Paddling with Freya Hoffmeister, the Paddling!

Day 0: Trip planning.  As I was preparing for my week-long trip on the Washington Coast with Freya, I had a lot to organize and some fears to overcome.  I had never packed for a trip like this before, and I was using a very small volume kayak, my Chatham 18.  I soon realized the mini-kegs of beer had to stay home, and thought about bringing a bag of wine, but settled for a nice flask filled with the best blanco tequila I have, Siete Leguas Tequila Blanco.  I made some improvements to my gear, including buying a fancy folding kettle that would come in handy.  I was able to pack seven days’ worth of water, food, and gear into my boat.  That night, I couldn’t sleep, still talking myself in and out of the expedition. I left the house the next morning saying goodbye to it, wondering if I would ever return.  I got on the ferry to Bainbridge Island, and looked across at the Seattle skyline, saying goodbye to it as well.  As I drove toward the coast, I had two good hours to continue trying to talk myself out of the trip, and when I walked into the Olympic National Park Ranger Station to get some permits for the coast, I only got one for Freya.

I spent the next few hours patting myself on the back for “doing the right thing!” and deciding not to go. When I met Freya at our campsite in Neah Bay that evening, I told her I was not going to join her.  After some talking, and assuring me we would not do anything I was not comfortable with and we would take one day at a time, she talked me back into the trip.  She looked over all my gear, including my personal locater beacon, and then asked where my hat, gloves, and warm camp clothing were.  I immediately gave myself a facepalm, as I had been packing for 80 degree weather, and it would turn out the weather would rarely break 60 and would be in the 40s-50’s at night.  She did like the fact I brought a dry suit!!

Day 1, Saturday, Cape Flattery! The next morning I packed up my boat and said goodbye to my car, as I might never see it again.  We paddled on the glassy waters from Neah Bay to Cape Flattery.  I was waiting for the swell to pick up, but it never came the entire day.  It was the first trip to the Cape for both of us, and we were like little kids going into every little cave.  We found a nice pocket beach to have lunch, then decided to head over to Tatoosh Island.  Once at the island, Freya said stay close to the rocks to avoid any tidal races.  Sure enough, there was a huge tidal race just to the west of the island.  We stayed close to the rocks, but ended up surprising a few dozen Stellar Sea Lions and they all went into the water around us.  They were huge!  We should have been farther away, but then that might have put us in the tidal race.  We pushed on, and found what might be called the “Green Room” at the southern tip of the island.  I was able to go through this cave completely from one side of the island to the other side.  The water was a beautiful emerald green and I can see why the cave has its name.  After we went through the cave, we saw several paddlers who were part of the Washington Kayak Club.  They invited us to share their campsite and take part of their pig roast, and we agreed.  The water was still glassy with really no breaking waves on Hobuck beach.  This was not normal.  The rest of the evening, I spent time talking with kayaking friends and generally getting picked on for not bringing any warm clothing or water proof jacket for camp.  A few people lent me some extra clothing, a down jacket, storm cag, and fleece jacket, and I will be forever grateful to those people.  They can always plan on free beer when they are in my company!

Day 2, Sunday, Leaving Hobuck! As I went to bed the night before, Freya and I talked about how the weather might not be good for paddling (based on 2 meter swell specs), and that we might not be 100%, as we had a long night of fun with the Washington Kayak Club, and it might be nice to “sleep in”.  However, at 7AM Freya was at my tent door asking if I would be ready to paddle in an hour.  I said, yes, but it would actually take me about 1.5 hours to put the “yard sale” of my scattered stuff into the boat.  Also, I was not really 100% that morning.  The word “yard sale” would stick in my head for the rest of the week as it actually took me 1.5 hours every morning to have my oatmeal, coffee, and pack everything into my Chatham 18.  Freya’s standard of being ready in a half hour will always be something I feel I will be working towards, for the rest of my life.  I eventually got my boat down to the beach and looked up at the breakers, which did not seem to be that big from the beach.  When you’re seated in your low kayak, they become much bigger.  The first surf takeoff was a little rusty and I ended up back surfing and side surfing almost back to Freya.  I had to give my hung over self a few slaps in the face, take everything off the deck, and head back out.  I made it out the second time!  I asked myself, how big are those waves?  I was looking up at a few of them.  Freya made it out through the surf and we had another talk.  I was still not sure if this was a good idea to paddle all the way down the coast, after a very sketchy surf take off.  I was going to call it.  Freya mentioned that she does not surf and we would not be surfing the rest of the trip.  Based on that, I agreed.  That day she started teaching and showing me how to look for protected pockets, such as our lunch stop at Point of Arches.  We found a nice sandy camping spot right at the point at Tskawahyah Island.   Freya showed me how efficient she was at setting up camp, while I was still struggling with my yard sale.

Day 3, Monday, was the biggest day!  Very sheltered launch behind Ozette Island.  The swell got much larger as we were heading out and was sometimes well over my head.  Freya’s favorite quote stuck with me, “Hold your nerve!”  We did not find really any safe places to land (meaning, no surf).  We found some rocks to hide behind.  The “rock” that we actually hid behind was called Jagged Island, lovely name for an island. We did see our first big group of sea otters!  I did not know there were actually sea otters on the Washington coast. I had seen them up on the West Coast of Vancouver Island.  We would see them all the way down the rocky coast to Point Grenville.  We decided to shoot for Cape Johnson (aka Chelan Memorial), which turned out to be one of our “official” camp sites.  Freya most of the time wanted me to be paddling beside her to her right, with the land to her left, so she could casually talk with me and still look out to sea, looking at the waves.   When things got hairy she would immediately tell me to get right behind her and follow her exact moves.  This turned out to be very safe, and I followed between the big, small, and submerged rocks to get into the bay.  We went slow and steady and avoided any hazards with the entire big swell that was breaking on the other side of the rocks to our right.  Once we made it safely into the bay, she gave me a big pat on the back and said I had just completed my first five star paddling.  I would start to get full of myself after this, and I think at some point later that day or next morning I said something like, “I want to come back out here with an Epic V6 and circumnavigate Destruction Island solo!” She was very quick to put me in my place and say that would be “stupid” for me to paddle out here solo with a V6 (or any kind of boat for that matter.)  Freya always has a knack of keeping people in their place!!  She would build me with confidence at times when I needed it, but when I started getting full of myself, she would be sure to put me right back into reality. The truth is, the trip I was undertaking was only possible with her know-how and instruction.  There was no doubt I was becoming a better paddler, one small step at a time.

Day 4, Tuesday.  We launched in glassy waters again, as the swell would be fairly “low”.  We made our way to La Push where we decided it was safe to go behind the rocks, and when we got to the river mouth we decided to check out James Island.  Nice spot!  We slowly made our way south to our planned camping spot at Ho Head.  On the way there, we spotted a beautiful beach (Toleak Point) to have lunch.  It was there in the shallow rocky waters where a small 1ft wave sneaked up behind me as I was dinking around with my camera and knocked me over.  No roll was attempted.  I wet exited.  During lunch, Freya asked why I did not roll.  I said it was because of the shallow rocks and my panicking.  She said that was not good.  She asked if I have ever combat rolled and I said, never. In recent years, I have been paddling surf skis and sit on top whitewater boats in the surf (because of how much fun it is), but Freya told me flat out that rolling is something I need to work on next time I am in the surf zone.  At the next bay over, behind Alexander Island, Freya asked if I wanted to practice surfing with a loaded boat.  I was eager to practice and started heading for the beach (with a cockpit fully loaded of loose shit and a 10L pocket shower full of fresh  water I was planning to take a shower with once we got to Ho Head/Jefferson Cove).  Freya planned to stay beyond the breakers.  I tried to remember what she told me about “not catching the wave,” but sure enough I was surfing a wave that was well above my head and the next thing I side surfed, capsized, and promptly wet exited.  No roll whatsoever.  Sure enough, everything in my cockpit started floating away (with the exception of my fully loaded pocket shower) as the boat and I got tumbled to the beach.  Thankfully I picked up everything that floated away, grabbed the shit out of my cockpit, and said “I can do this!”  I pushed my boat back into the water and made it back out to Freya (timing the waves).  She asked why I left stuff on the beach and I mentioned I was ready for round two.  She was impressed and I headed back into to get my stuff.  Well, round two was not so kind (yet again), as I got quickly got surfed, capsized, and did not bother to attempt to roll (as I wet exited).  This time I got back to the beach faster by learning to hold on to the boat in a more controlled manner (hint: hold it center with the cockpit open to waves to allow it to push you to the beach faster).  I got my shit, loaded the boat, and was ready to be done with my surfing lesson.  On the way out the second time, I timed things wrong, back surfed, and went over.  No roll!   Thankfully nothing came out of the boat as I had tied it down better in the cockpit.  As I spent the next 5-10 minutes pumping out the water (next to Mosquito Creek Campground), I thought to myself, am I going to get out of here!?  Thankfully I was able to time and drive through the waves on my last attempt.  I joined Freya and thankfully that would be the last time surfing of the trip.

Day 5, Wednesday.  40 miles, no landing!  We were in the water by 6AM (meaning I was up at 4:30AM making my coffee).  Once we made our way into open waters we found a huge pack of sea otters in the kelp offshore.  We spent a few minutes in awe then paddled on.  The swell got much bigger as we headed south down the coast away from Ho Head.  We paddled on, and on, and on.  I can see why Freya likes having a partner to pass the time on these long 40 mile stretches.  We talked a lot and got to know each other well.  I learned a lot of things that day, mostly, how to do everything inside of a 20 inch wide cockpit.  As the hours went on, we slowly started to see the transition of coastline and wildlife.  The sea otters soon gave way to pelicans.  Rocky cliffs soon became sandy cliffs.  As we closed in on Point Grenville (our only protected takeout between Ho Head and Greys Harbor) the fog started to roll on in.  We found ourselves in zero visibility as we rounded Point Grenville and guessed which rocks (according to the GPS) to go through.  We found our way and landed safely.  It was 10+ hours being in the kayak, my longest time ever!

The next day (Day 6) we decided to take it easy and rest as the winds were over 20 knots.  I ate my last 3 freeze dried dinners, and I only had one tuna packet and tortilla left for our last full day on the water together.  Freya looked at how I was almost out of water and food, shook her head, and said, “Not good!”  That was my signal I had failed once again at planning for a week long expedition.

Day 7, Last long day to Westport.  We had another 30-35 mile day with no getting out of the boat.  Swell was still around 2 meters.  We paddled on and right into the fog!  We would spend the entire day in fog and following the little “go-to navigation line” on our GPS.  We hoped that the fog might lift as we approached the northern jetty, and thankfully it did.  Freya was prepared to take us on the GPS if need be.  Once we were ready to enter Grey’s Harbor, we geared up (helmets on, body and paddle leashed to the boat).  Freya put on her tow belt, as she usually did every time we entered a sticky situation.  We found our way around the jetty, beyond the breakers, until we found the entrance to the channel where no breaking waves were.  There is always a part of the channel where there are no breaking waves, on the flood current, according to Freya.  We got a nice push from the non-breaking swell towards Westhaven State Park where my wife Sara was on the beach waiting for me. She gave me my pint of my favorite beer and I drank it with much delight.

Lessons learned: Insights for other paddlers.  Over the next 3 days as we drove pick up my car and head home, I did a lot of reflecting.  If a paddler like me can make it all the way down the Washington Coast with Freya, I feel that most skilled paddlers can do it. In summary, if you have been invited, or are on the fence about reaching out to Freya Hoffmeister, you should do it.  This trip has definitely made me a stronger paddler, as 20-30 mile paddles have become the norm as I finish my 2017 day expeditions around Puget Sound, and I am very glad to have completed this “adventure of a lifetime!”