Chekika wrote:
Yes, excellent video YakAttaque. No question the northwest, British Columbia, & Alaska are some of the most stunning parts of the US & Canada.
Yak, it looks to me from your video that you were pulling out each day at high tide. Is that correct? In other words you did not have to haul your TI up 10-20' to get it above high tide line. Did you ever sleep on you boat, on the water? Seems that might be tough with the tides changing on the order of 15-20' per tide change.
When your TI was perched on top of that rock 10' above water, did you do a seal launch off that rock?
Keith
My main strategy for dealing with the big tides was to arrive and leave at high tide, which works fine if you time your trip right and have flexibility in your schedule. Vancouver Island had 4 days in a row where I could leave between 8am - noon, the three remaining days were a problem. One night I didn't bother to beach my yak, but shore tide it afloat (I camped ashore). This worked good because of the steep shore (deep) and it was protected from waves. The last night was the only night I had to drag my emptied TI up a beach (a long distance with the big tide). I broke a rudder post on a rock and the front plug broke it's posts (accumulated sand/gravel). Then the next day I had to wait until early afternoon to launch with high tide. This last strategy is not good
Next summer I'm going to try 2 new strategies:
-Leave the yak afloat with a stern anchor and a shore tie, so that I can retrieve it no matter the tide level, no dragging, no waiting. Vancouver Island terrain lends itself to this because of thousands of deep little protected nooks.
-Sleep aboard at anchor (and shore tie). This will require some ingenuity (like Stringy's cot).
In the Broughton Arch., there are few beaches which makes the usual kayak-style camping a problem, so the locals suggest camping atop rock outcroppings (like in my video). They call it "ledge camping". This worked well when you can arrive/lv on high tide. I didn't do a seal launch
I can see the benefit of the easier-to-carry AI if your camping requires hauling up anything more then a couple of feet, so I admit that the TI is not always the best choice for some expedition trips.
YakAttaque