Matt digressed and said: <snip> >>> The kayak we made for our friend Craig Peterson (cover photographer on some recent Sea Kayaker's--like surfing right at you--Oct.99--why couldn't he have saved that great shot for one more frame and I would have made the cover--and could buy five copies for my mother) but I digress.>>> <snip> Gee Matt, you call that surf? I believe you and Craig were "surfing" into Raft Cove near Cape Scott for that shot (photographer in-water). I was out with a buddy a few days different from you, and the MacJack River bar was closed-out due to high surf. Now THAT was surf (we had to land behind a "hook" at Commerell Point, storm-bound for 4 days). Too bad for you missed the real surf, then you guys might have had a truly great shot - maybe even one of a Mariner breaking up in the surf! :-) BC'in Ya Doug Lloyd *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Doug wrote (in an Ibuprophen stupor I suspect): >>Gee Matt, you call that surf? I believe you and Craig were "surfing" into Raft Cove near Cape Scott for that shot (photographer in-water). I was out with a buddy a few days different from you, and the MacJack River bar was closed-out due to high surf. Now THAT was surf (we had to land behind a "hook" at Commerell Point, storm-bound for 4 days).<< Right you are Doug, (except that's Les in the picture and Craig was in the water) the surf was bigger than what appears in the cover picture but was still of the nice gentle spilling variety. Just big enough for some good rides but didn't help much with adrenaline production. You could sneak into the mouth of the Macjack without even getting wet (if you stayed in the channel at the south end of the cove and timed it anyhow). Going back out a few days later though I had to punch out through a breaker that broke over my head (in what had previously been the sneak channel). Over the next few days some of the ocean swell got really huge as we paddled south of Raft Cove. Big boomers were protecting the points a long ways out and the longish period between big sets meant it was sometimes hard to predict where they would break. I spent lots of time paddling in or right next to areas of kelp on the theory that any kelp would have been ripped loose in areas where the waves regularly break violently. (disclaimer: this is, at best, a rule of thumb and not to be relied upon). We felt lucky the tide was just right (flooding) or we might not have been able to enter the channel into Winter Harbor at all. As it was the harbor mouth north of the island (with the lighthouse on it) was an area of large rough chop. I assume caused by the big swell being bounced off all the vertical rock in that area and (apparently) being focused into the bay and channel. Add an outgoing current facing the large swell running up the channel and we would have probably tucked tail and paddled many miles back north to our lunch spot to find a safe landing and a campsite. Yes, I can imagine Raft Cove had some real surf those next few days. Did you see any bears near Commerell Pt? I saw some tracks in the sand near there. Matt Broze http://www.marinerkayaks.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:12 PDT