Columbia River Bar

For those who have read us folks in the PNW talking about crossing the river bars but can't really envision it, here is a video that will give you an idea of what we're talking about. This is the Columbia River Bar on an it-can-be-way-worse-than-this day. While the cameraman is pretty amazed by it all it's something these commercial fishing boats don't seem to think much about doing. As you watch the video imagine yourself out there with your boat.......

http://www.youtube.com/embed/ByGSMmenPDM?rel=0

Marin said:

This is the Columbia River Bar on an it-can-be-way-worse-than-this day.

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?? That was filmed in New Zealand.

Try googling 'greymouth' or 'grey river bar'. Me-thinks that's New Zealand...

Messy water makes messy pants. Me? I'd wait a few hours until things were a wee bit less jumpy.

I would have punched the second guy in the mouth. I don't know what it is but it happens here as well. You can go fishing 100 miles from the shore and there is always some a hole right on your stern. Watching this vid just pisses me off. How close can the guy get!

Can someone explain that structure projecting from the port side of #8876? A permanent flopper-stopper?

YE GODS Marin how do you find such stuff?

Utterly amazing and at the beginning that guy was actually out on the foredeck! Now there is the most compelling case for flopper stoppers I've ever seen. The trailing boat was abeam to the seas for a bit.

Just amazing.

You'd think these guys would know something about boating and and seamanship and I see proudly on the bow a Navy type anchor. But then regarding seamanship there was the guy on deck and as swampu pointed out they were much too close.

The video was sent to me and the sender said it was the Columbia River and I didn't check any farther.. I wondered about the accent but figured it was a traveling video crew. Sorry about the mislocation. However the river bars here do the same thing and the commercial fishermen look just like this when they cross them coming back in. We've watched them from the jetty at the Columbia.

swampu said:

I would have punched the second guy in the mouth. I don't know what it is but it happens here as well. You can go fishing 100 miles from the shore and there is always some a hole right on your stern. Watching this vid just pisses me off. How close can the guy get!

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The extreme compression of the long lens makes the two boats seem way closer than they actually were. In reality I think there was plenty of distance between them.

manyboats said:

You'd think these guys would know something about boating and and seamanship and I see proudly on the bow a Navy type anchor. But then regarding seamanship there was the guy on deck and as swampu pointed out they were much too close.

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Maybe this situation is routine for those fishermen.

Last year I crewed for a delivery Capt. returning a boat to Portland Ore. from San Juan Is. A 1965 65' Feadship. I was anticipating a lively crossing of the Columbia bar but due to our timing with the tides it was a non event. There was plenty of surf but not in the channel. After a point the skipper says that's it, you just crossed the bar. I was mildly dissapointed. Here is a video and a couple of shots of the Fransus.

I took my Willard 30 (years ago) from Portland to Seattle, crossing the Columbia Bar in the process. I timed it to go out on the high side of the ebb tide and it was a non-event -- just great big swells! The rest of the trip? Well, that's a different story.

dvd

dvd said:

I took my Willard 30 (years ago) from Portland to Seattle, crossing the Columbia Bar in the process. I timed it to go out on the high side of the ebb tide and it was a non-event -- just great big swells! The rest of the trip? Well, that's a different story.

dvd

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Do you mean flood tide? When ever we leave the Golden Gate in San Francisco we always time the crossing of the "potato patch" on a flood tide to reduce steep waves on the swell.

This is a video I found on the Nitnat Narrows west side Vancouver island. Great place for butt pucker moments. Not my video but kinda shows the bar at what I believe to be a small tide drop. You have to get sideways to the rock that sits at the entrance to the bar and time the turn and jump out.

It is the only place to take cover when running from Barkley sound to Renfrew. Years ago running the coast with a compass, charts, CB radio left a few gaps in weather reports, predictions along the coast for me. Used to be all about the fishing.

Getting in with a building sea behind and outflow through the narrows yet not wanting to be out there is well breath taking.


Not a great video but there dont seem to be many around.

the nitinat narrows sept 09 - YouTube


One of my dreams is to the run the oldboat through the narrows and into the lakes.

Marin ya in ?

Giggitoni said:

Do you mean flood tide? When ever we leave the Golden Gate in San Francisco we always time the crossing of the "potato patch" on a flood tide to reduce steep waves on the swell.

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I prefer slack tide. The less current over the shoal the better.

Location? The background voice accent is Australian or New Zealand. Greymouth, if that is the location, is a major town on the west coast of the beautiful South Island of NZ. The Trans Alpine railway(amazing scenery trip popular with tourists) runs to Christchurch.
That is a flopper stopper out on the port side(s). Interesting only one is out. These guys must know the bar.
I thought the last 2 boats were competing. Amazing, but probably all in a day`s work for these guys. Got to get those fish to market fresh.

I think it's the same two boats all the way through the video. The one behind moves across the stern of the first one.

If this is AU or NZ, does anyone know what kind of fishing these boats do? They appeared to have pot pullers beside the wheelhouse which led me to believe they were crab boats coming back in after checking their pots off the WA-OR coast. Obviously that's wrong, but I'd be interested to know what kind of fishing they do. The boats do not seem to be rigged for any sort of net fishing.

Marin said:

If this is AU or NZ, does anyone know what kind of fishing these boats do? They appeared to have pot pullers beside the wheelhouse which led me to believe they were crab boats coming back in after checking their pots.. The boats do not seem to be rigged for any sort of net fishing.

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It could be cray (lobster) fishing. Unsure about NZ, but there is a big cray fishing industry off Western Australia (state) and in Tasmania (southern island state). There is an active live cray export trade,mainly into Asia.
When PeterB finishes his morning coffee we might get better NZ info.

The first boat with one fish out, this semi ridgid style is also popular here in Australia. They use aerofoil shaped vertical s/s bars to cut down resistance. Must admit if that was me I would have stowed the fish as it would have been creating drag on one side of the vessel. Although the other one seemed to be making more heavy weather of it.
That vid has been around for some time as i have seen it on other sites here in Aus.
Fishing wise they look like multi purpose vessels,. trolling outriggers, and also long line shooters on the back deck so probably do various styles of fishing over the seasons.

I think all our boating areas have some serious bar crossings at times.
Here in Qld we have a couple of doozeys, Wide Bay Bar at the south of Fraser Island can be an absolute whacker but at other times a mill pond.
I allways cross on the last of the flood tide (last 2 to 3 hrs) no push aginst the swell and also gives the under flow plenty of time to stop.
One can never be to sure about these things as it only takes one rogue wave to completely upset you day.

Marin said:

For those who have read us folks in the PNW talking about crossing the river bars but can't really envision it, here is a video that will give you an idea of what we're talking about. This is the Columbia River Bar on an it-can-be-way-worse-than-this day. While the cameraman is pretty amazed by it all it's something these commercial fishing boats don't seem to think much about doing. As you watch the video imagine yourself out there with your boat.......

http://www.youtube.com/embed/ByGSMmenPDM?rel=0

Click to expand...

oh goodie i love bar crossings

Wow. Thanks Marin. Now everyone knows what i mean by bar crossing. Much more fun than even a roller coaster.
This is why Oregon Dungeness crab fishing is now listed as the most dangerous job. Used to be Alaskas Bering sea fishing but the last three years more commercial fisermen have died crabbing in Oregon than were lost fishing in Alaskas Berring sea.
The last day i crossed the bar at Coos Bay maybe a month ago two commercial fishermen visited Davy J just north of me crossing the bar at Tillomook Oregon. I tell you they can get hariy in a heartbeat.

Yes, that would be the Geymouth, or possibly Westport bar off the west coast of the South Island of NZ for sure. Those guys do it all the time, and they keep together so they can help each other if one of then comes unstuck. All the same, they have lost some boats coming in on a really bad day. But its their living, so somebody's got to do it.
I'm not sure exactly what they mainly catch, but the fact one brave sole on the rear boat took a photo before diving back inside suggests the waves were even impressing them a bit...

I've crossed bars many times on my way to the mens room and only fallen down once. Don't know what all the fuss is about.

Here are some North Sea fishing boats

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2239231/North-Sea-trawlermen-Fishing-boat-battered-waves-brave-crew-carry-dangerous-job-world.html

Peter B said:

Yes, that would be the Geymouth, or possibly Westport bar off the west coast of the South Island of NZ for sure. Those guys do it all the time, and they keep together so they can help each other if one of then comes unstuck. All the same, they have lost some boats coming in on a really bad day. But its their living, so somebody's got to do it.
I'm not sure exactly what they mainly catch, but the fact one brave sole on the rear boat took a photo before diving back inside suggests the waves were even impressing them a bit...

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The video mentioned the Columbia river bar. http://www.oregonstateparks.org/images/pdf/graveyard_pacific.pdf

This isnt even the worst of Oregons bars

Do you mean flood tide?

No, I meant at highest slack tide, just as the ebb starts so I catch it at the deepest possible water, get some boost from the tidal flow and get over the bar before the waves start forming.

dvd

dvd said:

Do you mean flood tide?

No, I meant at highest slack tide, just as the ebb starts so I catch it at the deepest possible water, get some boost from the tidal flow and get over the bar before the waves start forming.

dvd

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Highest slack tide can be just before flood tide. What you meant is slack tide at high tide right?

I think dvd meant what he wrote. He departed the Columbia River for the ocean at the start of the ebb tide. So he basically had slack water but with a degree of current (plus the river current) pushing him along. I believe when things can get rough is when you have the river current colliding with the flooding tide.

We do the same thing when we traverse Dodd Narrows south of Nanaimo. We try to time it so we arrive at the narrows just as the tide is turning and there is a wee bit of a current going in our direction although we have gone through with a bit of current against us. Slack water is very short in narrows like this so given all the other variables in timing a run to get to a certain spot at a certain time the chances are good you'll have to deal with something of a current at Dodd.

I took the first photo as we were approaching Dodd from the south. The second photo of Dodd in full song is off the web.

We day hopped our way down the WA/OR coast and learned from the locals that with the prevailing on shore winds, "flood was fine, ebb was evil".

bfloyd4445 said:

...This isnt even the worst of Oregons bars

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What commercial bar crossing is worse?

dvd said:

Do you mean flood tide?

No, I meant at highest slack tide, just as the ebb starts so I catch it at the deepest possible water, get some boost from the tidal flow and get over the bar before the waves start forming.

dvd

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Got it! I have only crossed San Francisco bar ( the "Potato Patch") so I have limited experience with other locations. However, we find that it's best to cross the potato patch during the end of the flood to minimize steep and close waves and swell coming in off the Pacific. I'd rather push against the last of the ebb rather than suffer the consequences.

Ray Muldrew

ancora said:

Can someone explain that structure projecting from the port side of #8876? A permanent flopper-stopper?

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isnt that a bird? a type of stabilizer

Yes, it was the Greymouth Bar, NZ....More info here...
Greymouth bar braved by experienced fisherman - NZ News - Video - 3 News