Yes you can tack, or cut it close like I did and rip your sail! What is strange is the height of the breakwater is 15ft + higher than the road and way higher than the parking lot. Supposedly they built for the highest water height ever recorded, when Harrison itself was underwater and you could take a boat all the way to Aggasiz (in the early 1900s). The word is that they had some money from the Feds, and had to spend it so they built this monstrosity. It would save the boats in the marina but would do nothing to save the town of Harrison itself. Would have made Harrison an epic sailing place if we could drive on top with a roundabout at the end for parking like Squamish. # of sailors is way down this year.
no smashing at Harrison, pretty tame and folks never launched on the upwind side due to the boats etc. but this makes the launch from the beach probably next to impossible....I would endeavor to make a trail on top and get off the end of the thing into the water KC
Kus - we all launch on the upwind side now....impossible to launch from the beach like before. It is kind of freaky sailing out as you get closer and closer to the wall, then the wind backwinds off this wall of doom and dumps you in the freezing water! Makes sailing a smaller board impossible now as you need the float to tack or chug upwind by sinking the rail and schlogging upwind. No walking on top as it is made up of huge, jumbled, widely spaced boulders = no ability to walk on it with gear.
seriously though i wonder if this structure is in response to some of the landslide/ seismic risk and tsunami hazard from up the valley.