Haserot Beach to Old Mission Point - August 29, 2024
Kathleen Imre | Published on 8/29/2024
Donna, Tom, Jacqui, Howie, and I met at Haserot Beach for an out and back paddle and picnic at Old Mission Point. After the usual pre-paddle group huddle and safety talk, we launched - sort of. The wind was out of the northeast at ~10mph, and the waves were 1-2 feet. Although the wave period was predicted to be 3 seconds, it was not at all consistent. It seemed the waves were deliberately breaking and dumping at the exact moment we tried to paddle away from shore and attach our sprayskirts. It was impossible to time them!
When we reached the area of the breakwall, the clapotis made for some very confused and bumpy seas. Donna summed it up well: she said she felt like she was paddling in a washing machine! Once we passed the breakwall, things settled down a bit, but then we had stern quartering seas to contend with. But wait - there's more! Howie then discovered his skeg was jammed and could not be deployed, and his Tracer was weather cocking like crazy. Jacqui and I were trying to catch waves for a lengthy 5-millisecond surf before the next goofy wave messed up our "ride."
Were we having fun? Definitely! Dead calm is boring! When we passed the final headland and approached Old Mission Point and Lighthouse, the wind and waves practically disappeared. We were grateful to be able to easily pick our way through the many rocks in the shallows. Despite the cloudy and cool day, there were a fair number of tourists at the Lighthouse, so we continued west for a bit and chose a people-less spot on the beach for our picnic. With a little finagling, Howie and I were able to dislodge a pebble in his skeg box and free up his skeg.
The paddle back to Haserot had none of the crazy wave action that the outbound route had. We could actually visit and paddle at the same time! Landing was easy-peasy!
I hope the others enjoyed the day as much as I did. The pictures below are obviously during the "calm" portion of our trip!
Howie
Donna
Jacqui
Jacqui, Howie, Tom, and Donna
Howie, Tom & Donna
Donna, Kathleen, & Howie
Howie and Tom
Jacqui
