Re: [Paddlewise] can any one paddle into a 27 knot wind?

rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com wrote:
> 
> Larry Bliven wrote:
>
> > << I had the opportunity to test out my skills in some difficult conditions
> > this Sunday... winds were 27 knots with frequent gusts that reached 37
> > knots (according to a local measurement station). >>
>
> to which, TomCkayak wrote:
>
> > [snip] a true 27 knot wind will stop
> > you dead and a true 37 knots can push you backwards.

> someone else chimed in with:
> > i have paddled a solo canoe on tidal rivers with flat shorelines. in that
> > boat, 27 kt stops me and 37 kt pushes me backwards. In a cross wind
> > situation, 42 kt gusts kick me and the boat sideways about a foot per
> > gust....winds from *local measurement station*

Ralph's subject line poses a useful question.  

Others (above) have better wind speed estimates than I do.  My estimate of
wind speed for the single incident where I *had* to paddle against a strong
headwind is based on "sea state," and is necessarily approximate.  I was
much stronger then, so I could not do this now:

I believe I barely made headway against a steady wind of at least 25 knots,
which gusted to 30 (plus) knots.  When the gusts came through, I was slowly
pushed back until they quit.

I had to do this for a distance of a little over a nautical mile.  It took
**two-and-a-half hours** to cover that distance, me paddling at full effort
throughout.  At the end, I was almost completely done in.  My paddling
partner, normally significantly stronger, had to rest midway, and took
another half hour to complete the same stretch.  

Both of us paddle unfeathered, me in a Wind Dancer, and him in an Orca
(ancient Eddyline boat, and demonstrably less efficient in rouigh seas).

(BTW, there was minimal threat to life in my situation -- wind was
quartering to a near, safe shore, for an easy extraction from the water if
I capsized, and I was equipped for immersion.  There would have been *no
way* I could have self-rescued with a paddlefloat under those conditions. 
Not an experience I would choose to repeat.)

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR
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