Wherever separate bodies of water meet - and especially at a river bar - the kayaker will encounter a complex system of currents that mostly depend upon these factors: 1. The tide (whether slack, ebb or flood) and the tidal range; 2. The river current; 3. The wind (onshore, offshore or along-shore); 4. Any long-shore currents in the larger body of water; 5. The depth of the water at the confluence. It already looks complicated, doesn't it? Boats have been navigating river bars and river entrances for a long time and most of the time there is little danger. But seamen like to refer to "local knowledge" and the first thing I'm going to tell you is that you should find out where the people who cross the bar in boats like yours hang out and seek them out. Their knowledge of that particular piece of water will be invaluable. They will know, for instance, which side of the jetty to hug (or whether to stay in the middle); which tides to avoid; which winds to avoid; and other pertinent bits of information. So, having said that, there are some basics. I'm going to start with the easiest set of conditions and then try to explain what factors complicate them. The easiest conditions in which to cross almost any river bar would be at (or near) high-water slack tide (the part of the tide in which it's neither rising or falling) on a small tidal range (the difference between low tide and high tide is "tidal range"), no (or low) long-shore current, zero (or almost zero) wind and low - or no - river current. Well heck. That's easy enough. Just hang around for all those conditions and you'll be able to sneak across virtually any river bar in the world with impunity. Of course, in the real world those conditions are all met very seldom - and almost always early in the morning if they are met at all. So let's take a look at what complicates things. 1. High River Current. If there has been recent rain, or melt-off from the mountains then the current in the river will be moving quickly and the collision of the high velocity river current and the relatively low velocity ocean currents can become violent. 2. High Onshore Wind. Wind blowing against the river current will create "rips" of interesting (from a distance) triangular-shaped waves which vary in height according to the depth of the water, the velocity of the current and the strength of the wind. 3. Large Ocean Waves. Even in no-wind conditions a storm hundreds or thousands of miles away can generate a large "swell" which can wreak havoc with a bar crossing. Ocean waves inevitably get bigger when they get to a river bar so if they're big to start with.... Of course, a well designed and maintained entrance can mitigate this problem. But in general, be very cautious when there are large swells. 4. Shallow Water at the Bar. Like a river flowing over obstructions creats rapids, the same phonomenon exists at the river bar when the water is shallow. In general, the wise paddler crossing a shallow bar or river entrance wants to time the crossing so that there is higher water and minimum current. A shallow bar also contributes to higher breaking ocean waves. 5. Flood Tide. Depending upon the tidal range, the river current flow and the wind, flood tide is the least hazardous period to cross next to no current at all. This is because the rising tide tends to move up the river (depending, of course, on the rate of elevation change in the river and the tidal range) and give the river water less drop. The flood tide will also tend to minimize the effects of an onshore wind. 6. Ebb Tide. A falling tide will tend to exacerbate the effects of the river current because the water will have farther to drop. An ebb tide with an onshore wind is NOT the time to cross a dangerous bar. Ocean waves meeting both shallow water and the river current will steepen and often break dangerously. 7. Long-shore Currents. Depending upon the location and the season, there can often be currents of over 1kt moving up or down the beach. Since many bar entrances have jetties extending seaward, the unwary kayaker can encounter some exciting water when the jetties no longer protect him from these currents. Be prepared to deal with eddies. 8. Jetties in General. In most countries the jetties are dredged periodically (or, sometimes, continuously). Check the entrance for the presence of a dredge and carefully note which side of the entrance the dredge is depositing its "spoils" (the name for dredged materials). 9. Ocean Waves in a Jetty Entrance. There is a tendency for waves to "break" more on one side of the entrance (nearer one of the jetties) than the other. A wise paddler figures this out before hand and hugs the side of the jetty where these waves are not breaking. What, in general, you want to avoid are: 1. Large current components against the wind; 2. Very shallow water; 3. Large breaking waves across the bar (well, duh!); 4. Large tidal range. What, in general, you want: 1. Settled weather with little wind; 2. A period of lower tidal ranges; 3. A period of lower river currents; 4. A period of no (or minimal) swell; 5. A nice deep river bar (generally this means well-dredged). 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. 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. 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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 *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
I've heard that river bars tend to attract women of questionable character who'll wheedle free drinks out of you with false hopes of a great ride. They'll take your money and leave you high and dry or even worse: with an occasional case of fresh water crabs. -----Original Message----- Craig wrote: Wherever separate bodies meet - and especially at a river bar - the kayaker will encounter a complex system... But seamen like to refer to "local knowledge" and the first thing I'm going to tell you is that you should find out where the people who go to bars in boats like yours hang out. Their knowledge of that particular "piece" will be invaluable. They will know, for instance, which to hug (or whether to stay in the middle); which to avoid and other pertinent bits of information. 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/ ***************************************************************************
[Please remove all old content that is not pertinent to your reply including old headers and footers. It's list policy.... this post was modified to meet policy] These particular bars are much more dangerous after dark and especially in the early hours of the morning. But I'm not at all sure that the character of the women they attract is questionable. :) Craig Jungers Royal City, WA in the desert east of Seattle On 9/6/07, Mark Sanders <sandmarks_at_ca.rr.com> wrote: > > I've heard that river bars tend to attract women of questionable character > who'll wheedle free drinks out of you with false hopes of a great ride. > They'll take your money and leave you high and dry or even worse: with an > occasional case of fresh water crabs. *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
On 9/6/07, Dave Kruger <kdruger_at_pacifier.com> wrote: > > > 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. > > Dave's point about the size of the bar is an important one. Most bar entrances are designed for transit by boats bigger than kayaks; generally fishing boats of 35 to 150 feet. However, some river bars are designed for oceangoing ships and the navigational aids are less than helpful for a paddler with a height-of-eye of maybe 3 feet. Less in the troughs. <smile> In addition, the nature of a river bar means that the background is mostly low lying land with sand dunes and (at least nowadays) houses that look mostly alike. If you cannot see the navaids in the swell and chop and you can't see landmarks it is very difficult to keep track of your position and easy to be swept into danger. Especially on a river bar that is large. The last time I measured a transit of the Columbia River Bar it was 3 miles of actual bar conditions and 6 miles to the sea buoy in deep water. The bar at La Push, by contrast, is about 100 yards and the bar at Westport, Washington is about 1/4 mile. The bar at Willapa Bay, just south of the Westport harbor entrance, is much longer, much shallower (the other name for Willapa Bay is Shoalwater Bay), and poorly marked. Sometimes it's an advantage to portage across the sand dunes next to the bar entrance and just go across the beach and head out through the surf. In the case of some jettied bar crossings you can get out in the lee of the leeward jetty. Local knowledge is important. 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/ ***************************************************************************
Quoting Dave Kruger <kdruger_at_pacifier.com>: > 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. At some inlets, such as Nehalem Bay and Tillamook Bay in Oregon, you can stand on the jetty and evaluate the conditions. If you don't get blown off the rocks by the wind, or knocked down by a rogue wave, you might stand a chance. I prefer an incoming tide, because then your remains will be carried up the bay and may be discovered by other, more prudent boaters. I like smaller estuaries, because they are easier to understand, and searchers have less water to cover. Never do the Columbia bar without good life insurance and terminal cancer. BRC *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
[Please remove all old content that is not pertinent to your reply including old headers and footers. It's list policy.... this post was modified to meet policy] Craig - What a good resource file, condensed or not. Might it be saved on the paddlewise site (and where is Royal City?)? The topic reminds me of the harrowingly alluring (for the right craft) descriptions of the Columbia River's entrance to the Pacific Ocean in Timothy Egan's book, "The Good Rain." -----Original Message----- From: Craig Jungers Wherever separate bodies of water meet - and especially at a river bar - the kayaker will encounter a complex system of currents that mostly depend upon these factors: 1. The tide (whether slack, ebb or flood) and the tidal range; 2. The river current; 3. The wind (onshore, offshore or along-shore); 4. Any long-shore currents in the larger body of water; 5. The depth of the water at the confluence. *************************************************************************** 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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