Skinny Water
Recently I was talking to a relative about a recent GPS purchase. He was very excited about his new electronic addition and the ability to pilot his boat with added confidence through all sorts of weather. As we conversed, the focus drifted to dangers lying close to the the buoys that marked safe passage. Over the past few weeks, we had both noticed the impact of the off-season in a variety of places, from the entrance to Manchester Harbor to the middle of the Annisquam river to the Essex river inlet from Ipswich Bay. Over the winter, abrupt water depth changes had replaced gradual bottom upward slopes creating potentially dangerous situations. GPS or not, if you come into Manchester on the wrong side of the buoy at low tide, you are possibly in for an unexpected grounding. The same thing holds for the other locations, a situation which historically has been compounded by shifting navigational buoys. So, use your navigational tools to their fullest extent and be aware that just the smallest error can result in an unexpected stop on the newest sandbar on the”other Cape”.
