In anticipation of a fairly long coastal trip I am going on in a few weeks (from Neah Bay to Kalaloch on the Olympic coast), I am meeting some friends this weekend for a some good old fashion practice. This will be the same group of guys for our trip on the coast. We will be refreshing many of our rescue skills, along with bracing and related rough-water skills. Because we will be doing our tip in Tandems (VCP Aleut Sea II and Seda Tango), rolling is problematic. We’re going to try, but to date we have not mastered this skill with the tandems, thus we will focus primarily on skills that will keep us in the boat. I would like to get your thoughts and opinions on technicques or skills we should focus on - and I know this obvisouly depends on our expereince level. We’ve done several long trips together previsouly, but we are now more serisouly reviewing our current skill level(s) and focusing on developing core paddling skills. Again, let me know what you think - thanks in advance.
Kalaloch!
I don’t have any tips/techniques to share but WOW…that is no small journey! Are you guys camping at Kalaloch before the return trip? It’s a beautiful place.
Kalaloch
We will end our trip at Kalaloch. A few of us may be camping there, but after camping at some terrific beaches north of Kalaloch, the campground will probably seem somewhat anti- climatic. It should be a great trip. We’ve done quite a bit of planning and hope to complete the trip in 5 days. We’re obvisouly hoping for some great weather. The last few summers we’ve done trips up on the West coast of Vancouver Island, but I think this trip will entail more variable conditions and certainly a wildly varying coastline. Beautiful area.
Ruby Beach
Watch for gray whales and orca and harbor seals at Neah Bay (might be a bit too early/late for gray whales but you never know) and enjoy Ruby Beach (“Beach #6” I believe) which is about an hour north of Kalaloch…beautiful stacks, rocky and sandy beach, tidal life everywhere. Good place to put in for a lunch/reststop.
How long is that trip?
How long is that trip?
milewise and hourwise?
Ruby Beach
An hour out of Kalaloch, timewise, and measured by car on the road, which winds and twists. So, I imagine it'd be a shorter and much straighter shot on water.
Neah Bay/Kalaloch
The total trip from launch at Neah Bay to Kalaloch is about - I think - 80-100 NM, depending on how much coastal exploration you do. We are figuring about 4-5 days for the trip. We’re fairly conservative so if the marine conditions are not favorable, we will either wait it out or perhaps exit at certain areas along the coast, such as La Push. It’s been really difficult to find anyone who has done this trip (for beta).
beta testing
You might find some help locating a person or people who have done this trip by calling REI or getting in touch with some of the PNW paddling clubs.