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.

Scouting rapids is the same idea - you can check out the sit-u-ation before 
making a commitment. Unlike shooting a rapid, there's a whole nuther set of 
permutations that a sea kayaker must cognate/ruminate over: including 
specifically skill level that integrates with the seaworthiness of your 
craft and your personal fitness level, water/air temps, ergress routes and 
estimates of probable nautical milage made good, wave height and force, 
current admixture at impingment points, wind velocities, resonable 
allowances for error that calculate in changing conditions (conditions 
change within minutes sometimes), and things like confidence in your ability 
to self-rescue in the conditions likely to be encountered (no quick ergress 
to shore usually).  To look over a bar crossing from a jettied extension  is 
easy enough to do, but it still takes experience to intigrate what you are 
seeing unfolding with what it is really going to be like out there and what 
it may be like if any of the parameters change when you actually do make it 
out to play.
>
> 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.

Some initial bar crossing open up into more points of inpingment of current, 
further shoaling of waters and often more surf and/or rip lines. Taking in 
the whole picture ahaead of time, negotiating the entire route until safely 
out of harms way - doing all this in a slow moving craft - can be very 
challenging in all but begnin conditions. And yes, some times the challenges 
are more pychological or even just physical than otherwise.
>
> 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've encountered this situation a few times on the west coast here, and 
specifically a couple of bars, including Nitnat. Camping by the bar through 
an entire tide cycle with a sustained, stable swell height, helps one to 
better make an honest assessment when the need to reenter over the bar 
occures.

>
> 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.

Works for sailing. For kayaking, intimate local knowlege from small fishers 
can be helpful, as can be advise from other paddlers and indigenous peoples. 
Once actualy out in bar conditions, the optimizing strategy includes 
utilizing yjase factors of current, wave action, backeddies, sneek-routes 
that are tight but navigable, and other initially frowned at hinderences to 
actually provide aid. I find with the sea that you have to be sneeky to be 
successful - especially if you like to head out under less that optimal 
circumstances.Is not play on a bar poor seamanship to begin with? Then you 
need a few aces up your latex cuff...

Well, I wish I could contribute more, but need to sleep (two jobs, 
renovating majorly again, not feeling well, busy family..blah blah blah)

Somebody please send a Port townsenf summary when they get a chance.

Doug
>
>
> Craig Jungers
> Royal City, WA
***************************************************************************
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/
***************************************************************************