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Ambleside was a blast!
Dan Mayhew
08/04/19 #25273
Ambleside was so much fun yesterday. Ryan and I arrived early and met some Canadian paddlers that explained what was going to happen. At first, the water was dead flat with no breeze. We assumed it would be a pleasant flatwater paddle. As more and paddlers arrived, from as far away as Seattle and Kelowna, BC, the rip started up and 20 plus paddlers jumped in. B'ham was well represented, and I am sure will be in the future.
With Bob's permission, I started a page with his info in Surfski.wiki about surfing at Ambleside. If you were there yesterday, or have knowledge about Ambleside, please add it to the wiki. Bob, what was the name of the tide app you recommended? Feel free to put it in the wiki, or send it to me and I will add it. Here is the Surfski.wiki Ambleside page: https://surfski.wiki/doku.php?id=ambleside
Dan
Dennis Mowry
08/04/19 #25274
Quite the fun setup on Saturday at Ambleside Park, West Vancouver. Beautiful setting and dynamic waves and downstream current to carry us back.
Bob said it was the largest group of paddlers yet. 6 of us from Bellingham. Paul & Denise,, Wilson and Ana, Deb and myself. I think Bob invited us US folks up to their hometown playground humiliate us, (except Deception Pass paddlers Wilson & Ana redeeming us). A lot of bouncing around, hard to figure the patterns. Yet I'd have to say we all rocked it, no swimming.
Beautiful adventurous day. Nice to have Nexus passes, especially on the return trip. Looked like hours of wait time verses minutes.
Good call Bob,
: D'MOW
Dennis Mowry
08/04/19 #25275
Oh yeah, 8 iof us including Dan and Ryan.
It was really nice experiencing a such positive vibes. Plenty of laughter, Whoohoos and Wees. The tide with wind mixed against the current making the waves, makes being worried or excited. Quite the workout. We would be doing 5-6 mph going downstream against the waves without paddling. I only averaged 4 mph during 2 hrs of paddling. My Max speed was only 9.2 and that might of been going downstream. Probably not the best stats.
There should be a race doing laps there sometime?
Encouraging more B'ham'rs next time. Maybe a BBQ, no awards.
:D'
Paul Reavley
08/04/19 #25276
Ditto on Dennis and Dan's posts and thanks to Bob Putnam for the heads up. Ambleside was fun. I believe Dennis mentioned all of the Bellingham folks I saw - add Dan Mayhew who also has posted a report. I agree with their descriptions - if you paddled upwind to the yellow buoy or farther - my experience was very choppy multidirectional waves that I either did not catch or had a hard time connecting with additional waves. Greg Redman, Bob, Ana, and Wilson connected long runs while scratching their noses or adjusting their sun glasses and wondering what everyone else's problem was. Dennis seemed to be glad he brought his Swordfish and not the Vega. Denise found it challenging in her Nelo 550. She then tried my Think Ace which offered more stability but was a bit too much of a tank for her to get easily onto the waves.
One interesting aspect of this wave section was that it got much smoother in the downwind or uptide portion. For me it was considerably easier to link waves there although it was still an undulating mogul field. Also it seemed somewhat easier to catch waves in the earlier part of our time there. Part of that might have been fatigue, but Greg Redman expressed the same sentiment and suggested it might have been partially due to the increasing speed of the ebb current as time passed.
Ana and Wilson stayed longer than anyone by their account. At the end of their paddle they went farther upwind than they had ever done before and encountered a seemingly unending set of large waves - they said they easily rank with the biggest waves they have ever surfed - and coming from them makes me inclined to think it was BIG. Wilson said he was being launched out of his surfski seat every time his paddled over the crests as they were going upwind. And of course they are right back up there today again.
If you're interested in getting a little idea of what the smooth section looked like (although this does not show the best waves) here's a short video from my paddle yesterday:
Dennis Mowry
08/04/19 #25277
Paul,
Great video, nice surfing and recovery on the face plant. I'm not counting that as a swim.
It was a fun section nearer the bridge.
Great song choice, very appropriate: “I found the Lions”, seeing we were at The Lions Gate Bridge. Also appropriate bridge name.
Keep them coming,
'D'
Nicholas Cryder
08/05/19 #25279
There you guys go hogging all the fun again. Nice write ups, can't believe I haven't done that run yet. Curious if weed is an issue up there? I'd imagine not because it's deep water…
ProTip: If you ever find conditions too big for your paddling britches, just turn on your GoPro and it will flatten everything right out. Works every time!
Nicholas Cryder
Bob Putnam
08/05/19 #25280
No eel grass but some rock weed. Occasional 2×4
but weed is not an issue in Canada. Or at Ambleside. I ran a big DK with vertical rake and didn’t catch anything over the two days. On Saturday the Current was 3 knots when we started and increased to 5 km. So, stronger current and fatigue contributes to catching less runs. I use a Epic small mid-Wing set at 210 cm. This helps decrease fatigue.
The cool thing about Ambleside is that you never get the same conditions twice. Current speed, tide height, wind direction and speed blend to create an ever changing play ground sometimes from one run to the next. Sometimes it’s 500m long and 3ft. Other days it’s 2km long and 6’
Dan Mayhew
08/05/19 #25283
I don't know what rockweed is but my bow took a dive and a nice big bull wrapped around my waist like a seat belt! I was very happy when it slid back into the water like a snake darting under a rock.
Hey Bob, what was the tide app you mentioned? I want to put into the surfski.wiki.
Thanks for showing us the ropes this weekend!
Bob Putnam
08/05/19 #25285
AyeTides. https://www.hahnsoftware.com/ayetides/AyeTides.html
