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

On 9/8/07, Doug Lloyd <douglloyd_at_shaw.ca> wrote:
>
>
> My modus operandi exactly...stand on the jetty and contemplate risk versus
> reward and your insignificance while you are strategizing.
>

Most of the time, even in the winter, most bars are passable most of the
day. The jettied entrances are relatively easy to navigate and the times
they are not passable you will know soon enough by standing on the jetty to
reconnoiter.

Going out is usually not the problem. It's coming back that can be the
problem. Most of us take a little time to see what's going on before we
leave and from shore or from the jetty you get a pretty good view. From
seaward, however, it's a different story. You've been out a couple of hours,
the wind may have come up, the tide may have changed, and you're a little
tired. If it's a jetty entrance you sometimes feel like the worst is over
when those jetty walls are beside you. But like a surf landing, coming  from
seaward across a bar - even one that's been dredged and marked and protected
by jetties - there is little room to relax until you turn the corner and get
into the protected harbor.

With a height-of-eye of perhaps 4-feet, the vew you get of the bar entrance
from sea is limited to seeing the backs of the waves and, perhaps, the spray
they throw off as they hit the rocks of the jetty. On the western coast of
the USA there are often USCG stations at the jettied bar entrances and a
quick call on the VHF will often tell you what is happening on the bar. If
not, then take time to stand off and watch the situation. Keeping the
long-shore current in mind, approach by paddling up-current (to avoid being
swept into danger) and check for the tell-tale signs of trouble at the
entrance. These would be, specifically, breaks and/or the triangular waves
typical of a current race or rip.

I like to watch other boats entering and leaving to see what they are doing
to compensate. Once, entering an Oregon jettied river bar, we watched a
sailboat in front of us almost get swept into the down-current side of the
jetty because they did not compensate on their run-in for the long-shore
current. We took that into consideration and had a much easier ride.


Craig Jungers
Royal City, WA
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