A long-time buddy of mine and his wife are planning a several-day trip in their double within Kyuquot Sound on Vancouver Island, enroute to a rendezvous at the community of Kyuquot with an outfitter who will ferry them and their double to the Bunsbys. The outfitter will also ferry them and their boat back, to Fair Harbour, I think. They are weak paddlers in strength, though he is a seasoned mariner, and has reasonably decent judgment. Because of their weaker paddling strength, and so they can explore some of the less-visited areas of the Sound, they plan to take three days to make the Fair Harbour - Kyuquot stretch. They have asked me to query the group for advice: 1. Is paddling in the Bunsbys a bad idea for them? 2. Are there difficult passages getting to Kyuquot? In particular, is there any substantial current in Crowther Channel (separates Surprise Island and Union Island)? [They recognize that the outside of Union Island is exposed, and not a good place for them.] 3. And, is the stretch behind Amos and Rolston Islands leading to Kyuquot protected, or is it subject to difficult swell and/or wind waves? These folks have done little paddling on exposed waters, and while their navigation skills are good, I fear their inability to muscle up when needed may lead them to grief. Thanks for the help, and, if your remarks need to be pungent, I can take them directly in lieu of posting them on the listserv. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
> 2. Are there difficult passages getting to Kyuquot? In particular, is there > any substantial current in Crowther Channel (separates Surprise Island and > Union Island)? [They recognize that the outside of Union Island is exposed, > and not a good place for them.] No. A bit dull. Surprise Island heavily logged. > 3. And, is the stretch behind Amos and Rolston Islands leading to Kyuquot > protected, or is it subject to difficult swell and/or wind waves? Usually tame. If they get ferried back and forth to the Bunsby's from Kyuqot, this is a pretty tame outing and they should be fine as long as they don't look for trouble and get caught up in time pressures. Only problem I have had is that the slog from Fair Harbor to Kyuquot does not have many great places to camp. If there are only two of them, this might not be a problem but there is the usual issue of very few landable places on that route and so people tend to get concentrated at the landable spots. If they move north off the direct route from Fair Harbor to Kyuquot they likely will have the place to themselves. One evening, coming up Crowther with a big group, we could not find a spot to stay without infringing on others. We keep going from beach to beach until it started to get dark. The group established at where we ended up were not happy (ie they were hostile) *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
The biggest advice for weak paddlers wanting to go into Kyuquot Sound is not go. There are plenty of other places to paddle and taking a weak paddler into Kyuquot is not the thing to do. It is not an area for weak paddlers, kayakers should know what they are doing, there is plenty of open water to get into trouble with. Kirby *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Brad, You know me. We paddled together once. I worked pretty hard to convince the couple to stick to tamer waters. The guy is a stubborn old coot, in his middle sixties. He is determined to try this. So, I agreed to gather good information for them to mull. So far, I am not getting a lot of advice warning them off. The consensus is that this route is pretty tame. Go figure. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR ----- Original Message ----- From: "BRAD" <brad_at_mth.pdx.edu> To: <kdruger_at_pacifier.com>; <paddlewise_at_paddlewise.net> Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2003 4:47 PM Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Advice for Weak Paddlers in Kyuquot Sound? Weak paddlers with decent judgement wanting to paddle open waters in the middle of nowhere sounds like a big fat contradiction in terms. Also sounds like potential trouble. What if the wind suddenly blows in the wrong direction, say towards Okinawa?. What if one or more paddlers poops out in midstream? They should at least bring along some strong and experienced paddlers to balance things out a little. Just my opinion. Brad Bradford R. Crain Dept. of Mathematical Sciences Portland State Univ. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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