Northwest winds are the worst. Blowing across and down the straight, has a long time to pick up the waves. Anything over 15 will be really snotty and with the currents out there during tide change. Over 10 can still get bad. It depends to on your boat. If it is blowing out there you can go into the more protected areas around the capilano or even Vancouver harbor can offer a bit of protection. My advice, go on Thursday when there will be light winds. If you get S or SE winds blowing more off the land mass, you can get away with being out there with 10-20, usually will give you a 1-3 ft chop. Norhtwest 10-20 knots, prob looking more like 4-10 ft waves, the scary part is when you hit an area with heavy current and you get standing waves. A fish isn't worth it, if I take a wave over the bow, I pack it in.