Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Lower St. Marys at 300

Our trip out on the Lower Saint was so much fun that we thought it would be fun to celebrate the solstice with a paddle last night. With a 7pm start and me running out of gas on the way home it was another typical adventure for the "old men". Much like at 450, most things were washed out. Rain wave was harder to surf, not that it was good at 450. The class II ledge was good, but not as wide, so a smaller sweet spot. The dump were big haystacks, not much to surf which leads us to the big two!
Run-no-Run was still big. Less washed out, so more technical. Last time we took the sneak route running right of center, but this time we ran left of center. My my.... waves sure look bigger from the kayak vs. the shore! I got a bit nervous at one point, but braced well and made it to hairpin.
Hairpin was big and fun! Better line this time, hit the tongue dead center, but this presented it's own problems. The haystacks and waves that follow the main drop are so big and turbulent that you can't judge how they'll throw your boat. Super fun but kept us on our toes. Again we managed to avoid being trashed!
Lastly, there was a wave below hairpin that ROCKED!! I thought I would post some video of it later today.
I don't think we'll hit the lower saint again at these flows, but I hope to read about some others!