A safe harbour

St Philips harbour

Yesterday Malcolm, Stan and I paddled out of St. Philips harbour, around the point and south for Topsail. The wind was blowing at 15 knots with a forecast to increase to 20. The sea was fully developed at 15 knots and it was something we felt comfortable in. We paddled into the wind for 30 minutes when the wind did strengthen.

We turned back. An increase in wind speed would have meant a corresponding increase in wave height and complexity and the forecast may have been wrong on the low side. Discretion is the best part of valour.

Paddling into the wind is a bit like beating your head against a wall. So why bother? For me its a chance to measure fuel consumption. I mean, I know by the conditions how much I'm good for if I absolutely need to paddle when the wind comes up.

The amount of work I was doing wasn't apparent to me until we turned and paddled with the wind at our back. The first few paddle strokes felt like I didn't have the paddle in the water.

Back at St. Philips we had the opportunity to stick our noses out into the conditions and still get some respite inside of the point.