Re: [Paddlewise] Kayaks and River Entrances and Bars - the condensed version

Craig Jungers wrote:

> This condensed version should serve as a basis for discussion. Paddlewise is
> lucky to have a large contingent of expert paddlers experienced in crossing
> river bars. Kruger, Gibbert, et. al. will certainly point out any follies
> I've inadvertently written.

Good job, Craig.

I've only a few transits of the Columbia River Bar under my belt, but lots 
of local lore in my head.  One of the most maddening aspects of transiting 
a bar is knowing where you are, and keeping track of your drift.  The 
Columbia's bar is especially difficult because it is so massive.  It is 
tough to do any ranging on buoys when they only appear intermittently, and 
land-based navaids are distant or absent.

An anecdote:  A year ago, I was one of four guys salmon fishing on a nice 
motor sailor equipped with a staysail up to help minimize roll.  We did our 
thing outside, dodging the typical strong NW half-gale, nailing only one 
keeper, and moved inside a bit, about Buoy 10 (for the PNW crowd), where is 
is still rough, but not as bad as the open ocean.  Our skip kept a halfway 
eye on our easterly heading, to keep ourselves off a nasty breaking shoal 
to the SE (Clatsop Spit), as we slowly worked our way into the river, and a 
halfway eye on the tip of his pole.  I was feeling rotten, so I stayed in 
the cabin, and after fifteen minutes happened to glance at the chart 
plotter.  Whammo!  Despite our safe _heading_ our actual_course_ was taking 
us directly toward those shoals.  In fact, we had decreased our margin of 
safety by half!  Another fifteen minutes of drift, and we'd have been in 
the breakers!

This excessive drift was caused by the staysail's windage, and the residual 
NW wind, in combination with the very slow speed of the boat (we were 
mooching), such that we were making more leeway than headway!  The skip 
quickly rectified things by speeding up slightly and steering northerly. He 
also began paying more attention to our course, and less on our heading.

In a kayak, it could be as bad, given our slow hull speeds, and 
susceptibility to drift, whether current-caused or wind-derived.

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR
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