[alanw]

Originally Posted by DanaPT

add wind and swell and those miles add up. It can be a trek.

When going out at dark, I stay close to break wall north to outside of big boilers. Here, I usually take the drive out and paddle over very heavy patches of kelp until I break on through to the other side.

Yep, it's taken me up to an hour to paddle 1.5 miles from harbor to headlands with headwinds and swells. If I stop for a breather then I just lose ground quickly so once I commit it's a non-stop trek. Only 25-30 minutes coming back though with wind to my back. Paddling a barge has it's drawbacks.