lamont
Contributor
Am I reading the current tables correctly? It appears to me that they hit the site at peak current on a very low current cycle, but still at max current.
This page suggests a current offset which would put them at slack for Duncan Rock:
Duncan Rock
Current observations:
Current Station: Strait of Juan de Fuca (Entrance)
Slack before ebb: +150 minutes, at least on minor floods turning to minor ebbs
---------- Post added August 29th, 2015 at 02:45 PM ----------
I'm confused by the amount of current discussed at this site on that day. When I was there current wasn't a big factor. If there was a lot of current I don't see how anyone was staying at the site to do the dive in the first place.
I'm also unclear how one could search for 1 minute effectively and then come up while someone else was "blown away".
I'm just trying to picture the scenario. I'm unclear if the current was enough of a surprise that everyone just cancelled or cut short their planned dive or did others conduct their dive as planned.
Something was said about the others coming up and calling it a "wild ride" so I guess current must have greatly limited the planned dive?
Peter posted that the current on the surface was not bad, which is probably why the dive was not called on the surface. Surface conditions don't necessarily translate to conditions at depth. It can be nasty on the top and calm on the bottom or vice versa. In an area with lots of bottom contouring and canyons currents can be unpredictable (even along pretty smooth shorelines I've seen weird currents that haven't behaved like I expected).
Also if she embolized or had a medical event then "blown away" likely means "rendered unconscious and taken away by the current".