. However, I've had occasion to come in with intersecting trains of swells from both the E and the SE creating confused seas - and that's not fun, even in a 7 ton boat with a 31 ft waterline and a tough little diesel giving me a pretty fair amount of thrust/acceleration through a good-sized 3-blade prop. From your description, it sounds like the Boilers have a lot of chaotic turbulence - not just strong current - and that gives me pause. Have either of you done the Merrimac River bar in conditions as I've described and, if so, could you compare the two situations? Unless such a comparison modifies your comments, I'm afraid I'll just have to forget about what looked to be an interesting expansion of our cruising experiences.
Thanks, guys. Since slack water in Lower Hell Gate and high tide at the Preble Point bridge appear to both be estimated for 1500 on the 15th, it looks like I'd have to do some pretty tricky scheduling in order to avoid rigorous conditions at the former in my quest to fit under the latter. Since I sail out of Newburyport, I've often had to cross the Merrimac River bar while surfing swells that turn into breakers against a full ebb that has me struggling to make much more than 2kts over ground while doing 7kts. Unless the current got over 5kts, I'd not necessarily be put off by a stiff ebb, alone. However, I've had occasion to come in with intersecting trains of swells from both the E and the SE creating confused seas - and that's not fun, even in a 7 ton boat with a 31 ft waterline and a tough little diesel giving me a pretty fair amount of thrust/acceleration through a good-sized 3-blade prop. From your description, it sounds like the Boilers have a lot of chaotic turbulence - not just strong current - and that gives me pause. Have either of you done the Merrimac River bar in conditions as I've described and, if so, could you compare the two situations? Unless such a comparison modifies your comments, I'm afraid I'll just have to forget about what looked to be an interesting expansion of our cruising experiences.
I've done the Merrimac
The two are quite different with the Merrimac being much more predictable. The way the current catches your boat and sucks & spins you in the Sasanoa is more like being in a paint shaker than motoring through some standing even sometimes breaking waves. Plus the Merrimac is wide and there is room for some error...
The two are quite different with the Merrimac being much more predictable. The way the current catches your boat and sucks & spins you in the Sasanoa is more like being in a paint shaker than motoring through some standing even sometimes breaking waves. Plus the Merrimac is wide and there is room for some error...
Thanks, Mainsail
That make things more concrete for me. I was intrigued by the write-up in the Cruising Guide to New England, which implied that as long as I left Boothbay a couple of hours before high water there I should have a modestly exciting but not difficult 11nm passage through a beautiful area. It sounds like I should defer it until someone with local knowledge (and more interest in excitement than my wife) can come along. Fair winds, Al
That make things more concrete for me. I was intrigued by the write-up in the Cruising Guide to New England, which implied that as long as I left Boothbay a couple of hours before high water there I should have a modestly exciting but not difficult 11nm passage through a beautiful area. It sounds like I should defer it until someone with local knowledge (and more interest in excitement than my wife) can come along. Fair winds, Al
Don't
Heed MainSail's advice!! At the time I had a 26ft powerboat out of Portland and would go to Boothbay regularly for 7 years. Sure, the 'back-way' to Boothbay is absolutely beautiful and a nice warm trip in spring and fall. But don't do it with a boat as large as yours. With that much keel area and your length there will be no room for error. Much less my memories of some of the hairpin turns around some of the rock outcroppings. Images of nuns/bouys dragging underwater (think Jaws)is so impressive. If you are taking the tour at Bath anyway.....take the dingy!!!
Heed MainSail's advice!! At the time I had a 26ft powerboat out of Portland and would go to Boothbay regularly for 7 years. Sure, the 'back-way' to Boothbay is absolutely beautiful and a nice warm trip in spring and fall. But don't do it with a boat as large as yours. With that much keel area and your length there will be no room for error. Much less my memories of some of the hairpin turns around some of the rock outcroppings. Images of nuns/bouys dragging underwater (think Jaws)is so impressive. If you are taking the tour at Bath anyway.....take the dingy!!!
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