Sea Kayak - Chuckanut Bay

UPDATE! MEETING TIME CHANGE! Our meeting time at the Wildcat Cove boat ramp in Larrabee State Park is 9:00am sharp. Please plan to arrive no later than the meeting time. We need to launch promptly one hour later so if you think you may need more time to get your boat and kit ready, please plan to arrive before the 9:00am meeting time. Discover Pass required for parking.

Registration to be a participant on this student paddle requires trip leader approval.

For this activity, participants will be expected to demonstrate self and assisted rescues. Each participant will also be expected to bring their own basic trip plan, including a chart marked with routes, tide, current, weather notes and other planning considerations for the conditions on the day of the paddle.  Extra points for including magnetic bearings, distances, and times between waypoints.

The overall plan is to paddle north from Wildcat Cove and explore the area around Governors Point and Pleasant Bay.  Then we'll head over to Chuckanut Island.  

After lunch, and maybe some exploration on foot, we'll head on up to Clark's Point to view the interesting formations in the cliffs there.  

We'll then work our way around to the controversial "Teddy Bear Cove" for a break and then follow the coastline back down and around Governors Point back to Wildcat Cove. I expect we will be done by around 4pm.

Bonus points to those ready to argue in favor of the fossil, concretion, extraterrestrial intervention, or whatever other hypotheses you believe may explain what can be seen in the cliffs at the south end of Clark's Point.

Key waypoints

• Wildcat Cove boat ramp (put in and take out)
• Chuckanut Island (break 1, lunch).
• Clark's Point
• Teddy Bear Cove (break 2).
• Wildcat Cove (take out).

As is usual on Mountaineers sea kayaking trips, boats, equipment, food, and water will NOT be provided by the trip leader.  Please plan to bring your own food, water, supplies, kayak, and gear, or make arrangements to rent and transport whatever you will need for the trip.   Also, be sure to bring your Discover Pass!

Here are some of the weather forecast links I use for this venue:

NOAA Marine Point Forecast for the area off Governor’s Head: https://marine.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lon=-122.51257&lat=48.66574#.W2vC4hplCfA

Here’s another view of that information in the form of NOAA’s hourly forecast, including an hour by hour forecast of expected wind speeds and wave heights (note, you have to enter the date and time you want and hit the “submit” button to get refreshes on this page - also you may want to tick some of the check boxes for more complete info): https://marine.weather.gov/MapClick.php?w0=t&w2=hi&w3=sfcwind&w3u=0&w9=fog&w10=swlp&w11=swlm&w12=swlp2&w13=swlm2&w14=wwh&w15=wvh&AheadHour=0&Submit=Submit&FcstType=graphical&textField1=48.6717&textField2=-122.5173&site=all&unit=0&dd=&bw=&marine=1

NOAA Associated Zone forecast for the greater region: Zone Area Forecast for Northern Inland Waters Including The San Juan Islands

Windy.com forecast for the area off Governor’s Head: https://www.windy.com/48.673/-122.515?48.678,-122.509,12. With Windy I tend toward the ECMWF model and compare it to all the other models available in the app. I also check out the Wave & Tide feature there. The Wind feature gives a nice comparison of all the models, as well. Extra points for using Windy.com’s “Distance and planning” feature to set waypoints and speed to plot a boating forecast for span of your trip.