Great report! Regarding the winds: Typically, the further inland you are, the later the winds pick up. See Frank Bethwaite's book "High Performance Sailing" for an incredible discussion on wind formation. That being said, the winds you ran into were just plain weird, and didn't seem to fall into any particular pattern. Was there an overlying condition, a low (or more likely, a high) pressure zone moving through the area? Regarding avoiding the winds: Crawling along the edge of one of these long, narrow lakes or fiords avoids the worst of the winds and chop. Of course, having to cross to get from one campsite to another makes it tough, but you can always try to arrange the crossing for a time when the wind has dropped. By close, I mean CLOSE! If your paddle doesn't hit the shore now and again, you are too far away. On tidal fiords, this helps beat contrary tidal currents, too. This works best on very steep shorelines, with lots of tiny bays and points. They don't have to be very deep bays, just a "scalloped" edge to the coast is all that is necessary. You travel a little more distance, but the speed and effort put in is so much less than punching through the wind and chop in the middle, it more than makes up for it. Have fun. Rob. *************************************************************************** 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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