I drove down to Owen Beach about a half-hour ago. Normally, when the wind is out of the southwest, Owen Beach is a protected little stretch of water (a reason so many beginning kayak classes have been taught there.) Since our typical spring breezes come out of the south, it’s a pretty consistent place to put in, regardless of the weather.

Not today. I think the wind is actually curling around the point, maybe mixing with wind coming up out of Commencement Bay, and there is significant wind chop coming out of the east. These are not the conditions I was hoping for to take the Basura del Mar out on her first run, which is something that was on the schedule for later this morning.

It’s not so much that the conditions are dangerous – they aren’t. The problem is that, if I’m trying to make the boat turn, or go straight, or fast, I’m not going to know whether any difficulties I encounter are problems with the boat or simply problems with the weather. When the conditions are a factor in these types of situations, the data that gets collected during the testing is not as reliable as it could be. Less helpful, anyway.

All this to say that the initial testing of Basura will not happen today. The weather tomorrow looks much more favorable, so:
                    Monday, April 9th @ 5pm. Owen Beach in Point Defiance Park.

That’s the plan, at the moment.