User Tools
stories:round_orcas_2009
Differences
This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.
| Both sides previous revision Previous revision Next revision | Previous revision | ||
|
stories:round_orcas_2009 [2020/04/04 21:45] preavley |
stories:round_orcas_2009 [2025/03/23 22:11] (current) |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| - | ==== Round Orcas..... ==== | + | << stories:san_juan_circuit_2009|Previous Story^stories:bellingham_stories|Story List ^ stories:july_madness_2009|Next Story>> |
| + | |||
| + | ===== Round Orcas..... ===== | ||
| - | \\ | ||
| **Larry Goolsby** \\ | **Larry Goolsby** \\ | ||
| 07/28/09 #6715 | 07/28/09 #6715 | ||
| Line 11: | Line 12: | ||
| Our next stop was just before West Sound and again we were only on shore for about 15 minutes. By now we were about 24 miles into the 60+ that was our goal. By 11:30 am, we rounded the SW corner of Orcas and sought out the northerly current that the Washburn table had promised us. It wasn't there. The current was flowing against us like a river and to top that, a NW wind was also pushing against us. If we went very far offshore our speed dropped to 3.5 - 4, so we were forced to hug the rocks in order to maintain a 4.5 - 5 speed. This went on until almost 1:30 when we finally arrived at Pt. Doughty and took a 45 minute break. Pt. Doughty is one of my favorite camping spots with 300 degree views from 40 feet above the water. | Our next stop was just before West Sound and again we were only on shore for about 15 minutes. By now we were about 24 miles into the 60+ that was our goal. By 11:30 am, we rounded the SW corner of Orcas and sought out the northerly current that the Washburn table had promised us. It wasn't there. The current was flowing against us like a river and to top that, a NW wind was also pushing against us. If we went very far offshore our speed dropped to 3.5 - 4, so we were forced to hug the rocks in order to maintain a 4.5 - 5 speed. This went on until almost 1:30 when we finally arrived at Pt. Doughty and took a 45 minute break. Pt. Doughty is one of my favorite camping spots with 300 degree views from 40 feet above the water. | ||
| - | At 2:00, the Washburn tables showed us a strong current going down the East side of Orcas so we set off hoping that this time we would have an easier push. The Libra XT has a 35" beam and has a dry weight of 95 lbs so we had a lot of weight to push on this trip. We finally got the speed up to 7+ mph through this section and headed straight down to Lummi Rocks for our final stop. Rick was still paddling very strong when we arrived but the two of us didn't have enough arm strength to get lift the boat out of the water. The big question was "How are we going to load this beast onto my car"? Thanks to technology, we made a couple of calls and got Peter Marcus and Shaun to meet us at the Boatworks when we arrived to provide us with the muscle that definitely no longer possessed. | + | At 2:00, the Washburn tables showed us a strong current going down the East side of Orcas so we set off hoping that this time we would have an easier push. The Libra XT has a 35" beam and has a dry weight of 95 lbs so we had a lot of weight to push on this trip. We finally got the speed up to 7+ mph through this section and headed straight down to Lummi Rocks for our final stop. Rick was still paddling very strong when we arrived but the two of us didn't have enough arm strength to get lift the boat out of the water. The big question was "How are we going to load this beast onto my car"? Thanks to technology, we made a couple of calls and got Peter Marcus and Shaun to meet us at the Boatworks when we arrived to provide us with the muscle that we definitely no longer possessed. |
| The crossing from Pt. Carter to Fairhaven was the worst water that we encountered through the entire trip. Up until then, almost the complete route had been pond water or minimal chop but now we had waves coming down Hale's Pass and pounding our beam. The Libra was unshaken though this section. With about 3 miles to go, a power boat pulled up alongside of us and the gentleman at the helm said that he had stopped us to tell us that "we were a little to far out from shore". This instantly put a smile on both of our faces as I mentioned that we had just left the other side of Orcas and Rick let him know that we were on mile 59 for the day. We then ran into Morris (getting more mileage) and this was followed by a passel of other skis out playing in the incredibly warm water. | The crossing from Pt. Carter to Fairhaven was the worst water that we encountered through the entire trip. Up until then, almost the complete route had been pond water or minimal chop but now we had waves coming down Hale's Pass and pounding our beam. The Libra was unshaken though this section. With about 3 miles to go, a power boat pulled up alongside of us and the gentleman at the helm said that he had stopped us to tell us that "we were a little to far out from shore". This instantly put a smile on both of our faces as I mentioned that we had just left the other side of Orcas and Rick let him know that we were on mile 59 for the day. We then ran into Morris (getting more mileage) and this was followed by a passel of other skis out playing in the incredibly warm water. | ||
Except where otherwise noted, content on this wiki is licensed under the following license: CC Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International
