Boston Harbor

Jason, Theresa, and myself where in need of some mid-week diversion from work and agreed to meet at Boston Harbor for a quick paddle and roll practice. Jason was also anxious to stress test a newly designed rescue sling and as the heaviest paddler in the group wanted me to have a go at it; a dubious distinction at best. Still if he wanted me to see if I could break it I was game.

Kiwi in front of the Boston Harbor light. Photograph by Steve Weileman

Boston Harbor is a small community located seven miles north of Olympia between Dofflemyer Point and Dover Point. This is also the location of the historically significant Dofflemyer Point Lighthouse. Built in 1934, the 30-foot pyramidal, concrete tower replaced a pole lantern positioned on the shoal in 1887 to guide vessels to and from Olympia. The Boston Harbor Marina offers general marina services as well as kayak rentals and their Sunday brunch is well worth trying.

An old Red Rock Crab shell. Photograph by Steve Weileman

Dark ominous clouds to the west promised wind and hail which is our usual spring time weather; a bit of all the seasons wrapped up in one. We kept a weather eye on the front but it did little to deter us as, expecting to get wet, we were layered up under our drysuits.

We paddled down to Burfoot Park as a warm up prior to the rescues and stress test on Jason’s sling. I went ahead and jumped in the water to try and see how the sling held up. Jason has rigged it up much like a stirrup and added a quick release buckle should the swimmers foot get entangled in it; something I’ve seen on more then one occasion. Another nice feature is that it clips on the rescuer’s boat life line and then drapes over the swimmers hull pulling the boats together once it’s loaded. We all took turns using it and could find no weak points in the system. Once ‘work’ was out of the way, we then did a bit of play practicing our various rolls.

I was impressed with Theresa who borrowed Jason’s Greenland stick, and under his guidance, was able to pull off rolls with this unfamiliar paddle. Koo-doos on both of them.

We finished the days paddle with a quick trip into Gull Harbor. This was my first time into this protected bay and it was hard to believe I was only a few miles out of downtown Olympia. I sometimes forget how much paddling versatility we have here in Puget Sound.

Fish Tale Brewery. Photograph by Steve Weileman

Twilight found us back at the boat ramp pleasantly fatigued from our outing and hungry. A quick stop at the Fish Tale Brewery for one of their unusual free-range Ostrich burger and a pint topped off a pleasant afternoon among shipmates.