Greg Hunicutt wrote: > Glad you made it out alive and not on the bar. I have seen footage of the > U.S. Coast Guard boat that monitors the mouth of the Columbia, and that > alone is quite possibly the most thorough colonoscopy preparation ever > invented! Now there is a prescription I bet would maks a pharmacist chuckle as she filled it! Most days, the bar is OK except when the ebb is cranking against a big sea. Bar-geeks might want to hit the local radio station's Ship Report, each week day at 8:49 am, streaming here: http://www.coastradio.org/simulcast.html Joanne Ridout, local newsy, does a fine job of detailing shipping traffic, interspersed with nautical lore and maritime gossip. Right now the NOAA vessel Davidson is out there transiting the mouth updating the chart. Been lots of changes at the mouth, and the Bar Pilots want better hydrography at the spot where they board/deboard ships. Joanne has been interviewing crew members, gleaning beta on how its done these days. No more lead-lines! -- 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/ ***************************************************************************
> 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 My modus operandi exactly...stand on the jetty and contemplate risk versus reward and your insignificance while you are strategizing. Then just in case go do it on the incoming tide so they find your PFD-floated, sea-bloated body so all that extra insurance actually pays out to those you left behind because perhaps _they_ aren't insignificant. Do remember if you find yourself swimming, clichis like "roll or drown" won't seem like just a simple web site tag line. Remember, most bar mishap fatalities are due to consequences of initial capsizing. This is something a kayak is superbly adept at overcoming - if you are up to the task. If not, or risk-averse, then stick to smaller estuaries or maybe invest in a seaworthy jet boat. Life is terminal anyway; and playing in dangerous waterways is life assurance for many rather than the ignoble, slow death by drowning is a sea of affective boredom. However, at 51 degrees F., you might want to use extreme caution on the Columbia River Bar. Natch. And dead reckoning on a massive bar - well, seat-of-the pants navigation is a more aptly worded description by those with a heart for dark waters. Doug Lloyd - who just bought more accident insurance last week, but is land-locked due to a badly torn lat muscle and life-sucking GERD - oh the horrors...the horrors. :-) :-( *************************************************************************** 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 9/8/07, 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 *************************************************************************** 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 9/8/07, 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/ ***************************************************************************
This is one of the best manuals I have ever read on wave action and small boat handling in waves, some excellent coaching material here. http://www.nmit.ac.nz/_Community/Documents/11711/CrossingTheBarBesier105.pdf Brgds, Jeffrey Bingham *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
G'day Paddlewise, Something thats been bugging me for a long time is the physics behind the warnings and experiences of some of our club paddlers who've been trapped coming across a bar or into a river mouth with the tide flowing one way and the wind blowing forcefully against the tide. Apart from the anticipated wave action they appear to have experienced an inability to move forward against the tide or backwards against the wind and have been stuck in an awkward situation for longer than was fun. What I don't understand is why the forces don't balance out from a kayakers frame of reference? I keep wondering whether its a misreading of the situation by my friends and whether the wave action was the real problem, but this doesn't add up as they all thrive paddling in choppy water. Can anyone give me an explanation as to why the forces don't appear to cancel out? All the best, PeterO *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:46 PDT