One of the reasons to live in Homer, Alaska, is to have access to ocean in the winter, when we have so many nice days in which to enjoy sea kayaking at a time of year most paddler would not dare think about paddling on the ocean. This past weekend, for example, we had 21′-22′ high tides in mid afternoon, a perfect excuse to take to the water and enjoy the delightful weather and moving water; air temps were highs in the low 40’sºF, sunny and variable winds 10 kts. Water temp. was 38ºF.
After a brief warm-up paddle and a few choice photo ops of the lovely conditions, we made our way into Beluga Slough, near Bishop’s Beach, where the flooding tide creates conditions ideal for learning and practicing sea kayaking skills for moving water: ferries, eddy turns and peel outs. Current in the slough rips at 4-5 knots. Scottdickerson.com’s excellent aerial image gives you a feel for the spot. To see many more of Scott’s awesome images of Alaska, check his website, www.scottdickerson.com.
After making our way into the slough last Saturday, 1/30/2010, we found the spot where the city of Homer cut a new channel through the island in the middle of the above image; this is the spot where we had an eddy on either side of a 40 yard wide tidal stream – a useful location for practicing eddy turns, peel outs, ferries and s-turns.
The Spring tides float a bit of ice that mills around in the eddies in Beluga Slough, but not a big deal as the current helps clear the zone for the fun-hogs to safely practice their moving water skills – in spite of the ice. Here Mike shoots the gap between the islands to get to the main training site; a jet of 2-3 knot current with big eddies on either side of it, great spot to practice s-turns.
When turning long, straight-tracking boats like sea kayaks, turning your body and looking in the direction you want the kayak to go can really enhance and facilitate the turn, tilting the kayak in the direction of the turn, and placing the paddle off the hip on the downstream side with the back face of the blade providing support enhances the stability of such a turn.
But this was 2-day instructional event, and the mild winter conditions really lined up to give us a chance to practice some open water trip planning & navigation skills. We met at Land’s End Resort, where we made a trip plan to travel from the tip of the Homer Spit back towards Homer (North) in open water. We timed our open water trip so we could arrive back at Beluga Slough for a second day of playing in the moving water rushing in the channel of the slough on the flood tide.
This particular weekend, we experienced extremely high tides, 21.99′ on 30 January and 22.66′ on 31 January, but we were also graced with warm-ish, calm conditions that made an open water crossing of 3.8 miles from the “green can” bouy no. 1, off the tip of the Homer Spit, back to Beluga Slough on a bearing of 290º magnetic, a total of 76 minutes exactly on the money. But this didn’t mean we were sprinting, we had plenty of time for photo ops, wildlife watching and enjoying the stunning scenery. We saw Scoters (all 3 species), Long-tailed Ducks (aka Oldsquaw), a small flock of the rare Steller’s Eiders, Common Loon, Horned Grebes, and a fair number of Sea Otters.
The fast hulls of Valley and Nigel Dennis sea kayaks were great vehicles for a weekend of moving water and open water training and practice, we covered the 3.8 mile open water crossing while paddling on a bearing in the predicted 76 minutes. We practiced paddling on a bearing in calm conditions to develop “trust” in the compass on a day with great visibility, so we’d have the skills (and confidence) to follow a bearing at night or in fog with limited visibility.
It was a wonderful and rewarding weekend, big tides, mild weather and stunning scenery, plus the array of winter wildlife gave it that extra something to burn the event into memory.
Having spent 2 days paddling in tidal streams, and practicing open water navigation planning, and paddling on a compass bearing, these 2 fun-hogs begin to contemplate their return to the reality of work, and the pressures of living in 21st Century America. But I’ll remember this weekend for the stunning weather and high tides we were graced with as well as the fabulous people that came to enjoy the weekend. May there be many more like it. Speaking of which , we have several other winter weekends planned for 2010, so check the website: http://alaskakayakschool.com/calendar/index.html#winterweekends. Hope you can make it down for one of our winter sea kayaking soirees. Can’t guarantee the weather we had on 30-31 January 2010, but if we all say our prayers, we might get blessed by Poseidon and his Zephyrs. See you in Homer !!
