West Coast morning
yes, so true.
In high tide range areas - best to leave at high and land at high.
Though, there are times this doesn’t work so well.
I was preparing to launch for an overnight paddle across Broad Sound (from Stanage Bay to Carmila Beach - Australia).
Due to currents, it was best to leave at low (and will be arriving, 44 miles later at low).
Tide range: 9 meters (highest on Aus east coast).
(the picture is looking back to where I was camped, nearing sunset, at launch)
4 Likes
And I thought our 6’ / 2 M tides were a lot.
1 Like
9 meters is a big swing.
That was just one trip (well, 4 altogether), you live in an area with some pretty big swings.
I remember my trips out to Westport or Ocean Shores for surf practice.
Quite a walk to the water on some of those trips. (and low vs high changed the surf quite a bit)
Where I am now (NE FL), is closer to what @string is speaking of, actually, probably more up there.
It still makes for a bit of a struggle paddling the St Johns river (near downtown Jax) against the current.
I always plan not to be paddling on the South Carolina coast at the middle third of tide change, especially in a restricted area like between bluffs.
Lila can attest that launching and landing at tidal extremes is pretty much a fact of life in British Columbia. A trip is typically between 2 – 3 weeks in length so you go through a wide range of tidal conditions and timings of same. I plan trips around preferred tidal condition and expected winds timing at crux moves and plan back and forward from there. That always means that in order to safely accommodate the potentially dangerous objectives I’m probably going to be on more than one crap beach with a long carry during the course of the trip. Add to that the consideration that you only have so many hours to paddle before conditions get manky and you end up with what you end up with.
I know many paddlers who don’t take all of that into consideration and get along just fine. I feel that these trips are exciting enough so I try to limit the number of moving parts that I prefer to have standing still. Hauling gear and boat(s) is the cost of admission.
3 Likes
Nothing prettier than BC including a Nordy with “full Irish” keel strip!
2 Likes
Grant Bay, just outside Quatsino Sound, West Coast of Vancouver Island. Our stay here was not as interesting or as funny as 3MeterSwell’s was, (if you have not read his story on his blog go there now… great read, lots of chuckles!). but it certainly is a beautiful place.
Lila
2 Likes
We did the Current many years ago - on a three day trip. Still have great memories of that paddle.
Went white water rafting in BC had so much fun.
Where did you do that? Fraser Canyon?
The Current is indeed a beautiful river, one of many in the Ozarks. There are quite a few here (Ozarkgal & WildernessWebb, jedi, bturner among them) who have known it far longer and better than I, and I thank them all for introducing me, then a stranger, to it.
1 Like
Found a new local place to paddle - always a bonus after eight years! EG Simmons Park in Ruskin FL. Perfect for a very windy day
3 Likes
