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Old 06-10-2019, 08:03 AM   #15
Portage_Bay
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City: Coupeville Wa.
Vessel Name: Pacific Myst
Vessel Model: West Bay 4500
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 2,413
The Crescent City fuel dock can be a hand full. You'll tie to a high pier and at low tide will have difficulty getting from your boat up to the pier to pay the bill. As you approach the pier you'll see a phone # posted on the fuel dock shack, call before tieing to be sure the attendant is there. And the last time I was there I ran afoul of a local commercial fisherman who was incensed I had the nerve to occupy the dock to take on only 400 gal and delay his work.

Crab pots at night are a serious concern. On my recent trips off the Ca, Or, Wa coast I've had to run out past 100 fathoms to avoid them. And 100 fathoms is no magic number, they'll work deeper if the have to. They will avoid putting their pots on steep slopes. Quite a few of the pot buoys are very old and dark green almost black, very hard to see at night. Most pots have two buoys, read the currents as you dodge them because sometimes the buoy nearest the down line can be just below the surface, go the wrong way and you've got a pot line in your gear. Crabbers generally lay their pots in a straight line. After you've seen two with the same markings it's easy to predict where the rest of that line of pots lie. Carry a sharp knife you can rig to a long pole to cut yourself free. Doing it from the swim step or dingy in a 3 ft or larger sea is not only miserable, it's dangerous.

When rounding Flattery if using the short cut make sure to pass between Tattosh and Duncan rock, not Tattosh and Jones rock. The gap between Tattosh and Jones is wide enough but the wave action and surges can be very nasty in all but the calmest conditions.

One bit of serious advice. If you lack experience making long-ish passages running 24 x 7 think again about your intentions to run all night and not stop. Exhaustion and sleep deprivation lead to bad decisions and dangerous mistakes. You mention available time and weather windows. Don't let pressures external to the passage such as schedules put you in harm's way.
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