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Bellingham Weather
Bellingham SUP Explores Deception Pass
It’s one of the most technically challenging pieces of water in Puget Sound. It’s situated between Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands, flows like a river at up to 8+ knots, and is spanned by two steel arch bridges rising 180 feet off the water. It’s smack in the middle of the most visited State Park in all of Washington. And it’s known as Deception Pass!
This December, for the 4th year in a row, over 100 kayaks, outrigger canoes, surfskis, and because of today’s exploratory outing, now Stand Up Paddleboards (and “prone” paddleboards — the kind where you lay on your tummy or kneel and paddle with your hands) will line up and see who can make it from Bowman Bay, through the Pass and back to the beach the fastest!
Today was the exploratory outing to see if SUP’ing the Pass was feasible for the race. Heather and I and 7 other paddle boarders were joined by 10 safety sea kayakers for the 6-mile challenge. We feared conditions like last year’s race, which included head-high waves, heavy winds, near-freezing temperatures and an almost 50% racer drop-out rate!
What awaited us, though, was glassy calm water, blue skies, T-shirt friendly air temps and a specatacular day all around. Bellingham SUP racer Beau Whitehead set the pace and clocked a 1hr 14min finish time. It wasn’t a race, though, and the bulk of the group took their time, shot some photos, stayed together for safey and enjoyed the world class scenery in all its glory. It won’t necessarily mimic the conditions of race day in December, but it was enough to open the doors for SUP entry to the race — race day weather permitting!!!
IF YOU’RE A HIGHLY EXPERIENCED PADDLER and want to try the race, you can read more about it and sign up at the Outdoors Adventure Center website. If you’re not into mid-winter, extreme kayak racing but want to watch the intrepid souls who are, all from rock-solid grounds of the surrounding State Park, click HERE for plenty of info to get you there.
