Sea Kayaking Hobuck Beach And Cape Flattery Areas

We enjoyed a 4 day surf kayaking class in the waves of the Pacific Ocean near Cape Flattery at the northwest -most point of the Olympic Peninsula on the Makah Indian Reservation. Great experiences, learning, food, and fun were all led by Ken and his band of merry mayhem makers at Azimuth Expeditions.

The first full day started with beach classroom time, talking about the dynamics of wave action, kayak and paddle responses, surfing techniques, pearling (nosing in), how to perform low and high braces while being pushed sideways by a wave and “mooning the beach” (leaning into the wave with butt up to the land). Good stuff for surfing by itself, but especially good for increasing our range of options on locations and weather, plus being able to handle higher levels of wave activity when out on kayak trips.

We then took to the waves along Hobuck Beach, which was a good learning area since the wave action is reduced in the protected bay compared to the rest of the Pacific Ocean coastline. Going out was a lot easier than coming in. Going out through waves was mostly a matter of being aggressive in punching through waves, paddling all the way through and leaning forward to present a smaller surface area if the wave hits hard.

Coming back to shore was where most of the finesse and learning came in. In that direction, it was much easier to be capsized by waves picking up the kayak and throwing it this way or that. Observing the waves and their rhythms were important, as well as good timing and boat speed at certain points. Sometimes it was prudent to actually backpaddle even though the general direction was to get to the beach. If a wave was building and curling appropriately, it was fun to use the paddle as a rudder and surf in. Many times a wave would overpower that though and start the kayak pearling or just whip the boat around sideways. At that point, low braces and high braces into the waves were important, while mooning the beach.

On our second day, the weather built up some to larger waves and we headed south along the shore to a remote ocean-accessible beach at Portage Head surrounded by rock cliffs, ancient windswept trees, and wildlife. The wave swells were a lot larger than in the protection of Hobuck Bay, but since we were away from beaches they generally were not breaking waves except for wind curling. When getting near the sheer cliffs that line the coast there, the big waves would hit the cliffs hard and ricochet back, creating waves on waves, waves in troughs, and lots of choppy waters. Karen actually got sea sick from all the up and down and bouncing around, which is rare for her.

My favorite part of that trip was going into a deep sea cave. The waves built to a crest at the entrance, and you had to go in backwards so that you could power out in the event of any potential trouble, but once inside it was actually deep enough that the wave action subsided and the experience was relatively peaceful and calm among the dark rock walls.

Camping with the group was always fun. Ken would serenade everyone with a huge repertoire of songs while playing his guitar, stories were shared all around, and the food tasted especially good after a day kayaking on the Pacific coast.

We hiked out to Cape Flattery during the evening of the second day to scout ahead since we originally intended to kayak around its point. However, the winds picked up so much on the third day that the guides said they wouldn’t want to have paddled there even if they were by themselves without students, so we instead diverted our plans to paddle beyond the protection of the point into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

We put our kayaks in at the quaint seaside fishing town of Sekiu, and paddled east about 12 miles along the roadless coastline, around Pillar Point, and on to Pillar Point County Park. We explored rock gardens, timing our entries and exits so as to not smash on rocks when waves broke on them, and went through miles of kelp beds below tree-lined cliffs. Wave action picked up a lot toward the end, giving us the biggest vertical rides of the weekend. The bay leading to the park had a gradual and shallow bottom, presenting really good waves for kayak surfing since the waves built gradually and trailed out for a long ride if you could catch them right.