Garry Point Park this morning

[ShonanDB]

Checked out Garry Point Park in Steveston this morning as the forecast looked promising. Arrived around 5:30 AM and it was 18 to over 20 knots with lots of whitecaps in the river and not too much current. Rigged my 5.4 and took out my 101L JP FSW. Well powered once I got out into the river and there were some nice smooth rolling swell coming through that were knee to thigh high with a few waist high and breaking face. Good starboard ramps on the way across and some decent back side riding with a few multi gybe rollers to be had. After about an hour it picked up and the 5.4 was getting to be a handful. Headed up river past the Steveston Marina to see if the water/wind was any different and found a line right off the entrance to the marina that had the best wave faces. The tide started dropping and the river current started pumping making for some multi direction waves and some chop at times. Sailed alone until about 8:00 AM and the wind started backing off so I called it a day. Over 2 hours TOW, decent jumps, the water was warm - great first summer session! Got home by 10:30 AM and spent the rest of the day with the family at 3rd Ave beach in Tsawwassen.

Note: the YVR sensor was reading 11 - 13 knots but Garry Point Park was a 20+ knots and Sandheads sensor was reading 19 knots and Tsawwassen was 14 - 17 knots.

[tweegster]

Good conditions at Tsawwassen for the 15M, was out with James and had the place to ourselves from 7:10 to about 10:30. Came back and WR was blowing, he went out but I hung out with the family.

Spent the day BBQing on the Beach with family and friends.

Got to have my first try on a Foil, Slingshot Dwarf Craft / Hover Glide combo behind a jetski. Bit of a humbling experience, few seconds on foil then get bucked off... repeatedly

At least the water was warm, great day.

[jy1zoom]

Hi,
Wonderful to read your windsurfing account at Garry Point. Can you share your knowledge about the water current There? Cheers!

[ShonanDB]

Hi,
Wonderful to read your windsurfing account at Garry Point. Can you share your knowledge about the water current There? Cheers!

I've windsurfed there about 15 times in the last 3 years and have seen it from low to high tide. I've only sailed there on Northwest days though. At high tide the river moves at about 3 to 4 knots and it's easy to stay in line from where you launch from, just West of the bathrooms/food stand. As it goes to low tide the current can reach 8 to 10 knots depending on the conditions so you lose ground quickly if/when you fall in the water and have to waterstart. I tend to only go out when it's at least 18 knots so as long as there is wind I've always been able to stay in line with the launch as you are sailing on a reach (always doing a downwinder). It's like a mini (Columbia River) Gorge with the wind blowing up river against the river flow. The best conditions are when it's 25 knots + and moving to low tide as the waves can set up nicely. Great starboard ramps with decent backside wave riding but the waves are fairly close together and it can get choppy at times.

I've seen a few chest high waves with breaking whitewater but it's usually steep thigh to waist high faces. I've heard from a friend who has sailed there for 20+ years that it can get bigger but it depends on the wind. I've been on my 4.2 m sail and 73L board twice but would like to catch one of those 30 knot + days on a low tide just to see if the wave period increases as well as the size or if it just turns to a chaotic mess.

Last summer there was a guy who lived close by kiting on most of the days I sailed so it was good to have someone else on the water. He was always launching big air and said that he preferred kiting there than most local launches and even Squamish. I've found that it tends to be 5 to 10 knots stronger in the river than Acadia and Tsawwassen and the wind lasts longer there when everything else backs off. The last Mother's day NW session at Acadia shut down around 9:30 AM but my buddy sailed until noon on his 4.7 at Garry Point Park (GPP). I've left Point Roberts when it died there and caught anther 2 hours at GPP a couple times.

Things to watch out for are boats and ships of all sizes moving both ways along the river. When the current is strong, best to stay away from the pilings just downwind of the launch but if you break something and go down into the water or if the wind dies off suddenly, the river isn't too wide so you can get to one side or the other. The water gets calm when you get close to the North river bank and it's about 3 km until you reach the end of the man made river bank and lighthouse so not much chance of getting swept out into the Straight and you can walk back along the bank but better to wear booties as it's all rocks and long grass. The south side is wood pilings with the odd break in them but going out that side makes for a long walk back to Westham Island Bird Sanctuary and a cab ride back around to GPP. Maybe the infamous "Chris" may have done that one in the past along with a number of other epic treks back in the 90s.

Hope that this helps and I look forward to seeing a few others there some time as well.