[Paddlewise] Day trip report - PNW

Just a day trip, but it turned out interesting for me because of what I
learned and because of the wind:

A friend, Don, and I set out from Oak Bay Marina in Victoria to paddle a
about 1 mi across Baynes Channel, a locally  infamous body of water, to
Discovery Island on Friday morning.  I had checked the Current Atlas and
phoned the recorded weather forecast and weather observations  and things
looked ok for where we would be at the times I thought we wuld be there, I
thought.  I don't like Baynes Channel at the best of times but thought I
had better work on getting over it.

By the time we got in the water and out around the lee of the island off
the marina, I thought the wind was building and that we would have
following or beam seas on the way out, and probably a challenge on our
return, so stated that I was not comfortable going and would rather go over
to Ten Mile Point and just cruise the shore, over to the Yacht Club in the
bay to check boats, and waterfront houses ;)  Don didn't insist though I
know he wanted to go to Discovery.  We had a leisurely and uneventful shore
cruise paddle, which made both of us long for at least a small "event".

After an hour and a half or so,  when we turned to go back, and came out of
a protected bay, we found the wind had built considerably. I would much
rather paddle into wind and seas, than take it directly on the beam or
following, so fortunately for me, we had to paddle mostly into it to get
back.  By the time we got off Willows Beach, the wind was so consistently
strong, with very wild gusts, that I felt several times that the paddle
would be ripped out of my hands. I dared not stop tofasten the leash.  I
feather my paddle, and had quite a good grip on it ;)  Like my hands were
welded to it ;)

The (not very big) seas were very confused and leaping around as the water
is quite shallow out off the beach where we were.  Maybe these were
clapotis! Sailboats and power boats were running in to anchor  if they
could (one couldn't) and moor.  There were a few minutes when I wasn't
having fun.  I don't know if it would have been fun all the way if could
roll!   After paddling hard for a long time, I was relieved  to get back to
the launch without going over and in.

Don has been trying different boats, and this time had rented a Looksha 4,
18' and 22" beam, same dimensions as my Arluk 1.8 but with chines and
therefore slightly more stability. He wasn't  used to paddling something
that narrrow but handled it wih grace and calm.  It may be that  the calmer
Don gets the wilder things really are ;)

I did call the weather forecast before we set out and I didn't think what
was happening at Race Rocks would come around the headland to Oak Bay. Uh
huh.  After talking to a dock rat - marina employee (classy dock rat), now
I know.  Whatever is at Race Rocks will be at Oak Bay / Discovery Island in
about 3 or 4 hours. Aha!  This is important information!  It makes sense
now that I think about it for about a second.

We got off the water about 3, and had lunch and coffee, and took Don's boat
back. I called the weather report number (Environment Canada) when I got
home, and  the Trial Island weather station, right there where we were,
reported 45 knot winds *with gusts*.  Yeehah!

I'm a slow learner with weather, and tide tables and figuring tides and
turns for secondary ports on reference stations, and currents calculated
for secondary current stations. The tide book tells me how to do it, and
maybe I'm even doing it right, but I have no faith in my ability to rely on
what I figure out yet.   The Current Atlas is the most basic information I
can get. I will probably pursue  my Current Atlas angst of last summer,
which came about because the two tables (Murray's / Washburne's) referred
to different pages of current at the same hour.

As I said before, I have until very recently relied on my partner(s) to do
this preparation and deal with plotting courses as well. I feel fortunate
that my present paddling partner is either uninterested in figuring this
stuff out (I know he can if he wants to; he's a sailor), or is willing to
patiently let me learn the best way, by doing it myself.  Maybe a bit of
both!

Diane




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