Always thought these Burke Seabrake anti surfing/broaching devices looked really good for controlling ones arse end in conditions we're talking about;
Seabrake | Burke Marine
The conditions here in Douglas Channel can be dangerous for the uninitiated. It's a 60 mile long twisting channel studded with large islands that cuts into the Coast Mountains and is subject to brisk afternoon inflow winds in the spring and summer, strong outflow winds in the winter, and lines up with southwesterly storms in the fall.
It's the islands and steep shorelines that make it unpredictable for those who aren't used to it. On one side of an island the channel can be very curvy which doesn't allow large waves to form, but the other side could have 10 miles of fetch.
The larger waves bend around the end of the island, and now you're into waves crossing each other at about a 30 degree angle...but it can get worse...because those two waves sets sometimes bounce off of steep rock wall shorelines and now there are waves coming from 4 directions
We've seen it so bad that it caused what we called 'haystacking', where the wave formed pyramids which grew so fast and tall that their tops exploded into spray...made for an exciting rodeo ride in our sea kayaks!
If it's not too bad, our method is to try and line up the next piece of channel or bay at a comfortable angle and stay in the trough...or speed up slightly and slide sideways through the trough to get a better angle...or if it's really confined we sometimes wait for a flat spot to turn and take it diagonally on the bow, then turn again when it's a straighter shot downwind...or some such combination.
Like psneeld said; there comes a time when you stop playing with the waves because they're starting to play with you. The trick is to bail into a bay and anchor before that happens.
