Reply To: Kayaking to Granite Falls, understanding tide chart

#22802
Nick Heath

Agree with the above comments. Wind is a bigger factor in Indian Arm, in my experience. Hugging the shore, you are unlikely to experience strong currents, except near the constriction at Deep Cv/Belcarra, but the tidal range that day is large.  Leaving at noon avoids that possibility and likely you will have a push from the wind, too, but the campsites could be full when you arrive! But if this is a day trip, leaving at noon is far too late. It is a loooong paddle.

The classic problem is set up here – expect the inflow wind to strengthen at mid-day or early afternoon. This means on the return you must buck a headwind plus some adverse current. This could make for a gung-ho training epic. I’d suggest a closer destination and so a shorter trip.

If you stay overnight, my advice would be to leave Granite Falls early in the morning to minimize wind effects, but also look for predicted winds on “Windy.com’ to see in some detail what is predicted there for Sunday. 10 kt (18 km/h) of inflow wind will turn a pleasant paddle into a slog.