Day 27: Our Triumphant Return

At 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 25, we made our triumphant and glorious return at Washington Park in Anacortes. But before I describe this happy event, I’ll write a little about getting here.

We reserved 2 nights on Discovery Island but then voted to leave after just one. We used a proportional voting system that I’ve been considering. It is an enhancement or extension to the two-vote process (preliminary vote, discuss, binding vote) that I have used and taught. Both are intended to bring a group to a decision in a finite amount of time (with everyone understanding how and why that decision was reached). One common problem is that people want X, but not so strongly that they would deny the people who want Y the opportunity to experience Y. But just how many and how much do people want X compared to the people who want Y? In my experience, this discussion can continue without resolution as everyone is willing to compromise and no one will speak their mind.

In many decisions, we want both X and Y. Each has its good points. I would sure like to get home, see Mary, take a shower, and begin enjoying my month at home. But I would also like to sleep in, relax tomorrow, walk the trails, and watch the seals. I’ll likely never be here again, something I can say with greater confidence as the years pass. So, I want both, to different degrees. Being a numbers guy, I can put a number on it. 60% stay. Nelson wants to go (another trip coming up and short turnaround) but he is willing to stay. He has his own number.

I propose a proportional vote. We each consider the question: leave tomorrow and put a number on it. To simplify, we will use 0 to 10 where:

0: I want to stay and won’t go

1-4: I prefer to stay to varying degrees, but will go

5: I’m completely neutral

6-9: I prefer to go, but will stay

10: I want to go and won’t stay.

There are two vetoes, 0 and 10. If those are both chosen, we may have a party-splitting difference of opinion. But the more common case is that everyone feels somewhere in between or there is one person vetoing the difficult option.

Everyone decides what their number is. This is important. We need to decide what we want, not look at what others are doing. I would have people write the numbers on a piece of paper, if we had paper. Maybe we could write them in the sand. ANYHOW, I just ask that everyone decide on their number. Then, on the count of 3, we all hold up 0 to 10 fingers. We add up the numbers. If the sum is above the neutral average (3x5=15), then we go. Below we stay. 15 is indeterminant.

Tom: 4

Colin: 4

Nelson: 7

Sum of 15. Indeterminant. Well, that is not a surprise as we were not coming to a conclusion through discussion. So I flip a coin, “heads” we go. It lands “heads”. (A better solution to the indeterminate outcome might be to count the number of people on each side.)

We have decided to go so we pack what we can and then hike to the east end of the island so we see some of this park before departing. It’s beautiful. But Colin told you that.

Saturday dawns cloudy with a diminishing SW wind. When I was thinking of a layover, I imagined a relaxed sunny day. Clouds help me feel that leaving is the right action today.

We will be paddling past the south end of San Juan and Lopez islands. The tides are with us, flooding up Rosario in the afternoon. But just when should we depart? Too early and the 3kt ebb out of Haro will wash us out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Too late and we will lose the boost up Rosario. We look at three sources for detailed current information: Deep Zoom, How Water Moves, and Ocean Connect. The last is a research project by Canadian institutions so I give it more credence. We decide 8:45 is the time to depart, which happily corresponds to the time we can wake to a comfortable 6:30am alarm.

First leg is to cross to Iceberg point on Lopez, 14nm. Initially, we have a decent wind on our beam. With current and wind, we move at 5nm. For the last 4nm, the wind dies, and we move slower over flat water.

At Iceberg, we report arrival in the US with the CBP Roam app. My report appears to fail, but a minute later, I get a call from a pleasant customs officer in Friday Harbor who asks a few questions, then clears me to enter the US. Clearance for Colin and Nelson follows soon.

We paddle along the south side of Lopez (1.5 kt current) then up Rosario (1.0 kt current) to land at Washington Park for our triumphant and glorious return. Except it is not all that triumphant. Michelle is not there to meet us due to a class. Mary is not there to meet us due to a missed communication. Once again, as we have done many days before, we pull our boats up the beach and begin unloading. The only difference today is that we take everything out of and off of our boats.

Next time I return from such a long trip I hope for a triumphal arch to march through. However, next time you meet any of us I do hope you notice the radiance of glory we each accrued in doing this trip.

Sunday, at home, I plot the tracks of all our days paddling. Below is a map and charts of distance, speed, and duration. Our paddling speed did not change significantly over the course of the trip. Our ability to stay in our boats did increase. We had longer days at the end. This is expected. But it was also a requirement of this route. There were not camping options for shorter days.

We met very few other sea kayaking groups. Two in the Bunsbies. We saw one in Clayocot Sound. Another at Discovery Island. There were likely kayakers in the Broken Group, but none out paddling where we padded through the outer islands. Did we just happen to not run into other groups, or are few people now doing long coastal trips? Is that another manifestation of the move from wild to rural to urban? Are long trips too uncomfortable and lacking in excitement?

This was the second time I paddled the stretch from Winter Harbor to Tofino, and I might go back and do that yet again. It was the first time I paddled from Tofino south. It was a beautiful coastline, but given the administrative restrictions, I don’t anticipate repeating that section. I’m very satisfied to have done the whole trip, there were beautiful camps and routes, and I had great company.