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Wind. It really blows.

Joined
Aug 22, 2013
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Location
Red Lake, Ontario
As a solo paddler wind can be a pain in the arms. What is not problem at all for a tandem paddler becomes daunting for the solo traveller. But this past week on a non canoeing trip into the woods for an unsuccessful moose hunt, the winds were strong all week culminating in the last day where I just got fed up and packed everything up and came home. Didn't help that I ended up with the flu or ebola or maybe even worse a man cold (reference here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbmbMSrsZVQ)

I have a large Eureka tent (6 person version) and for the first time ever I used all the extra wind tie outs on the tent and still it was nip and tuck if the tent was going to get flattened or not. The wind caused two heads to snap off those large yellow plastic tent pegs and numerous pegs getting ripped out of the ground. The tarp was good for the first few days but when the wind changed direction and doubled in strength it was impossible to secure. Waking up in the middle of the night to re-secure the tent fly is a b*tch. And I don't sleep as the tents is rattling away anyways. I listen to the wind building and wondering if this will be the gust that flattens the tent or rips the tree out of the ground behind the tent and onto my head. I have experienced storms with possibly stronger winds but for long sustained periods like this. It was windy for 4 days then downright annoying for the last 30 hours.

I have never travelled in the arctic where I understand the winds are typically stronger. Has anybody had their tent flattened by the wind?
 
I hate the wind. It takes the fun out of everything. It really puts me on edge when it's howling. Being outside when it's calm is relaxing. So much to see and hear. When the wind is blowing it shuts out everything. All you can hear is the roar. Sorry to hear it stuck with you so long on your trip.

Alan
 
Ya, yesterday was a write-off. Would have been fun canoeing downwind in the huge swells out on the lake. Were you camped in a clearing or something? Usually, no matter how strong the wind is, once in the bush, it diminished quite a bit at ground level, just got to watch for those dis-embowelers falling off the top into you.

People think I'm sarcastic on bear threads when I say the best defence at night for bears is ear plugs. Same goes for wind. It will keep me up all night, so i just shut it out. If you can't hear it, it ain't there.
 
Saw a lot of tents get wrecked by the wind in the high altitude mountains. I bought a North Face tent designed for high wind. A good investment.
 
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Not a terribly open spot. This was the set up when the wind was blowing in to the site. Tarp worked great, the wind changed direction when I was out hunting one day and just about doubled in speed and the tarp was done.
 
Looks pretty open to me but your tent is way higher than mine and so too your tarp. A good basecamp for hunting for sure but there are a lot of ways wind can lift up both tent and tarp.

Never been much of a fan of those plastic stakes.. Nor grommeted tarps I've seen several shredded by high winds ( about 80 kph) My Cooke tarp held up during one windy day in the Apostle Islands. Winds were about 75 kph and we were on top of an esker. We had a Mountain Hardware Trango tent.. Its a mountaineering tent. It has Easton poles.

We have had fiberglass poles on our car camping tent snap a few times. Those sort of poles don't hold up in winds.
 
Wind is the worst. I can convince myself that rain is an adventure. Only seen a little snow while canoe camping, and that felt special. Wind is always a demoralizing test of patience. Once past the gusty stage, I retreat into my tent to wait it out. Our Cooke tarp is incredibly strong, and we've hunkered down with hot chocolate watching maelstrom, but eventually I have to crawl into my sleeping bag. It's said that there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing (or something like that). Not much we can do about fighting wind. Memaquay might have a point about ear plugs. I tie down my canoe and stash the gear under it. I don't use poles, so only have rope and 2 tarps to bother with. I'll either take them down or set them at a low profile. I'll consider adding a good book and ear plugs for the next trip.
 
Two years ago I was running the lower Colorado R in Feb on the CA/AZ border. One afternoon the wind came up so we pushed through it to a decent camp. The wind continued to build that night blowing over 50 mph with gusts to around 70. I was afraid my tent was going to blow away with me and my dog in it. I took down all the poles and slept pretty well in the flattened tent. It kept the blowing sand off and added some warmth.

We hunkered down the next day, and did not travel. By the third day conditions were back to normal, with upstream winds in the afternoon.
 
This post has me wondering on the etymology usage as 'blows' as a negative connotation. I wonder if it came from a paddler who was fed up with the wind? I doubt it, but I couldn't find any history.
 
This post has me wondering on the etymology usage as 'blows' as a negative connotation. I wonder if it came from a paddler who was fed up with the wind? I doubt it, but I couldn't find any history.


Of course birds like to soar on the wind..:D
 
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