Paulo Ouellet

Advice
#21

You travel and relocate so much, I’m getting virtual whiplash, haha.

In the Salish Sea region, you have a glut of printed, online, and live-human local knowledge resources. I really, really miss that. We don’t even have VHF weather radio here!

There is, or used to be, a big set of paddler-specific water maps (hybrid of maps and charts—the latter also available and updated frequently!) of suitable scale, printed on waterproof material. I can’t remember the name of the company right now.

Rob Casey wrote a paddling guidebook or two that you should also look for. He lives in the Puget Sound area and sometimes posts here.

As previously noted, NOAA charts also abound. You will need to learn to read them yourself, and for THAT there is also an excellent book. I bought that book and spent one winter studying it and practicing what I could. Even if conditions were too wintery to paddle where I rented a place for two months—walking distance from open ocean as well as a tidal river area—I walked the beach and tried to ID literally every nautical/nav marker I saw. And there were a lot of them.

This, plus the other things I studied and practiced for literally years before we moved to the PNW, helped prepare me for “sea” kayaking. I can’t stress this prep too much. Paddlers got into Deep Trouble every year we lived in the area. I was not one of them, but there were a couple of times I thought I cut things too close or made a last-minute change from the planned-out route that had me fighting tidal flows that were very different from the original route despite being nearby.

You NEED to talk with local paddlers, not just online.

Also, if you don’t already do so, learn to use a deck-mounted compass to help you in areas with significant tidal flows. This matters A LOT!!! Can’t overemphasize this, either.

Just remembered another excellent source of info. Join them if you intend to do any paddle camping trails: Washington Water Trails.

2 Likes
#22

At one time I belonged to the Nanaimo Paddlers, a sterling example of a good club. To get the flavour of the club you can explore their website in depth:

For example, click on ‘Resources’ and next on ’ Guidelines for Participants in Club Paddles’

Of course, their location is exceptional for splendid day trips.

I suspect there are good clubs in the Seattle area.

1 Like
#23

I hope you are pleasantly surprised and find that the your town’s spillway was constructed to allow for small boat passage. Spillways, dams and weirs that are “navigable” by kayakers and even canoeists are an engineered feature of many European waterways, though very rare in the USA.

This clip shows a bunch of French paddlers descending a large multi-step spillway in Greece. Though I’m sure they had fun, despite their macho bro bravado and the “hero thrash” sound track, the major “talent” in going down one of these things is having body mass that attracts gravity (and not caring about scraping up your boat hull, though ww kayakers are far less concerned with that than sea kayakers). I’ve gone down weirs as steep as this in a canoe in the UK, though not as long. The recirculation boil at the base of these, when they are properly angled, is so minor you can stand up in it.

I used to wish the US would do this, especially replacing some of our deadly lowhead dams with boat-safe weirs (in Britain they carve slots in the center or at the side to increase draft depth and flow to allow easier descent). But if we had those here the sites would probably end up mobbed with drunks in inner tubes and walmart kayaks monopolizing the slide and getting stupid minor injuries that would result in authorities closing access. Our fellow 'Merican morons (and their lawyers) are often the reason we can’t have a lot of nice things.

1 Like
#24

Have you looked into the Song of the Paddle forums as you travel around there “across the Pond”? It’s UK based but because paddlers in the British Isles so often travel to Europe and even farther afield you can often find a range of information on waterways and launch options outside Britain, also connections to outfitters and outing clubs. I used to be enrolled on it (like P.com, it’s free) but I’ve lost track of my password. Very active forums, searchable. I got nearly a dozen responses within 24 hours when I first signed up in 2017, less than 10 days before a trip to the UK with one of my folding kayaks. Connected with several people through it and arranged to meet for paddling outings and even to swap some gear. Great resource.

1 Like
#25

Insane ride and end of run BOOF!!! I agree stuff needs to be done with the multitude of low head dams in the US. Each year, we get tragedies upon tragedies.

sing

#26

I’ve noted how certain folks (mostly male) self select into (macho) “rough water” paddling groups. These have a life cycle with original members coalescing, developing/expanding with new members, peaking and then dissipating as members get older, injured and/or passed away. I think of the prominent Tsunami Rangers (with members John Lull who wrote the important “Sea Kayaking Safety & Rescue” and the deceased Eric Soares who wrote, “Extreme Sea Kayaking: A Survival Guide”), The (now defunct) Hurricane Riders seen below, and the currently still together “Neptune Rangers” (a group that @Peter-CA goes out with occaisonally).

Crazy stuff with seakayaks (do you want to do this with a composite?):

But, I also think of a Freya Hoffmeister who is as “macho” and driven if not more so than most male paddlers:

I do think they learn and develop skills and knowledge that help and inspire the paddling community, even if most us don’t want to do to the extent of what they do.

sing