KAYAK PRACTICE
Water to enjoy and practice with:

EDDY TURNS ON SMOOTH FAST WATER
Sequim Bay’s opening to Juan de Fuca at Klapot POint on Travis Spit. Depth is shallow, room for recovery if you bring friends. Also good for ferrying upstream. Check tide charts for slack to flood following lunch. State Park camping.

PADDLING A RIP
Dungeness Spit’s entrance to Juan de Fuca off Dungeness Lighthouse. Paddle out from Kline Spit on ebb. Also titled NOT PADDLING THE RIP. County Park camping, Eagle refuge.

FIRST PADDLING ‘TRIP’
Columbia River at Skawakoma Park. See ‘COLUMBIA RIVER REPORT in Forums. I first wrote about Skawakoma/Columbia after experiencing this section as a mountain river with rapids, standing waves and whirpools. There may have been a small craft warning offshore with wind reaching upriver against the snowmelt coming down…because the River was calm during the last 2 visits, low wind speeds.

TURNING OVER WAVES
Lake Wenatchee State Park. Scenic Wenatchee may be mirror smooth at 10AM, waves rising to 2’ by 3PM with a 12 mph wind down from the surrounding eastern mountains. Shallow stone beach with wind brining you onshore. Excellent camping at Tumwater west on 20. Hot showers at Wenatchee.

MOVING TOWARD INTERMEDIATE SKILLS
San Juan County Park, San Juan Island. Rolling or wet entry practice on Smallpox Bay. Intermediate water with tidal flow on Haro Strait/Fraser River. Tidal flow aids maneuvering into regular waveforms at a slow approach speeds. See SAN JUAN PARK-HARO STRAIT in Forums. County Park camping weekdays. Orca. Safety equipment necessary.

First reaction to posting a place to learn skills was not contributing more places but the usual “Nyah nyah nyah, we eat raw fish, ura sissy” Well, I turn my barge during a small craft warning at the Naselle River, incoming wind outgoing tide but I don’t learn from it or acquire skills either.At Wenatchee conditions allow time to finesse strokes, acquire combination strokes as natural balance reactions.