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Downwind Report from Carl T. (BIG)
Reivers Dustin
11/09/18 #23993
We had 25+ knots gusting to 38knots for our run on Saturday on an ebb tide, which kicked the waves up pretty high. We put in at the Powell River Ferry and took out at Pacific Playgrounds at the south end of Saratoga beach for a 22k run. It started unassuming – as we were getting changed for the paddle the readings were around 18-22 knots, which makes for a really fun run out there. I almost decided to forgo the drysuit and just paddle in my V-Cold top and bottoms. Once we got out though, conditions kicked up fast and readings showed that we were in 25knots gusting to 38. I would have been in trouble in lighter clothing.
After about an hour it was pretty wild out there. We were 1-2k offshore in some very large multi-directional waves. I would gather some momentum and start to take off, then find a larger trough to angle my boat towards, just as a big wave came from a different direction and knocked me sideways. This would either make it so unstable I’d have a hard time putting power down to transition to the next wave, or I’d broach in a breaking wave. On top of this I neglected to install my new surf rudder before the run, which made steering difficult.
To give some perspective on wave size, at one point I looked back to see Ru and Richard taking off on a wave, which made their OC2 look small. I felt like I was looking up as if they were perched on top of a house. They took off on this thing that had at least a couple feet of breaking wave at the top, and rocketed down it – Ru was completely buried in spray and all I saw was Richard’s head sticking out the back side as he tried to get air. At this point they were well down from the peak of the wave but in my mind, only half way down the wave. It is possible that I am remembering it to be bigger than it was, but when a wave makes an OC2 and two grown men look small, it’s a monster.
After a good hour of fun adrenaline-filled paddling I got really tired. Ru and Richard in the OC2 flipped so I put my legs out and waited for them to remount. As they took off, I got hit from the side and fell in too. I was sure they had no idea I was in the water because as they took off I was fine and only fell just as I was behind them. And with wave troughs that would have swallowed me standing up, it was impossible to see anyone.
I tried to remount and flipped, and repeated that many more times. Two things were going wrong for me - I was really tired after partying at the Woodstove (music) Festival then up at 6 for 0C6 practice – so less than 4 hours sleep. I was also rusty in my ski because I hadn't paddled it for a few weeks and haven't seen rough water for many months (no gorge this summer). So being really tired to start, and being rusty in my boat wasn't a good situation in those conditions.
As I contemplated yet another remount, I was doing the mental calculation of how many attempts I had left in me and whether or not I would manage to stay on my ski even if I did get back on. It was damn scary being that far offshore, thinking I was on my own, and starting to wonder if I would make it back to shore. I took a few moments to calm down and do an objective check of my situation – yes quite tired, failed way too many mounts, not cold yet, but definitely stressed out – so I floated a bit to calm down and regroup and stuck the next remount without too much trouble.
Despite my worries that my crew took off and didn’t know I was in the water, once I was back on and paddling I found them paddling back towards me – which was no easy feat in that wind. So in hindsight, had I not remounted, they would probably have got back to me and we would have been fine.
We headed in towards our take-out point expecting protected access to the marina, which was not the case. Waves were breaking up over the shallows south of the dredged channel and rolling across into the river mouth. I fell off again at the entrance, but managed a quick remount, then ran the gauntlet. Paddle, surf, broach/brace, turn and surf, broach/brace, repeat… and I managed to make it through.
Once in flatter water I thought I better try to secure my boat on shore so I could help the boats behind me if they got tossed. Unfortunately I was hogged tied by my leash from the last dump and the winds were so strong all I could do is pin my boat on the water and wait. Sure enough, both OC’s got tossed coming in but managed to get through it, remount and paddle the channel into the marina.
Once we all hit shore Richard was shaking like a jackhammer – very cold - and Cheryl and I were in wide eyed awe of what we just made it through. Once the adrenaline left me I was pretty damn cold too. Rupert was the only one seemingly unfazed – but that’s Ru for you.
Here are my take-away lessons from this ordeal
- Panic comes fast and really inhibits your abilities, so active practice in keeping objective stock of your situation helps. I flipped so many times because my urgency to get back on the boat was taking over. I had time to calm myself, wait for the big sets to pass and remount when I had a better chance of sticking it the first time. When I was closer to shore and in a safer place, remounting was no problem. Fear and panic can make a situation way worse than it is.
- Communication is key. I really believe that everyone in a group should have a good marine radio and be in regular contact. It’s easy to get separated and lose sight of your buddies in big conditions. I use a Standard Horizon HX-870 with a submersible Speaker/Mic adapter that can clip to my PFD shoulder so I don’t have to pull the radio out of my pocket to use it. This unit has integrated GPS. You register an MI number with cost guard and if you are in trouble, it sends a distress call with your GPS location via satellite (DSC) to coast guard. It also has a group monitoring feature that can apparently track the position of up to 9 vessels (haven’t played with this option yet). I believe most DSC enabled units can do this.
- We did a really good job of staying close and keeping tabs on each other. If someone fell behind, we waited and regrouped.
- Paddling with OC’s is awesome in those conditions. On my surfski, I doubt I would have been able to turn and help anyone when it is that big, but both OC’s were able to come back towards me when they realized I might be in trouble.
- I should have had a paddle leash! But I did have a backup paddle on the rear deck of my boat.
- Not all leashes are created equal. Richard had a brand new leash when he got tossed off the back of the OC2, which stretched out completely and broke.
- I think that on longer runs like that in open water we should choose boat combinations that are matched evenly. A double OC and a strong surfski can keep reasonable pace with each other, but too much waiting kills momentum and for me was very difficult on my ski. If there is to be a big spread in speed and ability, we should stick to inside Union Bay-Courtenay runs where it is safer.
- Despite weather reports that clearly pointed to potential for heavy conditions, we based our assumption of conditions on what we saw happening when we launched. The forecasts (and Allan’s predictions at OC practice that morning) pointed towards the fact that it was going to pick up hard around mid-late afternoon, but we didn’t really heed that. I think I got used to forecasts being bigger than reality and expected the conditions to be well short of what was predicted. We would probably have gone regardless, but I think the conditions surprised us when they shouldn’t have.
- Some of us in the group were a bit under-dressed – had things gone worse and we spent more time in the water, someone might have been in trouble. Maybe we need to remember that it’s better to be hot than dead.
- Make sure your boat is appropriate for the conditions. Big conditions might warrant a more stable boat. I was at the edge of my abilities in my Uno Max.
- Any other points we should discuss??
Paul Reavley
11/10/18 #23994
DR,
Thank you for relaying this trip report to us. Carl mentions the radio that he likes to carry. But my impression from his account is that on this trip he was only carrying it for its emergency distress signal capability. I wonder if Carl has any more to say about how easy it was for him and his trip mates to find each other after he went through his remount struggle - was that pretty lucky? (I would also like to hear his results when he is trying to use the group tracking function in the future). And does he have any observations about how usable his radio is for communication with group members in those kind of conditions?
Thanks,
Paul
Reivers Dustin
11/10/18 #23996
In my experience emergency distress is the only value of the VHF. I've tried to use tracking functions and to communicate with other paddlers with no luck. rd
Carl Tessmann
11/13/18 #24009
Hey Paul!
Sorry, I missed this.
It’s tricky to use the radio when trying to stabilize on a ski, but with that shoulder mounted speaker/mic I can manage it. Most of my buddies are on OC’s so they just lean over on the ama and do whatever the hell they want – eat, nap, sip a cold beer, chat on the radio, play candycrush on their smart-phones. Tricky part is deciding whether to have it on ch16 or a channel for chatting, because I can take a sec to click a button to chat, but taking the unit out of a pocket to change channels is a whole other story. If we pick a channel to talk on, it’s hard to get back to coast guard channels if I need to call for help in rough seas. Now if I’m in the water and tethered to my boat and my paddle, I can mess with the radio if need be. I haven’t bothered with the group tracking because I can’t see it being possible to use while getting tossed around on a toothpick of a boat – again, maybe possible for the OC folks.
We were on a pretty specific line when I got into trouble and despite the fact that I couldn’t see them, they weren’t far away. Once I was underway, we regrouped fairly quickly and didn’t need radio contact. And smartphones with touch screens are completely useless in cold water. I have written off any possibility of trying to make a call (or take a selfie) out there.
I’m sure you have all been over this stuff a million times.
Crappy wind season so far up here – had two days of good wind so far. Today was supposed to be 20-30kts, but glassy flat. Maybe it will turn up this afternoon. Hope you’re getting more of the good stuff down there!
Carl
Vancouver Island
