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| - | ==== Double Surfski to Hales and Eliza ==== | ||
| - | |||
| - | **Saturday morning….early\\ | ||
| - | Larry Goolsby** \\ | ||
| - | 04/23/05 #209 | ||
| - | |||
| - | Dear Don, Dean, Mike and whoever else…..First I want to apologize\\ | ||
| - | for not being at the 2 PM Saturday paddle. Shaun and I had great\\ | ||
| - | intentions on paddling with you guys but we ran out of gas. My day\\ | ||
| - | started with a 6:30 AM call from Shaun (bastard needs to stay up\\ | ||
| - | later) wanting to know if I was awake yet. I said of course I was\\ | ||
| - | because I had to wake up to answer the phone (duh). Anyway, he said\\ | ||
| - | the bay was flat as glass and wanted me to grab the double Fenn and\\ | ||
| - | meet him at Fairhaven for an early morning paddle. The plan was to\\ | ||
| - | go out to Eliza Island, have a cup of coffee, head back to Fairhaven\\ | ||
| - | for lunch and then join up with you at 2 PM. Piece-o-cake.\\ | ||
| - | Since my wife was out of town (Las Vegas, don't ask me why), it was\\ | ||
| - | my job to take the dog for a walk or the dog would take herself for\\ | ||
| - | a walk. When I left the house I noticed that the wind was blowing\\ | ||
| - | about 10 - 15 out of the northwest. So on my way to Fairhaven, I had\\ | ||
| - | to stop and walk the dog because she will not take a dump anywhere\\ | ||
| - | near our yard (don't ask me why). Sure enough, when I got to\\ | ||
| - | Fairhaven at 8 AM, it was pretty calm and serene looking. We took\\ | ||
| - | off for Eliza confident that we would be back in about 2 hours. When\\ | ||
| - | we got near Hale passage (Hell's half acre)we encountered that\\ | ||
| - | northwest wind and the sound end of Lummi/Hale passage started to\\ | ||
| - | get a bit rough. Hale passage is a great channel for wind so the\\ | ||
| - | waves were building up and hitting our beam. We thought we had it\\ | ||
| - | beat but somehow one erant wave knocked us off our ski and into the\\ | ||
| - | warm waters of Puget Sound just before we rounded the safety of\\ | ||
| - | Eliza island (20 more strokes and we would have made it). No problem\\ | ||
| - | remounting and we circled around the point on Eliza and beached in\\ | ||
| - | front of Shaun's cabin to be greeted by his lovely wife and some\\ | ||
| - | coffee.\\ | ||
| - | The trip back home became even more interesting than the trip out\\ | ||
| - | with the wind blowing even harder and the waves were square with our\\ | ||
| - | beam if we tried to aim straight for Fairhaven. After the first\\ | ||
| - | refreshing swim on the return trip, we chose to head due north for a\\ | ||
| - | distance and then tack southeast in order to eventually get back to\\ | ||
| - | the cars. As we turned and headed southeast, the waves were building\\ | ||
| - | even bigger and when we tried to aim for the mainland, we went\\ | ||
| - | swimming one more time. We were both quite happy to be out there\\ | ||
| - | since this was giving us some necessary training that we had both\\ | ||
| - | obviously needed. We headed north one more time for about 2 miles\\ | ||
| - | and this time we managed to turn and head due east for Fairhaven\\ | ||
| - | without dumping it once again. However, this tortuous course meant\\ | ||
| - | that we had paddled 17-18 miles instead of the intended 14.\\ | ||
| - | We wussed out because we pictured you fresh young alpha males\\ | ||
| - | paddling like there was no tomorrow and we were spent. I'm sure it\\ | ||
| - | would have been a lot of fun. However, we did gain a bitch-load of\\ | ||
| - | confidence in paddling the double in rough conditions and were\\ | ||
| - | pretty proud of the fact that we didn't dump when the conditions got\\ | ||
| - | even bigger near Fairhaven.\\ | ||
| - | Hope we get another opportunity to paddle together again soon.\\ | ||
| - | Larry G. | ||
| - | |||
| - | \\ | ||
| - | **lbussinger50 <lbussinger@…>** \\ | ||
| - | 04/24/05 #210 | ||
| - | |||
| - | Larry,\\ | ||
| - | If you thought that was rough stuff, then you'll need to learn how to\\ | ||
| - | pray before Bowen Island.\\ | ||
| - | LB | ||
| - | |||
| - | **Sat morn @9\\ | ||
| - | Reivers Dustin** \\ | ||
| - | 04/24/05 #211 | ||
| - | |||
| - | It really was glassy. Larry B, Kirk C, Ryler and I headed for\\ | ||
| - | Eliza. We saw that LG & Shaun had the double out. About half-way\\ | ||
| - | over there was a wind-line and left-over chop from Hale's passage. A\\ | ||
| - | steady 10 -15 mph NWster was pushing occaisional white-caps over. We\\ | ||
| - | just paddled to the beach on the North side and took our break\\ | ||
| - | there. As we were leaving we spotted the double heading East from\\ | ||
| - | the South end of the island. We headed Northeast looking for a\\ | ||
| - | potential ride due East toward Chuckanut. | ||
| - | |||
| - | I had borrowed Peter's Mako for Ryler and the boat wasn't fitted that\\ | ||
| - | well. I noticed that the boat was rocking under him almost to the\\ | ||
| - | point of showing rudder. LB swears the kid has no bones in him.\\ | ||
| - | Like sharkboy, he just bends. Ry slowed a little, but kept a steady\\ | ||
| - | pace even though it was kinda crappy on the way back. Just South of\\ | ||
| - | Post Point he overcorrected with rudder and dumped. I feel funny\\ | ||
| - | about putting him in that situation. But, he just thinks it was a\\ | ||
| - | great paddle: his first run to Eliza. | ||
| - | |||
| - | That's twice I've been surprized about conditions over there. I\\ | ||
| - | spoke with a respected local touring paddler. In his opinion Hale's\\ | ||
| - | passage is Whatcom's most dangerous area. It can go bad really\\ | ||
| - | quickly. Stay sharp on the big crossings, guys. | ||
| - | |||
| - | Later, LB and I got a look at Don's new Hayden. (The 2:00 pm paddler\\ | ||
| - | group.) The surprize for me was how low the footwells are, yet the\\ | ||
| - | seat is shallow. It looks like a tremendous ergonomic advantage. My\\ | ||
| - | image of the body mechanics is, for example, bent over rowing with\\ | ||
| - | weights at ankles versus bent over rowing with weights just below the\\ | ||
| - | chest. There were other tricks in the hull design, too. | ||
| - | |||
| - | Anyone hear anything about the American Lake Race? | ||
| - | |||
| - | \\ | ||
| - | **Re: Saturday morning….early\\ | ||
| - | Larry Goolsby** \\ | ||
| - | 04/24/05 #214 | ||
| - | |||
| - | I doubt that Shaun and I are ready to take the double to the Bowen\\ | ||
| - | island race but we are keeping that option open. The Lake Whatcom\\ | ||
| - | Classic was a fun race for us because we were either with or against\\ | ||
| - | the waves and the long hull catches every possible ride. However,\\ | ||
| - | this double Fenn is very twitchy compared to a single and the\\ | ||
| - | crossing from Eliza did test our balance over and over. We did gain\\ | ||
| - | a lot of skill on that outing and with a few more days like that,\\ | ||
| - | maybe the Bowen island race might be in our sights. Paddling a\\ | ||
| - | double in rough conditions is much more challenging than doing it in\\ | ||
| - | a single and further gain is going to require some saddle time.\\ | ||
| - | Since the boat is more challenging, it is also more fun when it all\\ | ||
| - | comes together. Both paddlers have to be in sequence at all times or\\ | ||
| - | the boat won't reach it's potential. If the rocking of the boat\\ | ||
| - | causes one of the paddlers to change the stroke, then everything is\\ | ||
| - | out of sequence and all balance is lost. I think its best for us to\\ | ||
| - | show up at a race with both the double and our Hukis and make the\\ | ||
| - | decision before laying down our entry fee.\\ | ||
| - | Larry G | ||
| - | |||
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