Memory of a bad newbie paddle
My second paddle in my first sea kayak could’ve ended a lot worse than it did. I went out in ridiculously windy conditions (it was worse at the res than it had been at home). I was new to it. I did not have a sprayskirt on. I had done a PF re-entry before, but not in that boat, and I certainly was not well-practiced in it. I was wearing fuzzy rubber on an early April day, with water temps in the 40s and air temps in the 60s (not including wind chill). Stupid decision, I realized later.
First few minutes I was flying along, thanks to that crazy wind. But soon I was getting shoved into the middle of the res, and not by orderly waves. They were chaotic. I got scared enough to bail out (where an incoming wave knocked me over just as I was getting out of the cockpit) and wait a bit. Somehow managed to launch again, then bailed out once more. This time, I dragged the kayak up the slope next to a marina. I bummed a ride back to where my truck was. When I put the kayak on the asphalt next to the trailer, the wind threw it a few feet away.
If you get in a situation like mine, don’t worry about whose land it is or where your car is. Get off the water.
trust your boat
Certainly do not take unneccesary risks. And monitor weather forecasts. watch the sky and figure out alternative landing sites if you get in over your head. BUT, if you do get caught out in rough conditions. sea kayaks are inherently seaworthy, If you do not panic and stay calm, you will be amazed at the contitions your boat will handle.
Once you become comfortable with yor skills and your boat, you may find yourself looking for bad weather. There is a subset of paddlers here who actually listen to NOAA to find bad weather to paddle in. Big waves and high winds can be lots of fun if you have the skill set to handle them.
Overall BE SAFE! do not be ashamed to
turn back if/when you need to…
better safe then floating…
r
Paddling in Open Waters
Capri:
I grew up on Puget Sound near Point Defiance and rowed a 12’ rowboat on the Sound in all kinds of weather. You should have no problems in the Sound working your way to a safe landing or back home. Keep your tide book in hand, watch the winds. In Puget Sound the prevailing winds in good weather are out of the North or Northwest. In bad weather the winds shift around to the Southwest or South. Watch for building cloud cover going from Cirrus to Cummulus to Stratus Clouds. It is a sure sign of a major front. If you have a barometer watch it carefully for sudden drops in pressure.
The major places you would have to worry about open water problems is in the Straits of Juan de Fuca or off Vancouver Island north into Southeast Alaska. Weather in these areas can change dramatically in an hour giving you no time to land if you are crossing open water. High winds combined with tidal considerations can result in big time waves and white caps. Your major concern is to not get 180 degrees to the wave action. Head for the best landing area possible avoiding the above, and wait it out until the weather relents. Trying to battle bad weather over long stretches of open water is inviting a major accident.
What we do
If the water ever got too rough to make a return back to our launch point:
We would head to the safest island or sheltered piece of land and if necessary use the mylar sheets that we keep with us at all times.
Here in the Florida Keys we also keep bug spray for that very reason also.
Cheers,
JackL
Just blame your husband
"I was telling my husband that one day we may have to go to shore on a private beach as homes have private beach rights and tell whoevers house we land at that we had to. I’d really like to avoid that though. It would be quite embarrassing…"
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There’s some really good advice in the responses above my only concern is your reluctance to being embarrassed. Most of us could bore you to death with embarrassing paddling experiences, so I recommend what my wife would do if we ended up on someones beach, just blame your husband. Something like “I told the idiot to stop and ask directions to the Pike’s Market but he refused.” “If the big dummy over there would spend more time looking at the weather map instead of the weather girl we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
do you want to paddle rough water?
i usually read the weather and tide info and choose a route on big weather days that keeps me near the windward shore (smoother water) as much as possible. i plan my route so that i paddle the hard part first and have wind and/or tide in my favor on the return route. i try to avoid ‘lee shore’ situations where wind and waves are worst.
Feeling stupid
Let's see - do you want the details of the time we only landed on an island because it was in the directions the waves were going and got stuck there for nearly 3 hours because we hadn't paid enough attention to the weather? Or the time that we ended up having to land on the far shore and ask a couple of incredibly amused locals to drive us back to our cars on the other side (also because we didn't pay enough mind to the weather)? Or the time that went out in fog that was supposedly lifting and it took us until a mile an a half offshore to decide that it wasn't happening? (great navigation practice though)
Getting to safety is never stupid, whatever you have to do to get there.