Merrimack River....seem different?

[Trident]

Is it me or does the mouth of the Merrimac seem rougher this year than normal (on a typical day)?

I don't have access to water flow charts, but my gut tells me that the water flow per second is still way up and it appears that alot of the sediment from the flooding has settled on the southside of the mouth, making the sandbars much shallower which appear to be causing more (and steeper) waves...

I gone through the mouth in some really bad stuff (6'+ plus breakers with an east wind).......but today was the first time that I took water over the bow while drifting and besides giving me a quick fright..it also got me thinking that the river is significantly different....

Anyone else notice this or have I been sniffing too many Suzuki fumes?

[tsheehy]

Ed,

You are correct. The entire area from the tip of the jetties out to the bell buoy is much shallower this year. There were/are always sandbars to the south of the green #3 and #5 buoys, but they have really filled in and grown to the north all the way across the mouth. Most of that area is around 8-11' at a low tide, where it was 12'+ last year in the shallow spots. What is worse is that the inside tip of the north jetty has really shallowed up as well, which used to be the one consistently safe way to get in and out of the river when the offshore storms start showing up in the fall. Come September/October its really going to be a mess.

-- Tom