I'd posted: 05 11:00pm PST W 33 05 10:00pm PST W 39G45 05 09:00pm PST SW 23G29 Those figures were MPH so wasn't as bad as the text made it sound, plus the fact that Race Rocks impinges wind flow more dramatically than William Head. Still, one definitely doesn't want to be out in this kind of stuff if one too easily feels psychologically out of their depth in anything worse than wet pavement. Most of us have the skill to paddle in rough water, including the physicality and finesse. Nighttime just takes you to the edge without any doubts about where your comfort levels are. You do need a keen understanding and experience with various facets of wind and coastal effects, like the knowledge of the differences between convergence and divergence, corner winds, etc. And, especially, your eyes need to be wide open to the difference between paddling in a sea state of diminishing intensity, and one where you forthrightly know conditions being generated are worsening. If not, you may end up dead. Winds can rise dramatically during post-frontal westerlies and SW winds can hammer mercilessly all of a sudden along the BC coast. New paddlers reading these kinds of posts need to forgo adventurous ideations until a more appropriate time in their skill levels. This is only common sense, but obviously I'm feeling a little guilty again for posting my personal reflections and wearing my intensity on my sleeve. Of course, if one isn't passionate about what they are doing, then why are they doing it? My only real issue Friday night was dealing with my own health issues, which tend to inhibit me these days from reaching closer to my potential extreme paddling goals. Indeed, survival-threatening performance declines are a new part of my paddling equation, hitherto not needed to be taken into consideration. This is fortunately balanced by more evident wisdom and age/experience-related abilities to reckon with complex marine dynamics. I hope I can still say that at 80. Anyway, be careful out there. And, oh, apparently Gordin was at his kid's Christmas concert -- or something like that. He missed a great seasonal performance by Ma Nature, however. On a related note, a logger was killed during the wind storms the other day. He was in a clear-cut, in his pickup truck. There was only one tree left standing along the road side. It fell over in the gusts on the truck. What kind of weird Karma is that? Doug Lloyd Victoria BC *************************************************************************** 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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