A day with the slackers

[B]

Arriving a Bowman Bay was a bit of a surprise as every other car in

the parking lot had kayaks on it and the lot was full. "Are there that

many "slackers" on the SRKAlumn list?" I thought to myself.

A tri-club kayak rendezvous was well underway as well as the crew from

OA being on-site for a corporate gig. We unloaded and dressed, and

waited for Darrell and possibly Jon Berry to show. At shove off time

they showed of course, take your lashings Darrell and Jon. We waited

for them even though they told us to shove off, so what was coming

wasn't really their fault.

AHH, 130pm ish and were finally getting underway on this amazingly

pretty day. Out and around Deception Island in a small swell and then

down the chute through Canoe Pass with around 2 knots of current. A

nice easy ride, but not as much as I hoped to push us along due to our

delay.

A short stop for a stretch and a pee on Whidbey Island and then to Hope

Island we went. Lunch at Hope with Whende' amazing cookies as dessert.

With the max ebb in Deception Pass nearing quickly we shoved off at just after 4pm and

used the flow to quickly carry us towards the Pass. Whoops! Darrel

forgot his watch on Hope and has to go back. Jon followed him as a

wing man not wanting him to be lonely.

The core group of slackers arriving at just after 5pm, shot through

the Pass with only a few SQUEALS from the slackers behind me. "Just

stay behind me and keep paddling" I commanded. Down the chute, over

a couple of 2 foot standing waves, and through the boils and

whirlpools that makes Deception fun, they were free to relax again. Be

proud of yourselves, you just came through DP at 4+ knots you

slackers. Timing is everything!

Rand carried the group back to the put-in while I waited at the Pass

for Darrell and Jon to catch up. Boys will be boys, as Darrell and

John come shooting through and dove into the eddy behind Pass Island.

It's play time for Darrell as he peels out into the 5 knot current for some

ferrying followed by Jon. I told them I was headed back to the put-in

now that I knew they were GTG and peeled out into the main flow

looking back to see swim practice ensuing. 2 tiring days for Darrell I

guess as John threw him back into his boat. I waited for them to catch

up and paddled back to Bowman Bay together.

The penalty for swimming in DP is 10 rolls which Darrell struggled with at first, but polished on the last 6.

Until the next time,

The Slackers

Elise

Alex

Cathy

Whende

Slacker Support

Darrell

John

Rand

BB