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 We arrived at Flounder Bay (our launch site) about an hour before high tide. The waves were lapping at the parking lot, and the southeast winds were churning Burrows Bay into a frothing mess and whipping the pines along the ridge of Fidalgo Head into a frenzy. Our plan to paddle Burrows Island was wisely set aside.We drove to the north side of Washington Park. We knew we’d find calmer waters there in the lee of Fidalgo Head. The water along the northern shoreline was not just smooth, it was almost glassy. Only a gentle surge lapped up against the rocky shoreline, and paddling there appeared to be a piece of cake—a short paddle, for sure, but at least we would begin our year by getting our blades wet. Chris is an accomplished mountaineer and has paddled with me once on the tidal-influenced Bone River that runs into Willapa Bay and once on a windy day off of Seattle’s Alki Beach to Vashon Island and back. He is far from being an accomplished veteran of the kayak, but he is physically capable and certainly does not lack enthusiasm. Just before we arrived at the boat launch, Chris had made the comment, “A person could only last about five minutes in the waters of Puget Sound.” “Actually,” I replied, “about 40 minutes.” I’d had three decades of experience of the water, not only as a sea kayaker and white-water kayaker but also as an NOAA dive master, a commercial fisherman and a Coast Guardsman. I didn’t want to discredit him or de-emphasize the risk—I just wanted him to have accurate information. We launched about an hour before the high tide and began our paddle west along the shoreline in the corridor of smooth water. Chris kept paddling out and away from the lee of the headland, and I had to keep coaxing him to stay close to the shore and not paddle out to where the winds were having their way with the water, a hundred yards to the north. |
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