The forecast called for a 4' swell but it sure seemed a lot larger than that as we headed down the coast. At about 1 1/2 hours out, almost to the point, one of our paddlers began to develop some shoulder pain. With that and Father's Day plans by most of us we headed back.

We continued to observe some swells definitely greater than 4' and some huge swells were breaking far enough out that we had to paddle out further to avoid potential carnage.

We regrouped at the harbor entrance before proceeding in. I stayed back with the one paddler with the sore shoulder.

More lessons learned. I just got a new PFD and I did not set it up full for towing. As luck would have it our injured paddler just gave out inside the harbor entrance with its pronounced swell and I had to quickly rig my PFD to tow her in. I can heartily recommed the Kokatat Guide rescue harness as distributing the weight evenly!

All's well that ends well and we made it in without incident. We adjourned, mostly, to Aqau Adventures for a tour of our adult toy store.

Mike Brown