Stand-Up Paddle Boarding Deception Pass Dash
The Deception Pass Dash in the gnarliest paddling race of the year. It happens in early December with typically freezing air temps, freezing water temps, rain and/or snow, wind, waves (6 feet in ’08!), boiling eddy fences, bull kelp, barely submerged rocks, and all of it spread over one of the most technically challenging pieces of water in the Northwest. So it was only a matter of time until the SUP scene descended on the event and called for a new class. Yes sir, ’09 is the year!
Today, in T-shirt warm weather under blue-bird skies with glassy water and no wind, a group of 9 SUP paddlers teamed up with 10 safety sea kayakers to explore the possibilities of SUP’ing the Dash. And by golly, everyone survived!!!
Heather and I brought down the C4 Vortice and the Starboard K15 and our Kialoa Methane paddles and took part in the fun. The picture of the map shows the route, out of Bowman Bay, around Deception Island, up through the Pass and around Strawberry Island, then through Canoe Pass, back out around Deception Island and back to the beach at Bowman Bay.
Happy Paddling! Heather, Brandon and Hayden.jpg)
Beau Whitehead was the fastest paddler on two feet, finishing the course in 1hr 14min, barely nosing out Don Kiesling and his friend Daryl on their traditional (prone) paddle boards. Other than those three, though, it wasn’t a race. It was a test run… a group paddle. Heather and I stopped a half a dozen times to take pictures and exchange the camera back and forth. It was just SUCH a beautiful day out there, it was hard to be in a hurry! (And with full Kokatat drysuits on, it was a bit warm for full race mode).
The safety sea kayakers were AWESOME!!! It’s that time of year, with colder temps and storms rolling in, that paddlers are starting to talk more and more about safety and group strategy for staying alive during mishaps on the water. Well these kayakers set a glowing example of how to be safety conscious. They all carried radios and ACTUALLY USED THEM to check in with each other. We overheard radio broadcasts announcing that the last SUP’ers had rounded Strawberry Island – the ½ way point of the run. We overhead time checks after we’d been on the water for an hour. Heather and I had our own personal escort kayaker who just paddled along with us, keeping an eye on things, and there if we needed any help. It was AWESOME.
So, in the end, did the group decide that the Deception Pass Dash is indeed ready for SUPs in December? Well, the good news is you CAN enter to race your SUP. But considering last year’s conditions, I for one am going to bring a butt boat (read: surfski or outrigger) JUST IN CASE. 20-30 knot winds and head-high wave trains in a snowstorm… on a SUP?
See you at the Dash!
