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Cape Scott

Trip

Sea Kayak - Cape Scott

Sea Kayak around Cape Scott with optional trip to the Scott Islands

Contacts

Tom Unger
Tom Unger
Primary Leader
  • Sat, Jul 22, 2017 — Sun, Aug 6, 2017
  • Seattle Sea Kayaking
  • Sea Kayaking
  • Adults
  • Sea Kayak V
  • Challenging
  • Mileage: 120.0 nm

Travel arrangements for this extended trip will be made as part of group planning.

A paddle from Port Hardy to Coal Harbor, rounding Cape Scott.  Requires open ocean kayaking skills.  Expect about 14 days.  

If you are interested in this trip please read through the notes below.  If your goals, expectations, and style are compatible then please contact Tom.  I would like to paddle with candidates before considering them for the trip.  Please understand that this is a long trip in difficult water and I want to carefully select the participants.

I find that when organizing the group it helps to think about goals, expectations, and style.  Before the trip we talk about the trip in this way to see if potential participants are aligned in their thinking and will be compatible.  Once we are on the trip we work as a team.  We will all accomplish the goals or not together as a team and not individually.  My leadership style is collaborative.  Mostly I want to facilitate the group making decisions that satisfy people.  
In addition to rounding Cape Scott we will try to reach and camp on the Scott Islands.  We need decent conditions for crossing both there and back.  Camping out on the islands is a committed position.  Participants will need some willingness to go there with some uncertainty about conditions for return.  I won't go in the face of a clearly forecast storm but neither do I want to wait for certainty of calm conditions for return.  We need a willingness to push off into some uncertainty with trust that patience and skill will get us back.

Goals

Goals are what we want to accomplish.  These are my goals.
  • Be safe
  • Enjoy being out there what ever conditions we encounter
  • Enjoy company of each other
  • Round Cape Scott
  • Camp on the Scott Island

Expectations

Expectations of how we will do things.  These are my expectations for participants.
  • Support the goals above. 
  • Consider your personal goals and discuss.
  • Have the skills and fitness required for the trip.
  • Work as a team member to help the group be happy and accomplish our goals.
  • Participate in group decision making.  Abide by decisions made by the group or by the leader.
  • In rougher conditions paddle as a close group for safety and to facilitate decisions.
  • Bring necessary safety gear and dress for immersion.
  • Don't take risks that other group members do not support.

Style

  • Keep camp light enough to move daily.
  • Make camp comfortable to wait out bad weather.  
  • Shared dinners, if others are interested.
  • Make distance when called for.
  • Get up early to make a favorable tide.
  • Slow down and enjoy the outer coast and wilder places.
  • I wish to avoid danger but don't mind some adversity.

Participant Paddling Skills

These are the skills participants should have
  • Endurance to paddle multiple 15nm days in sequence
  • Flat water pace of 3.6kt
  • Able to land and launch through 3ft surf
  • Able to paddle Deception pass in 5kt current
  • Good brace reflex
  • Reasonably reliable roll
  • Quick, efficient buddy rescue
  • No history of sea sickness paddling in waves or swell
  • Able to camp in wet, cool conditions
  • Comfortable in bear country.  (Word is that logging has pushed bears out to the coast.)
  • Patience, or at least submission to the inevitable.
Route/Place

Cape Scott


  • CHS No. 3605 - Quatsino Sound to Queen Charlotte Strait
    CHS No. 3624 - Cape Cook to Cape Scott
    CHS No. 3549 - Queen Charlotte Strait West
    CHS No. 3625 - Scott Islands
    CHS No. 3679 - Quatsino Sound
  • See full route/place details.
Roster
Required Equipment

Required Equipment

All personal equipment necessary for extended wilderness kayak trip.

Trip Reports