[Ironsides]

Anybody been caught out by unexpected very strong wind change that they could not make headway against. :?: Today I was caught out and ended up being beached and waves filling up my Yak, I was stuck, couldnt get afloat and had to wait for a passer by to give me assistance. If I was able bodied it would not necessarily have been too much of a drama. I had looked at the forecast and thought I was safe.
What do you do in that situation :?:
As it happens it was a passing storm but it scared me, if I was further out when the storm hit I could have ended up anywhere.

 

[justcrusin]

Hi Ian,
Probably the only answer is experiance. I went out in the wind (about 15 knts) on sunday and went out enough just to test myself and build up my experiance.
I would expect like me you are using muscle not used before and it will take some time and patience to build up strength.
Other than that keep an eye on the sky. The weather beauro(spelling) used to have a could identification online tutorial I will see if i can find it and post the address.

Cheers Dave

 

[justcrusin]

thats cloud identification (brain fart) :shock:

here's the web site changed a bit just a web page now

http://www.bom.gov.au/info/weatherkit/s ... shtml#skip

cheers Dave

 

[RedPhoenix]

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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[Ironsides]

Thanks kraley, When the wind change direction, I started to paddle back to shore and made good headway in fact almost in to the river mouth, but then it just got stronger, a storm squall I think and I could not make headway. I am pretty strong upper body and was not fatigued, the wind was just too strong. I guess I have just found my and my yaks limitations.
It lasted no more than 30mins but SCARY :!:

 

[Peril]

A couple of months ago I got caught in winds gusting to 40kts. I was in a large creek going straight into it and it was very heavy going. One thing that enabled me to press on was having the GPS as it indicated that I was making headway when it felt very hard. I did have to take a break for a while then pressed on to the ramp. I could have gone a couple of km the wrong way and waited it out on the bank but the winds were set in and I didn't want to provoke a search. Amazing how many guys wave as they go past you struggling in such circumstances.

I'm sure that in a short while you'll be able to cope with 25kt gusts, but you wouldn't choose to do it. As the other guys have written, be conservative with the weather reports - I certainly am when thinking of going into open waters.

 

[ScottLovig]

Hi Ian

The sudden squalls on PPB are nearly always very instense for the first 5, 10 or 15mins particularly if there is rain with them. Sit tight and dont blow your self out early. They nearly always back off quite soon and loose a lot of that initial bite.

Practice paddling in on shore blows (so the worst that happens is you get washed back on terra firma) untill you improve balance, strenghth and water sense. In big weather, experience and cool heads are everything.

Cheers

Scott

 

[bazzoo]

Ian, i agree with the above, i have learnt through sailing that the first 5 or 10 minutes of a squall are the worst :shock: , with windspeeds up to 30% higher than they eventually will turn out to be, and its easy to think i am in real trouble here, but if you can hang on for that first 10 minutes, you quite often find that the weather settles down into a blow that you can handle, mate dont worry , its early days yet, the more practice you get on that kayak , the easier it will become, you will get to the stage that the boat will be your friend , and you will be confident ln its ability, dont try to rely too much on upper body strength, its more technique than strength, and the more time you spend in the river, the better will be your technique, keep at it Ian

 

[Dodge]

fact almost in to the river mouth, but then it just got stronger,

Ian in a wind, and near river mouths also be conscious of the dangers of 'wind against sea', ie: the current flowing into the wind.

Wind and current in the same direction have an easier wave action, than when opposed to one another, which causes small steep pressure waves to form at the entrance.

More boats turn over on a runout tide, because of the waves standing up against the onshore breeze

In this situation it may be preferable to hold in the deeper water until the conditions are better suited to entering the river, if caught in a blow