[Paddlewise] How Windy Was It (Really)?

Several postings in the last couple weeks have included claims of
paddling home "...10 miles against a 20 knot head wind ..." or similar. 
(At least one of these was made by a paddler soloing a canoe!)  I wonder
about those 20 knot head winds.  Was it really that windy?  Here are the
reasons for my skepticism.

1. It's darn tough to make much headway against a 20 knot head wind. 
John Dowd, in his tome "Sea Kayaking" (p. 139 of the 3rd edition)
details his estimates of headway possible against wind:

Head Wind (knots)       Kayak Speed (knots)

10 - 15                  2.50 - 2.25
15 - 20                  2.25 - 1.50
20 - 30                  1.50 - 0.75

Dowd's estimates seem pretty realistic, at least for this over-50
paddler.  Ten (nautical) miles in a 20 knot head wind?  That should take
about 10/1.50 = 6.7 hrs.  That's a LONG time to be paddling at full
rate!  (David Burch estimates a kayaker can make 1.6 - 2.4 knots against
a 20 knot head wind, for comparison.)

2. The "sea state" associated with a 20 knot wind (force 5) is pretty
vigorous, and observably different from that at force 4 (taken from
Burch; p 95 of "Fundamentals of Kayak Navigation"):

Beaufort   Knots     Effects at Sea            Effects on Land
Number
  4        11-16   Small waves, becoming       Dust, leaves raised up;
                   larger; numerous whitecaps   small branches move

  5        17-21   Moderate waves taking       Small trees in leaf 
                   longer form; many white-     begin to sway
                   caps; some spray

I suspect many of those "20 knot head wind" days were more like 10 knot
head winds, which produce "scattered whitecaps" (Burch).  The spray at
Force 5 is very characteristic, in my experience.  No spray at Force 4
or less.

I'd be interested in hearing from folks who feel, from the information
above, that they REALLY DID paddle 10 miles home into the teeth of a
genuine 20 knot head wind.  I've never done that, being part of the old
age and treachery crowd.  Once I paddled **one mile** against Force 8
(35 - 40 knots) -- took me 2.5 hours of *very hard,* constant effort,
and I was completely bushed at the end.  

So let's hear it, you young, strong paddlers ... was that *really* a 20
knot head wind?  What was the sea state like?
 
-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR
--
Beating the drum for old age and treachery.

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