Surfski Knowledge Base

Shane Baker
07/05/07 #3226

“Never again.” The words spoken by my paddling partner, Jim Zimmerman
as his feet hit the gravel beach at Salisbury point County Park, just
north of the Hood Canal Bridge. Jim is the men's single surfski
winner at the last two Length of the Lake races (100 km) up in
British Columbia. We had just paddled the length of the Hood Canal, a
body of water in Northwestern, WA State that separates the Olympic
and Kitsap Peninsulas. Jim was on his one week old Epic V-10 and me
on my Huki S1-X. The Canal is generally 1-2 miles wide, around 500'
deep and is shaped like a fish hook. Our distance paddled was a bit
over 57 miles, air temperature over 80 F and the wind, the bloody
wind 0-20 mph. For the last week the only breezes we felt around here
were from the South which would have helped us. Yesterday the wind
blew from the North, right in our faces for a distance of over 40 or
more miles. At times I would estimate 20 mph. Having no backup or
bail out plan we pressed on until done. We arose at 3:30 am and were
on the water at 5:10 at Belfair State Park. As the miles and time
slipped by we passed the towns of Tahuya, DeWatto, Holly Seabeck, Old
Bangor and Lofall on the right and Hoodsport Lilliwaup and Brinnon on
the left. The Olympic Mountains looked spectacular to our left
namely, Mt. Washington, the Brothers and Mt. Constance. At times we
were able to see Mt. Baker to the North. Our adventure was pretty
uneventful for the first 40 miles. We stopped twice to straighten up
and empty bladders. Then everything changed. The wind really picked
up from the North, right from our direction of travel. As we
approached Bangor Submarine Base I told Jim to stay out in the middle
of the Canal as I wasn't sure how far out the unrestricted area
stretched. Well, as luck would have it after paddling 40 miles we
were tired and Jim hulied. This water is deadly, never getting above
45 F and he was having trouble remounting his surfski. I finally
decided that I would have to help so pulled alongside and steadied
his ski until he was able to get back on board. We paddled over to
the East side of the canal, just South of the Bangor Base fence. Jim
got all his stuff back in order and we continued on. We wandered a
bit close to the base so a bunch of blue lights came on and a warning
came over some loudspeakers that we were in a restricted area and
must leave. We immediately turned away from the Base but must have
been moving too slowly as out came a couple of Homeland Security
rigid hull inflatables. We were interviewed for 20 minutes or so. I
happened to have a copy of my drivers license which was a good thing.
Jim didn't carry any ID. We were threatened with arrest and the
seizure of our skis but were finally released. We still had over 15
miles to paddle into this 15-20 mph wind. Sometimes things just don't
go right. We continued on finally getting beyond the Base, then hit
the beach for some refreshments and paddled the remaining distance
near the shoreline until we passed under the Hood Canal Bridge. Jim
mentioned that one of the greatest sights that he had ever seen was
my van and wife in the parking lot at the boat ramp. I have witnessed
that before so it was normal for me. Neither of us had any blisters,
cramps or sunburn. I thought it was a great adventure and was
considering making it an annual single surfski race with PFD's
required to be worn, no drafting allowed but Jim said I may be the
only competitor so it won't happen. Hope you all had a good Fourth of
July also. I had a blast.
Shane Baker.

Re: Hood Canal Paddle, July 4th, 2007.
superdogcurtis
07/05/07 #3231

Shane, so you made Jim say “Uncle” eh? Wish I could have seen it. I
figured you'd be the one to do it. I don't know how many times he's
done it to me, Guemes Island in 35 knot winds while I was still
learning in my Nimbus Telkwa Sport, with him saying “come on paddle
faster” while he slid away in a Looksha 3.
Funny thing is that Jim will probably not paddle today, but he will
ride his bike 40-60 miles after work.
I talked to Jim yesterday after he got home, he mentioned that the
guys at the Bangor Nuclear Sub Base also threatened twice to shoot?
Or was that just what he was wishing they would do so that he
wouldn't have to paddle any further??? John Robinett.

Re: Hood Canal Paddle, July 4th, 2007.
Shane Baker
07/05/07 #3232

Hi John,
I worked construction at Bangor Subbase from 1976-79 or so and before a
submarine ever got there they had signs posted every 50' around the
boundary stating, “Right to use deadly force.” There wasn't any signage
on the water stating how far out we should have been but we did see the
line of yellow buoys. Riding my bike 40-60 miles isn't an option for me
so I'm off for a recovery paddle.
Shane.