My Review of WWW/Port Alberni
Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2010 10:00 am
Thought I'd share my unbaised thoughts on the Wild West Watersports - Port Alberni site after finally getting a chance to sail there.
Drive - Its just around 200 km from Victoria to Port Alberni, that makes the drive considerably longer in distance when compared to Nitinat, but since you are going 100 km/h almost the entire way I did it in a hair over two hours, so quicker than Nitinat and I didn't hit one pot hole or have to wash my car when I got home.
Launch - Yes there is a pier, and most people I think are walking down the rocks beside the pier and swimming out to the windline (which yesterday was about 30-40 feet off the beach) which is quite easy. After intially going this route I opted to return and exit the water by the more adventurous route - the big blue pontoon at the end of the pier. This thing is a riot, it makes exiting and entering the water fun, especially on a low tide like yesterday. It's actually really easy, just take your time to get your balance and get a feel for the swagger of the shaft. Entering the water this way earns huge style points and impresses the local wildlife. To get back up it, first hop on the end of the pontoon whilst holding on to your boom, shake and shimmy your board towards the pontoon lift it out and you are good to go. You - Sail- Board. Stay low and probably stop for a second when a big gust comes and if you fall off, just make sure you jump the opposite way your gear is going (I never fell off, or even came close).
Boat Traffic - Pretty similiar to what I expierenced at the gorge, except the boats are smaller. I also made the mistake of trying to boost a wave several feet downwind from a 100 ft Fishing boat on the way out of Harbour which had a massive windshadow. Instead I ended up in the water with no wind and it smelled like fish. Stick to launching waves on large boats heading IN to port, not OUT.
The Good Stuff - The water is warm and really fresh, like Nitinat in June. I didn't see a single Jellyfish. I don't know what it is exactly, but the water is way smoother here than Nitinat, at least it was yesterday. There just aren't those same 1 ft "curb" like ankle breakers all the way there and back. The wind really smooths out the waves and sometimes you can find a long piece of swell and get several turns in on it, a lot like the Gorge. The exception is up by Polly's Point when the tide is running, there were some nasty jacked up standing waves here yesterday that are worth avoiding, but were also jump-able if you got the timing right. The angle of waves set up so that you can hit waves all the way back on the starboard tack (I think I have that right?) with ease, you don't have to charge way up wind like at Nitinat. Although the reach is shorter than at Nitinat, it was not uncommon to be able to boost up to 10 quality ramps on each reach so long as you carried your speed out of each jump. Comparing a 4.7 day here to a day at Nitinat, the waves are considerably larger, probably twice the size (or more) in most cases, and they don't seem to get blown out the same way as at the lake. Because there isn't the same chop in between waves I found it much easier to maintain speed and charge at every ramp I saw. Yesterday the wind was as steady as it gets across the whole reach from the Pier to the log booms with the exception of inside of the pier. Just before the pier the wind seems to crank up a notch and if you go a bit further it changes direction. For the life of me I could not figure out what was going wrong gybing here, until Rob mentioned the wind shifts a bit. Starting doing it a bit earlier and I was fine. It really messes things up, so keep your turning to 20 feet off the end of the Blue Shaft, then it's fine, in fact you will experience some of the best crazy high speed turns here.
Overall Impression - This place is really fun, it's safe to say it's more fun than Nitinat in terms of the sailable terrain, at least yesterday. My buddy Jeff showed up and when I came ashore the first thing he said is that it looked like it was/I was having way more fun, boosting more, slashing more, when compared to what he saw the 4 times he's seen me sail at Nitinat. Your hosts Sandy, Rob and Matt ooozzzeee a kind of contagious stoke you just don't find anywhere.
Disclaimer - I am basing this comparison off of 1 day at Wild West Watersports and 20 or so days at Nitinat so take it for what it is worth. But I will be back.
Drive - Its just around 200 km from Victoria to Port Alberni, that makes the drive considerably longer in distance when compared to Nitinat, but since you are going 100 km/h almost the entire way I did it in a hair over two hours, so quicker than Nitinat and I didn't hit one pot hole or have to wash my car when I got home.
Launch - Yes there is a pier, and most people I think are walking down the rocks beside the pier and swimming out to the windline (which yesterday was about 30-40 feet off the beach) which is quite easy. After intially going this route I opted to return and exit the water by the more adventurous route - the big blue pontoon at the end of the pier. This thing is a riot, it makes exiting and entering the water fun, especially on a low tide like yesterday. It's actually really easy, just take your time to get your balance and get a feel for the swagger of the shaft. Entering the water this way earns huge style points and impresses the local wildlife. To get back up it, first hop on the end of the pontoon whilst holding on to your boom, shake and shimmy your board towards the pontoon lift it out and you are good to go. You - Sail- Board. Stay low and probably stop for a second when a big gust comes and if you fall off, just make sure you jump the opposite way your gear is going (I never fell off, or even came close).
Boat Traffic - Pretty similiar to what I expierenced at the gorge, except the boats are smaller. I also made the mistake of trying to boost a wave several feet downwind from a 100 ft Fishing boat on the way out of Harbour which had a massive windshadow. Instead I ended up in the water with no wind and it smelled like fish. Stick to launching waves on large boats heading IN to port, not OUT.
The Good Stuff - The water is warm and really fresh, like Nitinat in June. I didn't see a single Jellyfish. I don't know what it is exactly, but the water is way smoother here than Nitinat, at least it was yesterday. There just aren't those same 1 ft "curb" like ankle breakers all the way there and back. The wind really smooths out the waves and sometimes you can find a long piece of swell and get several turns in on it, a lot like the Gorge. The exception is up by Polly's Point when the tide is running, there were some nasty jacked up standing waves here yesterday that are worth avoiding, but were also jump-able if you got the timing right. The angle of waves set up so that you can hit waves all the way back on the starboard tack (I think I have that right?) with ease, you don't have to charge way up wind like at Nitinat. Although the reach is shorter than at Nitinat, it was not uncommon to be able to boost up to 10 quality ramps on each reach so long as you carried your speed out of each jump. Comparing a 4.7 day here to a day at Nitinat, the waves are considerably larger, probably twice the size (or more) in most cases, and they don't seem to get blown out the same way as at the lake. Because there isn't the same chop in between waves I found it much easier to maintain speed and charge at every ramp I saw. Yesterday the wind was as steady as it gets across the whole reach from the Pier to the log booms with the exception of inside of the pier. Just before the pier the wind seems to crank up a notch and if you go a bit further it changes direction. For the life of me I could not figure out what was going wrong gybing here, until Rob mentioned the wind shifts a bit. Starting doing it a bit earlier and I was fine. It really messes things up, so keep your turning to 20 feet off the end of the Blue Shaft, then it's fine, in fact you will experience some of the best crazy high speed turns here.
Overall Impression - This place is really fun, it's safe to say it's more fun than Nitinat in terms of the sailable terrain, at least yesterday. My buddy Jeff showed up and when I came ashore the first thing he said is that it looked like it was/I was having way more fun, boosting more, slashing more, when compared to what he saw the 4 times he's seen me sail at Nitinat. Your hosts Sandy, Rob and Matt ooozzzeee a kind of contagious stoke you just don't find anywhere.
Disclaimer - I am basing this comparison off of 1 day at Wild West Watersports and 20 or so days at Nitinat so take it for what it is worth. But I will be back.
