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.