Interest in cruising the rest of Alaska?

[BandB]

Crossing the Gulf of Alaska might sound daunting but think about it like this.

Almost Every boat over 30’ in the harbors of Southcentral Alaska got here on their own bottoms. A few hundred boats, and they all made it.

Your boat can make it here as well... with a little planning and patience.

The Gulf Of Alaska is open ocean, no better, and no worse than any other open ocean that many or most of us enjoy already.

The only real challenge is the two rather long open ocean runs you have to make.

Coming north you will leave protected waters at the western entrance to Cross Sound. Here you will find a unique Alaskan Village called Elfin Cove. This is a must see town. The entire town is built on a boardwalk surrounding a large lagoon where the inner harbor is located.

I am not a fan of the inner harbor. That is because the entrance is extremely narrow and is only passable at high slack tide. The outer “harbor” really consists of a approx 150’ long dock and a fuel dock. The times I have been there I have found a spot on the long dock to tie up. This is very protected but if memory serves it has no power available.

You have to spend a day at Elfin Cove, just wandering around. This is where you wait for the weather for your first part of the gulf.

I like to make the run from Elfin Cove directly to Yakutat. The distance is about 150NM so plan to leave early so that you can make it to Yakutat in daylight if possible. The run is pretty much to the North, making it fairly easy since most of the time the wind and waves will be from the south or east.

Yakutat bay is Huge, and the town has a pretty nice little harbor. The only challenge is that the harbor is a cove over from the main town. We found it easier to take the skiff to town than walk. There is a cab service in Yakutat, and a couple of stores, and resturauants. There is fuel available as well, and you will probably need to fill up.

Yakutat is the jumping off point for your big Gulf Crossing. This is 220 NM with no where to go so watch your weather carefully. This is a much more east to west crossing than you imagine, and much of the time you will be dealing with a beam sea, so really watch your weather. No good will come from getting in a hurry.

On a nice day I like to plan on leaving at dawn. At 8 knots this puts you back in protected waters approx 27 hours later. In a flat day this is a Fantastic trip. Choose wrong on your departure and it can be pure hell, just like any other ocean crossing. No better, no worse.

Once you enter Hinchinbrook Entrance you are home free. You can rest up at either Garden Cove, Or Zycoff Bay and start exploring.

If you need fuel the closest place is Cordova. I am not such a fan of Cordova’s fuel dock but I love the little town. If you need parts I found one of the best supplied marine hardware stores i have ever seen in Cordova. This is the home of the Copper River Red Salmon fishing fleet. These Red Salmon are sought after World Wide.

Next post... if there is interest is how to navigate around Prince William Sound and local weather.

Wifey B: Thanks for offering some enlightenment to others. We saw everyone going to SE Alaska and hit us about all the rest they were missing. The "rest of Alaska" is to be respected but not feared. You do look for good windows, just like any other crossings.

In our Alaskan summer (although felt a bit wintry) we went to Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Juneau, Glacier Park, Skagway, Haines, Valdez, Seward, Kodiak and Sitka. All so beautiful. Yes, we had 50 hour crossings but weather within 50-60 hours is very predictable. I'd say several overnights but that's really deceiving. Yes, there is sunrise and sunset and a technical day of close to 18 hours and then you toss in the hour before and after and now you're to 20 hours of daylight. However, I learned a new term, Nautical Twilight. What is it? All the rest of the night when you can see just fine and it's never completely dark.

We do intend to return and go even further. We only touched on what was there. Left us longing for more.

For the record, there are many times more boats smaller than Kevin's there than larger. In fact, we went on tours in the area in smaller boats than ours. We had a great time in Prince William Sound with Chugach Coastal Cruising. Wonderful way to see Columbia Glacier.

Next time we must have two to three times as long. SE Alaska is beautiful but it's only the start.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fla...flag of Alaska,an animal indigenous to Alaska.

https://youtu.be/NJeWLMFKwcU

 

[kthoennes]

This is bad thread drift I know but one of our favorite other states is Rhode Island, which also has a horrendous state song. Not as bad as SD, but close. Rhode Island, It's for Me! Funny how some "official" (or technically unofficial) songs break out above the rest, like the Flag Song or Walzing Matilda. Well, the Brits have a pile of breakout songs, maybe more than any others for whatever reason. I was in a pub in Oxford one night and I started to recite Jerusalem by Blake and by the second line everybody in the place stood up and sang the rest of it. Even their lesser-knowns are memorable like Men of Harlech (okay, Welsh) but the vast majority of official and unofficial songs in the world -- thoroughly unmemorable and unknown and unloved. Only a handful bring tears to (some) eyes.

 

[AlaskaProf]

songs break out above the rest, like the Flag Song or Walzing Matilda. ... Only a handful bring tears to (some) eyes.

Oh Canada.

 

[MurrayM]

Oh Canada.

I submit to you, as an unofficial anthem, Gordon Lightfoot's Canadian Railroad Trilogy. I'm lucky enough to live where original green dark forests can still be found...in pockets and side valleys, but close by. Good song with a warning tone.

 

[AlaskaProf]

Only a handful bring tears to (some) eyes.

Well, I have to say the South Dakota song brought tears to mine.


I think Rule Brittania fits your model, although I speak strictly academically, being enough Irish feel to ambivalent at best.

 

[kthoennes]

I have to say Billy Joel's Downeaster Alexa is another song that always chokes me up, kind of an anthem for Long Island Sound. All the places I sailed as a teenager and undergrad in the summers in college. That gray/green water of Long Island Sound. Connecticut River summers, out under the Old Lyme railroad bridge and off to Sag Harbor if the wind was good and I didn't get spit out by Plum Gut. It's a gift from God I survived those trips in an open Blue Jay with no motor, but the sailing was exhilarating. Good thing my parents didn't know. I think I only turtled once, just I past Saybrook, and rolled it back over. In 2015 I did part of that run with 600 horsepower and 14 tons, completely stunned I was ever foolhardy enough to sail across the Sound with 10 inches of freeboard. But it was glorious with my bare feet in the hike-out straps.

 

[AlaskaProf]

Wifey B: T
In our Alaskan summer (although felt a bit wintry)

One of my employees at ANC was a third-generation Anchorage-ite (a very exclusive cohort, in 1915, Anchorage was a railroad tent-camp)


Anyway, he married a Californian and brought her home at the beginning of November, very fearful that she couldn't adapt to the winter.


She loved it, the novelty of the snow, the skiing, the hoar-frost, her first true winters. Along about mid-July, she asked him, "When does summer arrive" His response:...uh... this (gray, 55 degrees) is about...it.


She went home to Monterey and divorced him.

 

[BandB]

One of my employees at ANC was a third-generation Anchorage-ite (a very exclusive cohort, in 1915, Anchorage was a railroad tent-camp)


Anyway, he married a Californian and brought her home at the beginning of November, very fearful that she couldn't adapt to the winter.


She loved it, the novelty of the snow, the skiing, the hoar-frost, her first true winters. Along about mid-July, she asked him, "When does summer arrive" His response:...uh... this (gray, 55 degrees) is about...it.


She went home to Monterey and divorced him.

Wifey B: Certainly helped knowing that after the trip I'd be flying home for three weeks in Paradise with 80 degree weather and bikinis.

 

[Porgy]

Well, speaking of thread drift, Gordon Lightfoot and boats...

Several years ago when I was done after a few days at a racetrack in southern Michigan I thought I’d drive around the state for a couple days. I ended up at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum where I heard they had the bell from the Edmund Fitzgerald. Nice museum at Whitefish Point, they play “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” on a nonstop loop. I walk the museum and back to the entrance not having seen the bell. I stopped and turned around- it’s actually the first thing you see entering but I managed to walk right by it.

The haunting song playing, the ship’s bell right there, you’re at Whitefish Point. If that doesn’t put a lump in your throat, you aren’t human.

 

[otnot]

Don't get me wrong, I love Alaska or I wouldn't have spent the last 50r+ years up here. But my joints are getting stiff and warmer waters are starting to sound pretty good about now with the daylight down to 4 hours. I've decided that I'm kinda like Sam Mcgee from Tennessee where the cotton blooms and blows. I don't want to die in the cold. LOL
It is a special place with special people but it's changed a lot. Too damned many southerners moving up here bringing with them their southern ways. Now day's you have to lock your doors.
I remember when my family moved up here, nailed to a tree was a hood of a car spray painted with "Pilgrims Go Home" now I know what it meant and how the old timers felt about the cheechako's that were moving in.
There's still a few old timers left around here but there's fewer every year. The oldest is Mildred and she just turned 101 and still lives by herself on the Kasilof river.
One of our neighbors was a man named Zeke Shadura. He was born in Kenai about 100 years ago. He was a bull of a man. Half native half Russian. Spent his whole life commerical fishing Cook Inlet and he lived to be 95. He used to row his 20 ft plank skiff full of fish to the cannery in Kenai to deliver his catch. I watched him one time when he was in his 70's row his skiff full of nets 1/2 mile across a mud flat to get to the waters edge to set his nets.
Another old timer Herman Hermanson who was born here as well used to trap up on Skilak Lake and on Friday night would snowshoe to Kenai for the dance and before he would sober up start back for his cabin 30 miles away.
Another old timer lived up on Tustumena lake and every spring he would row his milk cow 18 miles across the lake and down the river to his summer fish camp just so the bears wouldn't kill his cow. Then in the fall he would use the cow to pull his dory back up the river with his winter supplies.
They were tough people back then.
One time when I was a kid, we were working down by the river and it was so foggy you couldn't see to the other side and I heard an outboard coming up the river with the tide. It turns out it was a family that was setnetting North of the Forelands and were trying to get to Anchorage in an open skiff but the fog had set in and between the fog and the tides they ended up in the Kasilof River. Only missed Anchorage by 30 miles. Well ma and pa fed them breakfast and we filled up their gas cans and when the fog lifted and the tide changed they continued the 80 mile trip north to Anchorage.
So if your ever up here in Alaska stop by for a cup of coffee the pot's always on and the stories are free.

 

[Goldcar]

I’m all in. We hope to cruise SE Alaska in the coming years. Love to hear your stories, suggestions and what to do and not do

 

[Salish Nomad]

I wouldn't mind revisiting Lituya Bay. At my age, seventyfive, probably not crossing the gulf again.

 

[pbolay]

I have cruised to SE AK from Anacortes , WA and loved every minute of it . Would a Nordic Tug 32 carrying 200 gallons of fuel be able to hop scotch to Prince William Sound and out to the Aleutians ? I have driven to Tuk , Northwest Territories , but would like to go by water north and west to the Aleutians .

 

[Retriever]

We're planning on crossing the Gulf of Alaska and exploring Prince William Sound and maybe beyond this summer. Actually, we planned to last summer, but COVID intervened.

The current thinking is to try to stop in Lituya Bay, Yakutat, and maybe Icy Bay if conditions make sense for that.

I've spent quite a bit of time in Southeast Alaska and love it, but looking forward to seeing new places.

 

[firehoser75]

Sam,
Are you leading a flotilla that far this summer, or breaking off and "going it alone"?
Just curious.

 

[Retriever]

Sam,
Are you leading a flotilla that far this summer, or breaking off and "going it alone"?
Just curious.

COVID permitting, I'm planning to do a flotilla like in past years. We'll drop the group in Sitka or Juneau and then try to get over to Prince William Sound ourselves.

 

[AKDoug]

I have cruised to SE AK from Anacortes , WA and loved every minute of it . Would a Nordic Tug 32 carrying 200 gallons of fuel be able to hop scotch to Prince William Sound and out to the Aleutians ? I have driven to Tuk , Northwest Territories , but would like to go by water north and west to the Aleutians .

You would need to pick a fuel efficient cruising speed, in the 4-5 mpg range, to make the jump from Yakutat to Cordova with a safety reserve. It's normal to have a head current along the coast, roughly a knot against you when going North.

I did it in a 24' Bayliner with 90 gallon fuel tank and eight five gallon gas cans, averaging around 3 mpg but with no reserve by the time I hit Cordova. The water and weather were perfect, running into a head sea could have caused me to fall short.

 

[trawlercap]

Sorry for my absence, (If I start a thread i should check in) I'll get a big cup of tea and read the posts. Just enjoyed our first 6 days onboard. Getting the new name was high priority.

 

[trawlercap]

I have cruised to SE AK from Anacortes , WA and loved every minute of it . Would a Nordic Tug 32 carrying 200 gallons of fuel be able to hop scotch to Prince William Sound and out to the Aleutians ? I have driven to Tuk , Northwest Territories , but would like to go by water north and west to the Aleutians .

The Alaska Peninsula and Shelikof Strait Kodiak Island are riddled with tiny villages and fish processors that are active in summer. They all use diesel on land and water. From Dutch Harbor west it gets skinny on population and fuel. Village of Nikolski would be typical, small, remote, limited dock if any. You may get fuel brought to you in a native skiff in barrels, part of the fun...

Adak is about it going west. 10k people once stationed there. Reagan spend's $7 Billion (with a B!) in the 80's..abandon now, but fish stations and few residents. Farther west is no man's land. Awesome country, but one of the most remote spots on the planet. As far west as New Zealand is Attu. Much closer to Russia and Japan than the lower 48.

 

[slindbeck]

Loving Alaska

Delighted to see this thread. I'm 55 years into my life in Alaska -- not born here, but got here as soon as I could. Some of my happiest days have been cruising Prince William Sound. I bought my Grand Banks 42 in Tacoma in 2018, brought it to SE Alaska in 2019, and then across the Gulf of Alaska to PWS this past summer. It's now in Seward on the hard for winter. Will look forward to more learning here on weather info sources, great anchorages, etc. Thanks for launching the conversation!

 

[Captainv40]

Count Me In

I am very interested in cruising Alaska. With my Grand Banks Classic 42, old but in sound condition, and a range of over 1,200 KM, I only made it from home port in San Francisco up to Prince Rupert first time, but hope to explore all of Alaska ultimately. My wife and I have spent decades exploring the South Pacific by sailboat, so a couple of days at sea does not bother us much, but would really like to draw on experience of other members for Alaska cruising.

 

[slindbeck]

As an aside, I'm interested in where you keep your boat in the Bay Area. My in-laws are there and sometimes I think wintering there would be nice ...

 

[Captainv40]

Slindbeck,
I have a berth in the West basin of SF Marina, BUT took 15 years on waiting list to get it. I see empty berths here, however, that should be available short term thru Harbor Master (no direct sub-lets allowed). If I’m around would be fun to meet.

 

[trawlercap]

https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-176.24,58.56,1316

I lifted this image just now. Weather is a big deal when cruising Alaska. Understanding it, and how it forms up, and tracks will help in many ways. I'll shoot to do a live face book or zoom thing on weather. Just too much to cover in posts.

I like this program, click on the bottom left to get the menu, it's incredibly powerful. Another is Windy.com I like this one better.

Siberian air is the coldest densest on the planet this time of year. It spills into the "warm" (34º) Bering Sea and mixes it up into another storm. "The cradle of storms"
East side of the continent is Russia/Japan is bitter cold, after the air crosses the Pacific it warms to a rain forest/marine climate. Same as air coming out of Canada's interior, it spills into the north Atlantic bitter cold, and warms before it reaches Great Briton.
In the live version of the link, https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-176.24,58.56,1316 it's classic cold dense high spilling off the Arctic, mixes with the warm water and creates the lows.
I'll show how to track the 500 MB line, the lows generally will follow it's path. For another time. We call the Aleutians the bowling alley, the bowling balls roll out of Siberia, and knock us down right regular like....

 

[ksanders]

Delighted to see this thread. I'm 55 years into my life in Alaska -- not born here, but got here as soon as I could. Some of my happiest days have been cruising Prince William Sound. I bought my Grand Banks 42 in Tacoma in 2018, brought it to SE Alaska in 2019, and then across the Gulf of Alaska to PWS this past summer. It's now in Seward on the hard for winter. Will look forward to more learning here on weather info sources, great anchorages, etc. Thanks for launching the conversation!

Yes I’ve seen your very nice looking boat!

 

[cosinalaska]

Blessed to be able to enjoy PWS

The admiral and I have been blessed to be able to explore Prince William Sound for the past 33 years. Here is a video she put together in 2019. This boat made the trip from Vancouver to Seward in 2000 by the second owner.

 

[trawlercap]

Another fun fact. Alaska is the farthest state north, the farthest west and eastern state in USA.

I had to think about that for minute....yes the Date line is jogged to keep it in the same time zone. The entire state is on one time zone. It can get weird the farther west you go.

Remnant of a past age, a phone booth in Dutch Harbor, all the glass busted out by homesick drunken fishermen. The fawna is typical for summer.

 

[trawlercap]

Elfin cove has fuel. North to Yakutat 150NM Yakutat has fuel
West North West to hinchinbrook entrance 220NM. Then east to Cordova approx 60NM. Cordova has fuel

In this area you can get fuel at...

Whittier (NW corner)
Valdez (NE corner)
Cordova (SE corner)
Seward. (not in PWS but to the Southwest)

Transient dock space is generally available in all but Whittier which can be hit or miss.

Good grocery stores are within walking distance in all but Whittier.
Marine supplies and services are available in all locations, but Whittier is limited, as supplies come out of Anchorage.

Whittier is rich in Trailerable Boats. The closer to Whittier the more boats you will see.

Whittier is so different (Kinda weird) you have to see it. A top secret Sub base in WWII because the cloud cover is 95% of the time...

 

[trawlercap]

Thanks guys, for this thread. In the sailboat I wouldn't have thought twice about this crossing, but in the little AT34 it seemed questionable. Sounds relatively easy if you are very careful on the weather. How long might one have to wait in Yakutat for a good window in the average summer weather?

Live version: https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-146.94,54.79,3459

This is far from ideal as an example of what I look for to cross. Maybe best to explain what I watched for....When departing Seattle to cross the N. Pacific, I would have the lows or storm tracks plotted. I'm watching for East/South East winds to make the crossing. If I get above a low, the counter clockwise rotation gives the wind direction I want. I would jump out anytime the conditions set up for the ride. A few times it was right at the north end of Vancouver Island, the low was south of me, the following low was on a similar track, I diverted 200 miles north to stay in it and ride was downhill to Kodiak. I might jump out at Cape Decision, Spencer, or all the way up to Cross sound, and hold up till condition were to my liking. I watched and travelled north, while waiting for the right conditions.
If you get on the wrong side of the lows, you'll be miserable, burn fuel, and feel like the whole planet is opposing you...


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