TRUCKS BOATS AND HELICOPTERS : PART III

[Sharphooks]

I pulled in to Grey Bay late afternoon and was amazed to see Hecate Strait flat as a duck pond. It had blown 50 knts the night before---crazy!

I scrounged up some firewood and put my last sockeye fillet on the barbi.....


Not a soul in sight---a gorgeous beach---you can walks for miles. There's also a trail at the far end of that beach that will take you to Cumshewa Inlet if you have the time and energy but truth be told, I did not want to take on too much hiking exposure this trip. I take the bear thing seriously when I'm in the bush and in the middle of chum salmon season, they were everywhere. I just don't have a proper bear dog and don't want to learn all the yappy reasons why I don't have a proper bear dog.

From Moresby I took the ferry back across to Graham Island. I'd brough a pack and camping supplies---my plan was to drive to Tow Head on the eastern tip of GRaham Island and hike Rose Spit with the dog. I'd planned for this hike since last October so I was all pumped up and prepared. But the tides couldn't have been worse. You're exposed for 14 kilometers of beach and the flood tides were not only huge, they couldn't have been timed worse for hiking. With the low at 8 AM we'd have been caught half-way to Rose Spit by a 12 foot flood which would have pushed us into the trees. I now understand why most people do Rose Spit with 4x4's

But I got to hike the beach at Tow Head....just an amazing place. A basalt upthrust in the middle of nowhere. Hike to the top and you can see Alaska off across Dixon Entrace




And my timing was perfect for the "blow hole"---boomer waves on a high tide




That night another storm came in on Hecate Strait. Another 50 know blow---crazy. I had an undignified moment in my camper: the wind was so strong and relentless I couldn't open the rear door of my camper!

When I finally got out I found my bike 10 feet away from where I'd left it. When I went to go pick it up up wind blew me off my feet....never had a weather experience like that before.

 

[BruceSt]

I pulled in to Grey Bay late afternoon and was amazed to see Hecate Strait flat as a duck pond. It had blown 50 knts the night before---crazy!

I scrounged up some firewood and put my last sockeye fillet on the barbi.....

View attachment 100006View attachment 100007
Not a soul in sight---a gorgeous beach---you can walks for miles. There's also a trail at the far end of that beach that will take you to Cumshewa Inlet if you have the time and energy but truth be told, I did not want to take on too much hiking exposure this trip. I take the bear thing seriously when I'm in the bush and in the middle of chum salmon season, they were everywhere. I just don't have a proper bear dog and don't want to learn all the yappy reasons why I don't have a proper bear dog.

From Moresby I took the ferry back across to Graham Island. I'd brough a pack and camping supplies---my plan was to drive to Tow Head on the eastern tip of GRaham Island and hike Rose Spit with the dog. I'd planned for this hike since last October so I was all pumped up and prepared. But the tides couldn't have been worse. You're exposed for 14 kilometers of beach and the flood tides were not only huge, they couldn't have been timed worse for hiking. With the low at 8 AM we'd have been caught half-way to Rose Spit by a 12 foot flood which would have pushed us into the trees. I now understand why most people do Rose Spit with 4x4's

But I got to hike the beach at Tow Head....just an amazing place. A basalt upthrust in the middle of nowhere. Hike to the top and you can see Alaska off across Dixon Entrace

View attachment 100005


And my timing was perfect for the "blow hole"---boomer waves on a high tide

View attachment 100004


That night another storm came in on Hecate Strait. Another 50 know blow---crazy. I had an undignified moment in my camper: the wind was so strong and relentless I couldn't open the rear door of my camper!

When I finally got out I found my bike 10 feet away from where I'd left it. When I went to go pick it up up wind blew me off my feet....never had a weather experience like that before.

Good article with great pictures. one note for you, no such thing as flood tide. A very common expression, however, incorrect.

Tides rise

and fall

No vertical motion - Stand. High water stand or low water stand

Currents Flood and Ebb
No horizontal motion - slack, slack water or turn

Time of stand and slack are rarely the same. See page 463, Chapman Piloting

"Commonly used expressions like "flood tide" and "ebb tide" should be avoided, as they confuse the horizontal motions of tidal currents with the vertical displacements of the tide." Oceanography of the British Columbia Coast, Richard E. Thomson, Department of Fisheries and Oceans

 

[Sharphooks]

Good point and thanks for making an issue of the incorrect useage.

Also good timing of my incorrect usage----....last year I had 10 cm of water in my house from the King Tides. The day before Christmas this week we had the same high tide predicted that flooded my house last year.

My daughter was worried about her car in my drivewy and asked if she should park it on higher ground because of the King Tide

I responded that the flood tide was at 6:30 AM but we had to check up on the barometric pressure.

She freaked out----you mean it's going to FLOOD again?

So yeah....maybe I'd better stick with calling water movement high tide and low tide

 

[BruceSt]

Thanks for your reply. I have been teaching boating professionally for over 43 years. I have met many boaters who try to forecast the currents by looking at the tide tables. They assume that once they are past the time of high water, the current will have turned to ebb. As you likely know this doesn't work as the time of high or low water does not agree with the turn of the current. Stay safe out there.

 

[Aces]

Good article with great pictures. one note for you, no such thing as flood tide. A very common expression, however, incorrect.

Tides rise

and fall

No vertical motion - Stand. High water stand or low water stand

Currents Flood and Ebb
No horizontal motion - slack, slack water or turn

Time of stand and slack are rarely the same. See page 463, Chapman Piloting

"Commonly used expressions like "flood tide" and "ebb tide" should be avoided, as they confuse the horizontal motions of tidal currents with the vertical displacements of the tide." Oceanography of the British Columbia Coast, Richard E. Thomson, Department of Fisheries and Oceans

That view from Tow hill is one of a kind. I had the pleasure of plowing and sanding that road one winter back in the mid 90’s

 

[Dave H]

That view from Tow hill is one of a kind. I had the pleasure of plowing and sanding that road one winter back in the mid 90’s

Back in 1974 I used to surf around there, both sides of Tow Hill.
Used to catch Cutties at the mouth of the Hiellen river and sometimes I'd spot a Dungeness crab while I was surfing so I'd grab it and take to my camper for future reference. Fun times although I wish there had been another surfer around, but I never saw one during my tme there back then. Lots around nowadays.

Camper with first ever new surfboard, 1974 at Juskatla when I was Warehouse Supervisor there for M&B.






Take care.

 

[Sharphooks]

Wow, cool story, Dave....you must have been a huge social media influencer in those early days of surfing because when I was there this past October it was standing room only....traffic jams and the typical aggressive F-U driving on the Tow Hill road to get to the surf...you created quite a loyal following....ha ha

 

[Dave H]

Wow, cool story, Dave....you must have been a huge social media influencer in those early days of surfing because when I was there this past October it was standing room only....traffic jams and the typical aggressive F-U driving on the Tow Hill road to get to the surf...you created quite a loyal following....ha ha

I've been pondering telling this story for a bit, but it was a long time ago and I've recovered from it, so here goes.

Back in mid-October of 1974 I was in my camper and parked out at Tow Hill where I had been surfing, and when I got up next morning I discovered the surf had jumped up bigtime overnight and was totally closed out there and out along the beach towards the spit as far as I could see. There was simply no possibility of paddling out plus I was still basically a beginner, so wouldn't be able to ride anything even if I could get out.

I decided to head back towards Massett and check out a couple of other spots I knew, one being Limberlost, as the area around the mouth of the Sangan River was called back then. There wasn't a house just on the east side of the two bridges you crossed when approaching from Massett back then and that's where everyone went into the large open area where one parked before walking through some dunes to the river mouth.
To my surprise, there were a bunch of vehicles parked there plus a good crowd of people milling about. Turned out to be the day of the military Coho fishing derby which explained why so many people. The guys were spread out along the river while their wives and kids were hanging around the open area.

I walked through the dunes until I could see the river channels as they emptied into the ocean and had my mind blown by what I witnessed across the river.
There was a large, long period swell running, and when it hit the sandbar on the west side of the channel the breaking waves jumped up and arced over so hard that when the lip of the wave hit the bottom it would bounce up higher than the actual wave face. The faces were in the eight to ten foot range to my eyes and I saw my first ever spitting tube in real life there.

Turning to my right and looking across the main channel I noted that some of the energy from the swell would cross the channel after breaking previously and was creating nice little six foot waves that I thought I could handle.
I returned to my camper and dug out my wetsuit, still damp from the previous day, donned it then removed my new surfboard from the side of my van.
This attracted a lot of attention from the non-fishing group, and a small crowd followed me down to the beach through the dunes.
I'm near-sighted and hadn't gotten any soft contact lenses yet so I carefully lined up where the peak seemed to be and laid out my large bright red towel across a log on the beach, so I'd have a reference point once I got out.

No problem getting out as I simply paddled out in the main channel then over to where I thought the peak was.
Nearly got caught inside when the first set arrived but made it over all the waves plus got a good idea of where to sit and wait for the next set.
I should mention that I had no leash on at that time, which played into what happened over the next half hour.

I could see a big set breaking across the bar on the other side of the river so got prepared to go for a wave when one arrived at my location and was pleased to find myself in a good spot relative to the peak.
Spinning around I took four or five good strong strokes, felt the wave pick me up and then I leapt to my feet.
Not sure why it happened but my board didn't want a rider on it so took off from beneath my feet after I'd gone perhaps 10'.
It was a short ride.

It wasn't a short swim in to fetch my board, but I made it ok and grabbed the board before it reached the beach.
I stood for a couple of minutes to catch my breath, adjusted my red towel on the beach then paddled out the channel again.
It wasn't long before another set appeared, so I adjusted my position then paddled hard into my second wave of the day.
To my abject horror, my second "ride" went no better than my first and I found myself swimming in again, body-surfing when I could and again, reached my board before it made the beach.
I noticed the group who had followed me down initially was a tad smaller now and a few were wandering off back through the dunes.

Undaunted but somewhat tuckered as I wasn't anywhere near in the shape that I later attained, I rested a few minutes then headed back out.
I realized after my second disaster that I was standing too far back on the board initially which caused it to accelerate from under my feet before I could adjust.
Before getting this new board, weight about 14 pounds or so, I had been learning on smaller waves with a much heavier board so needed to make an adjustment in my approach to riding.
It turned out that knowing that and then being able to adjust accordingly were incompatible in my limited skill set so my third attempt didn't differ much from my first two, and I rode another 15 feet before pearling, which means the nose of the board went under which threw me off but allowed the board to pop up and then perfectly ride in the slot nearly all the way back in.

Once again I worked on my swimming skills and made it in in time to save my board from the beach rocks. I was exhausted by now and my once nice group of onlookers had dissipated almost completely, leaving but a couple of curious kids who wanted to know if my wetsuit really kept me warm or not. I chatted a bit with them and explained how wetsuits worked and they then wandered off as I got changed in my van with my stove on as a heater.

So, that was the most inglorious surfing display of my life, and while there wasn't any "social media" back in those days, I'm pretty sure I was part of the dinner table discussions at a few houses in Massett that evening.
I try to not imagine how they went.

Two weeks later and I left the Charlottes under strained and strange circumstances having nothing to do with surfing, but that's a whole other tale to be told.



The older I get the more I remember my surfing like this.



But then I look at photos and realize the truth.
Nice little one at Jordan River.



Take care.

 

[Bryan Allen]

Great story Dave. I hit the spit years ago while I was working in the islands, But not for surfing... I spent a lot of time walking the gravel patches amongst the sand. I was rockhounding for honey agates . I did my best to make a dent in the dungies while wading.. After one heavy storm rolled in, my crew and myself hit a bonanza of large scallops that got washed into the beach towards Rose Spit. When the coho hit the streams in the fall it was incredible fishing . And then there was the deer hunting....what a bountiful part of our province . Its been 20 years since I last visited the Island, but the memories are still large in my mind.