Together with Deception Pass, Cattle Pass in one of the premier “play” are for kayaking in strong currents with tide rips, eddy lines, standing waves and whirlpools.
My second trip was as a “guest” paddler with a couple of friends who were tuning up there dynamic water skill for an upcoming trip. So I was pretty cautious on this trip and mostly kept the kayak “right side up”. So I can’t say I “tamed” Cattle Pass or that it “Kicked my Ass”. That judgement will have to wait for future visits. I do know which way I’d vote. Once again the trip home through the dynamic portion of the pass was uneventful. Which is something I guess.
This my first visit to Cattle Pass and it was fun, exciting and humbling. It was during a one-on-one coaching session with Calvin Croll and was my first introduction to reasonable currents and strong eddy lines. This was the most wet exits and recoveries I’d ever done outside of intentional practice. It was quite the eye opener. I definitely need to work on technique crossing eddy lines and stay loose and relaxed in dynamic water. Surprisingly, the trip through Cattle Pass was uneventful in spite of the confused waves, whirlpools and boils.
The area that I’ve visited a couple of times is a rocky outcropping just off the tip of Davis Point. During the flood, the current at this location flows west so eddy lines flow on either side of this rock. This provides a nice, kelp filled, sanctuary between the pair of eddy lines. With a southerly wind apposing the flood standing waves can occur to the south of this location. The area is visible in this screen capture and clearly shown in the video below.
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