rel="nofollow" href="#fb3_img_img_4549d242-2a08-576f-83a0-a46ba5fdbd99.jpg" alt="images"/> KEY INFO
Here, nine specifics are cited for each route: its trip level, distance, time, navigable months, potential hazards, number of portages, easy-to-difficult rescue access, tidal conditions, and scenery rating.
Trip level indicates expected paddling difficulty based on possible wind strength, wave size, current speed, and other variables that take place on open water. In this guide, a rating system on a scale of 1–5, developed by members of Long Island Paddlers, determines the levels shown with each entry:
Level 1 indicates a trip on protected waters with few, if any, waves; light to no breeze (less than 10 mph); and no current.
Level 2 alerts you to stronger winds (10–15 mph), waves of up to 2 feet, and a slight current.
Level 3 signals that 2- to 3-foot waves are likely, as are winds up to 20 mph, currents of 3–4 knots, and potential open-water crossings of up to 5 miles long.
Level 4 trips may have longer crossings of up to 10 miles long, currents stronger than 4 knots, 3-foot (or higher) swells, winds up to 20 mph, and difficult landing conditions.
Level 5 denotes open-water crossings of potentially more than 10 miles, large swells, challenging surf conditions, strong currents with turbulence, and waves higher than 4 feet. Winds may be quite strong, and landings could be very difficult.
The Long Island Paddlers rating system also acknowledges trip durations and distances, using a letter between A and D following the level number:
A indicates a short trip, less than 3 hours and 6 miles long.
B denotes a trip lasting 3–5 hours and running 6–10 miles long.
C trips last 5–6 hours and run 10–15 miles, with few places to stop and rest.
D trips require more than 6 hours of paddling and run more than 15 miles, with very few landing spots.
Distance is listed in miles, from put-in to take-out. The distances of side trips, optional paddles, and alternative put-ins or take-outs are addressed in the Description. The average time for each trip is listed in hours. These times are meant only as guidelines, however, and can change depending on how many breaks, lunch stops, or photo opportunities you take. Navigable months lets you know when conditions are typically and most consistently best for paddling a given body of water. (Of course, many places can be paddled at times other than those listed.)
Hazards comprise such factors as open-water crossings, boat traffic, tidal currents, dams, strainers, deadfall, and waterfalls. Most of these trips require no portages, but where applicable the number of them needed is listed in the Key Info.
Ease of rescue access is listed according to this scale: Easy (rescues can be accomplished throughout an entire trip), Limited (rescues can be accomplished at a small number of points during a trip), or Difficult (rescues can rarely be accomplished, if at all, throughout a trip).
Tidal conditions refers to the period of time before or after high tide when conditions are best for paddling that route (see for an in-depth discussion of tides). However, paddlers need not limit themselves to the time spans given, as many bodies of water are at least partially navigable throughout all tidal phases. The paddle route’s nearest tide station, or sea-level gauge, is listed with its latitude and longitude data, along with the put-in and take-out, in the GPS Coordinates box (see next section).
The last item in the Key Info section, scenery is rated on the following scale:
A Beautiful, mostly pristine areas surround the water.
B The area is developed, though still scenic.
C The area is significantly developed.
D The area is extremely overdeveloped and possibly polluted, and has been stripped of its natural beauty.
The coordinates of the put-in and take-out spots for each paddle, along with the coordinates for the nearest tide station (where applicable), are provided in latitude–longitude format. In this system, lines of latitude, or parallels, run horizontally across the globe, equally distant from each other. Each parallel, expressed in degrees, is roughly equal to 69 miles, although there is a slight variation because the earth is not a perfect circle but an oval. Nevertheless, the equator is considered 0°, while the North Pole is 90°N and the South Pole is 90°S.
Also expressed in degrees, lines of longitude, or meridians, run vertically on the globe, perpendicular to latitude lines. Instead of being equidistant, however, they converge at the poles. As a result, they are widest at the equator (about 69 miles apart) and become increasingly narrow as they move north or south. The Prime Meridian, in Greenwich, England, is designated as 0° longitude. From this point, the meridians continue east and west, until they meet 180° later at the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean.
In this book, latitude–longitude coordinates are expressed in degrees and decimal minutes. For example, the put-in and take-out coordinates for Accabonac Harbor are as follows: N41° 01.115′ W72° 08.738′; N41° 01.115′ W72° 08.738′. These coordinates can also be expressed in degrees, minutes, and seconds. To convert from this format to degrees and decimal minutes, divide the seconds by 60. For more on GPS technology, visit usgs.gov.
Probably the most popular, and useful, USGS maps are their 7.5-minute, or 1:24,000-scale series, known as quadrangles. These “quads” provide a good amount of detail and are quite useful for navigation. For this reason, the quads that include particular sections of the bodies of water being described are listed before each Description.
The USGS maintains hundreds of gauge stations that collect various water data useful to paddlers. Some of these stations take frequent water-temperature readings that can be accessed at waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/rt. Various private organizations such as fishing clubs, hatcheries, and academic institutions also measure water temperatures. The mean water temperatures are listed by month whenever this data is available.
LAUNCHING ON CUTCHOGUE HARBOR
Here you’ll find the play-by-play details of the paddle route for each of the 50 entries in this book. This information is presented so that you could follow it sentence-by-sentence and have an enjoyable journey. You may want to segue to some of the suggested side
