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  • Level 2 Paddle - St. Helens to Warrior Rock and Lighted Ships!

Level 2 Paddle - St. Helens to Warrior Rock and Lighted Ships!

  • December 08, 2018
  • 1:45 PM - 5:30 PM
  • Grey Cliffs Waterfront Park at the end of River St. , St. Helens
  • 0

Registration

  • Active club members, including kayaking professional and lifetime. Provisional acceptance, pending approval by the trip organizer
  • Certified Trip Organizers willing to help out, if needed.

Registration is closed

This trip is limited to members with a wet exit certification. To successfully register you will need to sign into your OOPS member account, and your account will need to be a member of the "Wet Exit Certified" group.  Your acceptance is conditional on approval by the Organizer, who may contact you with questions about your skills and equipment.  If the measured water temperature is different enough from that listed below to warrant a change in required immersion protection, the Organizer will contact all participants and the Trips Board member with the update at least a day before the trip.Narrative: The combined Willamette and Columbia River fleets of Christmas Ships will parade along the St. Helens and Columbia City waterfronts Saturday, Dec. 8th, leaving the docks at St. Helens at 6 p.m. We’ll head out in our non-motorized craft well ahead of them and catch their parade from the safety of St. Helens after we've completed our trip and loaded our boats. To add to the fun, there will be fireworks in St. Helens that night—I’m checking with the city to make sure we’ll be in a safe zone at that time.
We’ll be on the water after sunset! Please bring a REQUIRED headlamp, flashlight, or other boat-lighting illumination (see below). Additionally, if you have battery-operated holiday lights that can handle at least splashing water, here is an opportunity to indulge in some holiday spirit and light up your boat with those (in addition to the required illumination noted above). Bring along your air horn, too, if you have one (see below). Safety will be our #1 concern, making it easy for us to achieve goal #2, FUN!
We’ll have our safety chat and launch from Grey Cliffs Waterfront Park at the end of River St. at 2:30 p.m., then head upriver between Sand Island and St. Helens. The parade boats, un-lit, will be docked there already. Our goal is the Warrior Rock Lighthouse on the end of Sauvie Island. Depending on the current and conditions, we may explore a bit of Multnomah Channel as well. Then we’ll head back to Sand Island where we’ll take a break. This will be a great vantage point to watch the sunset and the ships beginning to get ready for their parade. We’ll then paddle through the marina where they’re docked and lighting their boats for a real up-close-and-personal preview of the ships. Because we’ll be on the Columbia River after dark, and there may be power boats in the water with us, we’ll paddle in a very tight formation when leaving the marina and heading back to Grey Cliffs Waterfront Park. We’ll arrive back at Grey Cliffs Waterfront Park around 5:15 p.m. After loading our boats, we should be able to watch the Christmas Ships begin their parade at 6 p.m. Some of us may want to go to a local restaurant after the parade.
This trip is suitable for intermediate and advanced SUPers, canoes with flotation devices, and kayaks 12 ft. and longer. This is a Level 2 trip. You must be wet-exit certified, and you must wear a Sprayskirt. Drysuits absolutely required!
You can read more about the Christmas Ships here: 
http://www.christmasships.org/schedule/columbia-river/6-st-helens-combined?date=2018-12-08-18-00
You can read more about the launch site here: 
https://www.ci.st-helens.or.us/parks/page/grey-cliffs-waterfront-park
Meeting Time: 1:45:00 PM
Launch Time: 2:30:00 PM
Type of activity: Paddle Trip
Put in: Grey Cliffs Waterfront Park at the end of River St. , St. Helens
Take out: Grey Cliffs Waterfront Park
Route Alternative for bad weather: TBD
Required equipment: 
Minimum Immersion protection: Drysuit
Primary Organizer: Chris Mayou
Assistant Organizer(s): David Smith, Marty Martinez
Has organizer paddled here before? Yes
Has organizer led an OOPS paddle here before? Yes
Organizer's first aid and CPR current? Yes
First Aid /CPR Person: 
Maximum number of paddlers: 12 plus additional Trip Organizers
I certify that I understand and will conduct this activity in accordance with the OOPS Activity Policy: Yes
Estimated Air Temperature: 45
Estimated Water Temperature: 50
Estimated Water Time (including breaks/lunch): 3 hours
Tide times & heights: 2018/12/08 Sat 11:57 AM 0 .5 L
2018/12/08 Sat 4:46 PM 3.3 H
2018/12/09 Sun 1:32 AM - 0 .1 L

Current information: Variable. I will know more closer to the Event.
Hazards: Night paddling
Wind strength: Level 1: 0-7 knots (8 mph)
Swell/Surf size: Level 1: Under 1' waves, no breaking waves
Sea state: Level 1: Waves up to the deck seam; water glassy to rippled, no whitecaps
Landing types: Level 1: Frequent easy landing opportunities including gently sloping, sand, gravel or grass
Currents: Level 2: Mild currents (up to 2 knots): current increases / decreases group speed by half
Total distance: Level 1: Up to 6 miles
Open crossing: Level 1: No open crossing
Paddling Environment: 
Overall rating: Level 2
Rating Comments: The only night paddling we will do will be the last half-hour, where we can paddle within 20 ft. of docks or shoreline at all times.


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