[Paddlewise] The weatherman had it wrong

Several of us decided to launch from a local harbor today because the
weather forecast was for winds of 10 knots or less, wind waves of 2 feet or
less, and swells of 5-7 feet at 16 seconds.
 
The swell bothered us only because our normal surf launching sites all have
a nasty shore break and we figured the probability of breaking boats on the
launch or landing with a 7 foot swell would be significant when they started
to crest and break.
 
Our destination was a nearby oil platform about 4 NM off shore. 
 
On the way back, is where the weatherman went wrong. we had wind waves of
2-3 feet off of our right front quarter, swells of 5-7 feet with an
occasional bigger one from our stern, and all of a sudden a head wind of
25-30 knots.
 
Our nice leisurely paddle had just become a lot of work. By the time we
landed, we all were discovering muscles that were complaining. All in all a
fun paddle with some good paddling friends, but it would have been nice to
see the weatherman correct for a change and not have wind waves in
opposition to the swell coupled with some bigger winds.
 
Everybody was concentrating and paying attention on the paddle back and we
all commented on the fact that we needed to set a ferry angle of 30 degrees
to get to our destination--10 to 15 is the most we usually need there.
 
Steve Holtzman
Southern California
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