Sea Kayak - Hammersley Inlet

SIGHTED: EAGLE, CORMORANT, LOON, BROWN HEADED MERGANSER, GBH, SEAL 

 Everybody arrived before 0800 at Walker Park.  The roped off parking area on the east side of the park didn’t appear to be accessible so we left our cars in the parking area immediately at the opening of the park on the west side.  After using the clean and stocked flushing toilet facilities we moved our boats and gear down to the beach mostly with our wheels.  Part of the small wall at the beach has either been covered or removed and fresh dirt put down where used to have to lift our boats.  Still too steep to use the wheels on though but it makes it easier to get up and down to the actual beach.  We then had a discussion that Ash pointed out the forecasted SSW high gusts of wind which I had not seen when I checked earlier in the a.m.  With that in mind we decided to do the trip one way with a shuttle in place at the Arcadia boat launch.  Four of us rode in Robert’s car to leave ours and then return where Cisca waited with the boats.  We gathered at a picnic table where I went over tides, currents, land formations above and below the water surface and how the water moves over and around them, forming eddies and whirlpools. We also examined the chart for the water depths to give us clues to help us anticipate what the water will look like and behave.  Good questions were asked and hopefully fully answered and then we launched at 1015.  We had missed max ebb but there was still enough gentle current moving to get the point across.  The water level was the lowest I have seen in a long time, making the channel look a lot narrower!

We paused just past Skookum Point to introduce, demonstrate and then practice peel outs before proceeding on.  I missed Mill Creek partly because of a big splash moving across the channel in places; probably a fish being chased by a seal. The creek was completely drawn down so we couldn’t have gone up it even if we had time.  We crossed back across to the east side and I went over the Rule of Thumb to help determine ferry angles and how to angle your boat to get across moving water.  All of the students then applied the practice to successfully negotiate across the approx 2.5 knot current to Libby Point.  We then took a quick break on an exposed beach and wow, were there a lot of crabs in the very shallow water below my boat!  We then continued on up to Cape Horn to find about 1.5 knots left to play in the gentle whirlies before successfully crossing the channel again.  Once clear of the channel mouth just north of the boat launch we finally encountered a gentle breeze in our faces as we headed towards Steamboat Island.  The water was fairly active in front of Steamboat Island which was once again a tombolo with the sand under the bridge fully exposed.  The rock ledge was about 2 feet high with the clinging anemones clearly visible. We paused a bit to play in the currents and whirlies before heading over to the south end of Hope Island to haul out at the picnic tables to eat our lunches in the sunshine that was breaking through the clouds.  It was about 45 minutes later when the now flooding water had moved all the way up to our boats to make our launch easy.  The now steady 7 knot southerly wind with occasional 15 knot gusts was now behind us making some fun little waves to surf along on straight to the boat launch at Arcadia, arriving approx. 1415. 

Ash volunteered to take Cisca and Robert back to get their cars and Terry and I got our cars loaded up and moved in time to help the others do the same.  Once we were all loaded up and changed we went back to the parking area by the Honey Bucket for a post trip huddle.  There were some questions, particularly with operating DeepZoom for the online information that were left for some more follow up at home.  The only complaint was that we didn’t have stronger currents but you get what you get in this sport so no hard feelings there.  All paddlers performed very well with excellent group dynamics.