Sea Kayak - Deception Pass

This was a mentored paddle for a leader candidate.  We met at the launch site in Cornet Bay at 8 AM for expected 9 AM launch time for a play day in Deception Pass..  A Mountaineers event scheduled for Bowman Bay had been moved to Cornet Bay and there were no parking spaces left at the usual launch site due to the number of other paddlers.  The leaders of the two events had previously coresponded and no parking issues had been expected due to the larger group scheduled for Bowman Bay. 

Originally there were four participants and two leaders signed up for the day.  By launch time three participants had cancelled.  I, the DP leader, had not met either the co-leader/mentor or the participant prior to that morning, although we had corresponded several times prior to the event via email.  Due to the unexpected crowd at the launch site, it took a few minutes for the three DP folks to find each other and make on the spot alternate plans for launching and parking.  In retrospect, It might have been good to get a text or other message from the Bowman leaders letting me know their change of plans so I could have texted my participants and let them know how to find me in the crowd.

To avoid the unexpected congestion in and around the usual kayak launch site, the three DP paddlers unloaded our boats next to the motor boat launch site and parked our cars in the alternative sites in the east lot.  We had introductions, review and beach talk before setting out.  We paddled around the east side of Ben Uri Island and easily ferried across the building ebb current to the eastern end of Strawberry Island.  We then turned west and paddled to the eastern end of Pass Island, catching the waves formed by the current heading into Deception Pass.  There was a westerly wind of approximately 10 kts.  When we eddied out on the west side of Pass Island we could see large swell and waves forming out by Deception Island and estimated that the wind there was 15 to 20 kts.

At the start of our Canoe Pass play, the tide level, current and swells coming in from the west created approximately 4 foot waves between the Pass Island eddy and Lottie trail bay.  We elected to watch for a while to assess the comfort of the group in current conditions and determine what the waves were doing over time.  We then spent the next four hours paddling, playing and practicing rolls and rescues. 

During our lunch break, one paddler tripped and fell in the shallows at the beach and sustained superficial lacerations to one hand whcih were dressed and didn't present a barrier to continued paddling and play.  Another reminder that a buckled helmet when moving about on shore is not a bad idea.

At 1:30 we eddy hopped the 2.5 ebb current along the south side of Pass Island before ferrying over to the north side of the Whidbey shore and continuing to eddy hop into Cornet Bay.  Early in the day the wind had calmed, as predicted by the forecast, although a 5 kt SW wind was beginning to blow as we arrived back at Cornet Bay. 

It was a lovely day with great companions, thank you, Mountaineers!