Graveyard
 

Anyone go through the graveyard this weekend? Is it just me or were the markers pretty screwed up and not in the usual location. Seemed a lot narrower than usual to me!

Dan

My wife took us through both times today, and she would agree that it was narrow!

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Always trust your judgement if you think markers aren't in the right place or something looks unusual.
10 years ago I lost my lower unit on a rocky area that I have crossed hundreds of times.
Had just picked my boat up at the marina in the spring, drove outside of the marker as usual. The ice had somehow moved the marker about 30' closer to shore.
Took a picture as proof for Marine Patrol and my insurance company

Totally agree, went thru there several times over the past 2 days. There's one spot where the black and red markers are very close. It also seemed that the red marker just south of the graveyard before you get to #49 was missing.

Went through yesterday for the first time this season. The middle section definitely seemed more narrow than I recall from last season. Will probably take the long way around the next time I’m heading toward Moultonborough Bay. Keeping centered in the channel, the lowest water depth I saw was about 10 feet.

Bizer's Rock
 

That's reminiscent of Bizer's story about Bizer's Rock, located west of the Graveyard and about midway between Pistol and Spectacle (roughly). Bizer lost a lower unit to this rock and has since shown it on his charts. The scars left by his lower unit were visible for many years, perhaps even now.

So, is there a chart that shows Samiam's Rock, and are the scars still visible? :D

Dave

See my other post about a missing marker.

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On a related note--the red markers in Melvin Bay (Tuftonboro) did not seem quite right to me, or maybe one was missing.

See my other post, "Missing Marker." I can't change the title, but if I could, I would change it to "Missing Marker South of Graveyard."

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Does the Graveyard exempt the 150' rule?
 

I always got a kick out of the 150' rule when going through the Graveyard... Two boats coming at each other from opposite directions up on plane cruising right along, then entering the Graveyard from opposite ends and cruising right by each other about 30' apart in the middle of the Graveyard somewhere still up on plane. No problem...

Oh it's only been a couple of days and they are worse than ever. They think half plane is no wake.

I don't usually complain about other boaters—I've just come to "go with the flow"—but you're right. The slow(er) speed is often worse than being on plane.

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It's funny but in over 40 years of boating in that area I've never gone through the Graveyard. I've always been happy to take the small loop through the open water east of Melvin Island instead. It keeps me on the lake a few minutes more but that's usually a good thing to me.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
 

Most of the times, I too took the easy loop past Melvin Is, but if we had company on the boat and no traffic heading opposite to me, I would go through to show our friends why it's called the Graveyard. It is impressive to show how close the ledge / rocks are to the channel.

Dave

As long as both captains don't mind, that's the best way to do it which is probably why it's normal everywhere else in the world.

I agree. I wasn't "complaining", just saying...

Maybe the graveyard needs some local flavor to help mark safe passage similar to this, but perhapse use something more appropriate to a graveyard rather than toilet seats? :)

https://www.allatsea.net/how-toilet-...da-came-to-be/

Nice! I fear MP would “flush” that idea down the toilet before it could become a “movement” :D
Perhaps Braun Bay would be a more apropos location for the bathroom fixtures? ;)

I am pretty sure I have made the same observation and remarked about it somewhere here on this forum a long time ago. When you go north of the barber pole, the 150' rule between similalry-sized planing boats seems to be a suggestion, unless the MP are around. I think that's the way it should be.

Graveyard
 

I never go through the graveyard, I always go around.

I had a house near Suissevale for over 20 years and had to go by there every time I wanted to go anywhere or come back. I can count on one hand the number of times I went through the Graveyard. I just didn't want to be bothered with watching the markers and if there was traffic going the other way, didn't want to be breaking the 150 foot rule.

When I got my boat, I had never driven a boat and had never navigated the lake. I told Irwin Marine if I bought the boat I had to have someone drive it back to the house with me and give me some an intro to boating course. Jack Irwin was my copilot/instructor and he didn't have me go through the graveyard. I figured I would honor his wisdom. BTW, I still have the boat. 26 years old.

And it is ...
 

A brand new, shiny red, 1994 ?

Funny, we always go around too. We used to always go through but have only once in probably the last ten years.

Sounds like I'm in the minority—I always go through the Graveyard.

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Me too. It's really no big deal to me. As a matter of fact, every time I go to that part of the lake, I have always gone through the Graveyard. Next time though, I think I'm going to try going around Melvin Island just to do something different.

We always used to and never had a problem. Somehow we just changed. But often we go by the No Wake area of Chases Island and around and up to Melvin Bay from there. We seem to have certain routes and that is one of them.

Pick up my boat at Melvin Village every spring and go through Graveyard on my way to Long Island. I don't even know HOW to go around the Graveyard but it did seem narrower at one spot to me. Would def need wake speed if another boat were coming.

What's tricky over there is going through Pistol Island. I want to get to know it well enough to "race course" through with my ski, though I think there's a no-wake or two...

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You can avoid the no wake at Pistol by going east around the island instead of going between FL81 and the island. If you do that, you can run the whole "gauntlet" from Spectacle Island to the Long Island bridge
on plane.

Thanks for the tip—I'm gonna map it out and see if I can learn it well enough to run it.

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I always stick to the side and watch the other... if they start slowing for NW to pass in the graveyard, I'll do the same figure its comfort thing for them. If they're steaming along at full speed, same for me. Figure it would be two boats saying "looked like 150 to me" if MP raised a fit.

Routed on Navionics.

That route is very intimidating for someone who hasn't been through there, like me. I also always thought it was a shortcut but it looks like swinging around Melvin Island would be faster.

That would be a shortcut from the Long Island Bridge/Six Pack to 20-Mile/Melvin Village/Moultonborough Bay, not around just the Graveyard.

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Random...
 

Fished back there a bit. My first view from point 8 towards point 6 looked like somebody randomely dropped a bunch of red and black markers all over that stretch. Kinda like slalom run. Never really felt totally comfortable at speed back there.

This route is a fun shortcut to the LI bridge. It's fun at 40+ MPH

Took a few trips through to get my nerve up to do it at speed. It's a fun way to freak out newbies.

Navigated it a fair number of times over the years but would never consider doing it at speed. I get that it would be a thrill but one lapse in attention or misjudgment and you could find yourself with a ruined boat, fines for spilled fuel in the lake, and God-forbid serious injury or death to you and/or your occupants. I’m not passing judgement and I’m probably more conservative than most since I work in Safety for a living. Because I work in Safety, my house and boat have been paid for because people often accept extraordinary risk! Have fun but manage your risk!


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There's definitely a fine line to be had, right? I've only gone through twice, but it appears the "safe passage" sections are fairly wide.

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The Graveyard
 

I usually go through at a normal cruising speed (25-30 mph). There is plenty of room for two boats passing each other. However, if someone is coming the other way, and they slow down, I usually slow down too. I figure if they are nervous or anxious about going through the Graveyard, I do not want to add to their anxiety. Obviously, two boats passing by at cruising speed are violating the 150 foot no wake rule; however, it is one of those traditions that has been done since I can remember.

It is interesting that on the Intercoastal, boats pass each other all the time at relatively high speeds with not much room between them. I guess it comes down to what you're use to.

Assuming you mean the path I plotted, the rocks are very well marked in there, it's not as bad as it looks once you get to know it. The worst and most confusing parts of it are the section north of Pistol because the spar colors flip half way through, and the section west of Pistol Island because you need to pass between FL81 and the island which is not intuitive (and of course, the spar colors flip again...). I skip the FL81 part by turning SSE at mark 1. Once you are past Pistol (at mark 4), you just need to keep the red-tops on the right and black tops on the left all the way to the LI bridge. It's basically like following a river upstream (red right return) from turn 4.

That said, for some reason, I have never run that route from west to east, I am confident I would have to slow more than once if I tried.

As Dave mentions above, what's really "sexy" about this route is the red markers swapping sides of the boat between where Dave's course starts and the first waypoint. The first time I did that heading toward Melvin Village from Pistol I was blown away even as I saw it on the chart in front of me. Definitely not for the faint of heart or those not familiar with the area. I love putting around this area in the Whaler, I only recently got up the courage to go through here on plane and I live nearby!

The direct .75 mile route from FL59 to FL81 where the spar colors flip from black on right, to red on right, back to black on right while the boat maintains a constant 215 degree (true) heading (except for the last couple of hundred feet) is a perfect example of just how terrible the NH inland ATON system is. I bet there is not a person alive that could have a thorough briefing of the way our spar system works, and without ever seeing that part of lake beforehand, figure out the right path through there with a compass but no chart.