I've heard it's thick on the New England coast but no one I've spoken to has seen the carpet like pad of Rockweed in Rockport Harbor. I'm loading up the boat for a couple weeks of sailing and feel like I'm in a field. Coming into the dock felt a little like powering in yogurt.

I've seen a couple outboards stopped dead in the water by the thickness of the mat.

This is friend Henry and his Daughter going out for a row. It was a little comical watching them from my cockpit. It's easy enough to stick the loom of the oar in and pull, quite another thing to pull it back out of the mat of weed,...