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Rogue Wave/Tug Wakes
Reivers Dustin
06/21/08 #4555
This morning was a flat one. Nice to have warm temps. Just at straight up nine the whale watch boat blasted off. Morris and I got out there quick enough to catch some runners. Its fun for 15 seconds then you run past the wave.
The pack of us headed for Eliza, but Morris turned back to support the WOW event. I kept on for another fifteen minutes or so, then turned back. The guys said, “be safe” as I peeled off. I've been out there so many times on my own it just seemed like another droll paddle home. But way off to the south I could see a tug headed up to B'ham Bay.
So I thought about what I could see and decided that the hat trick would be to get across the tug's path so I could be on the shore side of his wave. It's kinda hard to judge relative speeds especially when you're near the line of travel. So I put some hot mustard on my paddle and turned toward Dot Island to be way clear of the tug's line. Once I was certain I was clear I turned back north to crab a little closer to the tug. It seemed to take a while for them to get by me enough for the wake to show up.
It was worth the wait. I let the steep rollers go under then would turn to catch them straight on. Once I got speed (shit ahoy!) I could edge hard and milk the ride for a long ways. I would get maybe a 90-120 second run, then would outrun the wake. Because the water was so flat except for the wake, I could point up really close to broaching without loosing my ride. After a run I would slip back behind the big rollers and go for it again. I didn't have my GPS, but pretty sure this is the fastest I've travelled on a 'ski.
The fun lasted from about the end of the wall to just a little before the shallows there near Post Point. I was hoping the shallows would stack the waves again so I could ride all the way in. But the waves were flattening out and getting faster and harder to catch.
Shawn and LG were talking about finding a rougue wave without a source boat when they came back from Eliza. These big waves on flat water are very different from our normal slop n' chop. It's much easier to figure out what works when you're not getting slapped around.
Great stuff
