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Edmonds to Mukilteo Downwinder 2016
njcooksey@ymail.com
10/09/16 #20067
Our Seattle group paddle yesterday was a classic, almost epic. Here's my report of our fun day out.
We had 5 experienced paddlers 15-25 mph predicted and 12 mile downwind from Edmonds to Mukilteo that all of us had done at least once. We agreed to regroup every couple of miles. I was in front and threw my feet out to let other catch up every 10-15 mins as conditions were getting bigger quickly. . On stops number 1-3, I waited only 1-2 mins before I could count everyone and let them go by. Stop number 4, I stopped with Tracy L and waited a couple of mins and watched Bill and Brendan pass about 100 yds to the east.
Of course we assumed they saw us too.
Conditions were gusting to over 35 with 4-6' waves so the fact that they didn't is not surprising in retrospect. Tracy and I had already decided to work east and get on the same line as Bill and Brendan but then I made it clear I would go look for Jim. I waited another few minutes and still no Jim. So I decided to head back up wind to look for Jim.After a long 20 mins of upwind, I spotted Jim remounting He was slowly working towards shore. As I got closer I saw he was missing one lens of his glasses.That no doubt contributed to the 3 swims and remounts in those conditions had left him a little worked and he was kind of done surfing for the day. He was well dressed with 3 mil neoprene top and bottom. We paddled together the rest of the way letting most of the big ones go by and sticking close to shore where conditions were smaller. Bill and Brendan were at the Mukilteo shore trying to get a high spot to see us coming. I texted Tracy using Siri and told here we were OK. Jim and I have done this run several times and in big conditions but just goes to show we can all have a bad day.
I like Bill's idea of throwing a bright shirt over the neoprene. That Vaikobi winter kit is the awesome stuff but maybe a bit dark on these stormy days. The line choice is a harder thing to manage as we all know.
-Nick Cooksey
