78puget-trawler
Guru
Spent some time running at low or no wake speeds yesterday as we had gone over to Shaw Is. (US San Juan Is, WA) for a couple of nights, and with the minus tides around here of late I knew that it was possible depending on currents etc., that I might need to run slow for a bit coming back so as not to get home too soon. The reason being that the entrance to our marina has only a 4' depth at zero tide, and our return day had a 1.1 minus about 1500, our boat draws nearly 4'. I should have left Shaw an hour or so later than I did.
We took a shellacking in Rosario Strait coming back due to a bit of southerly chop and outgoing tide currents in Guemes Channel where it can run like a river.
Kicked up a pretty big, steep chop that was right on our hip, which made for a pretty rolly polly ride just inside Shannon Point until we got closer to Anacortes. Once out of that nonsense, ( wife not at all happy, and it was her birthday too!), I started checking times again and owing to having current with us on the Island side and now with us as well after the change
to flood, I started pulling the throttle back, several times.
Then I thought geez, I don't want to idle all the way thru Swinomish Ch, so said heck with it, hooked it on again, got into town and warped into the transit dock for about an hour to await a bit more water at the entrance. Finally got thru it about 1645 and had about 1.5' under the keel going in.
Have crossed Rosario in small boats many times but never took a ride like this one before, bad timing.
For further excitement at Rosario as I was dealing with that situation a big tanker was headed for Bellingham Channel coming in behind me, and looming quite large and charging right along when my wife says, " who is blowing his horn at you?". "What?!". I was well off to his right and out of that was in a possibly precarious crossing angle with the tanker, so the 5 blasts were for him, not me.
Which reminds me!
On our way to Indian Cove on Shaw, I was approaching Canoe Is, close on my stbd side, which fronts Indian Cove, when this fool of a Took clown in a big sailboat, (not under sail!), decided to, after showing me he wanted to go go port to port, to which I obliged, then turned again, to his port and was edging me over close to the tide rips and kelp beds off Canoe Is! So I gave him 5 blasts on the horn, and he went to stbd then for red to red again. When we got closer, I looked over with the body language that one uses for hey pal, WTH was that all about?!?! He pointed to himself and says, " you mean me?", yeah you jerkface. Ahh, yachting!
We took a shellacking in Rosario Strait coming back due to a bit of southerly chop and outgoing tide currents in Guemes Channel where it can run like a river.
Kicked up a pretty big, steep chop that was right on our hip, which made for a pretty rolly polly ride just inside Shannon Point until we got closer to Anacortes. Once out of that nonsense, ( wife not at all happy, and it was her birthday too!), I started checking times again and owing to having current with us on the Island side and now with us as well after the change
to flood, I started pulling the throttle back, several times.
Then I thought geez, I don't want to idle all the way thru Swinomish Ch, so said heck with it, hooked it on again, got into town and warped into the transit dock for about an hour to await a bit more water at the entrance. Finally got thru it about 1645 and had about 1.5' under the keel going in.
Have crossed Rosario in small boats many times but never took a ride like this one before, bad timing.
For further excitement at Rosario as I was dealing with that situation a big tanker was headed for Bellingham Channel coming in behind me, and looming quite large and charging right along when my wife says, " who is blowing his horn at you?". "What?!". I was well off to his right and out of that was in a possibly precarious crossing angle with the tanker, so the 5 blasts were for him, not me.
Which reminds me!
On our way to Indian Cove on Shaw, I was approaching Canoe Is, close on my stbd side, which fronts Indian Cove, when this fool of a Took clown in a big sailboat, (not under sail!), decided to, after showing me he wanted to go go port to port, to which I obliged, then turned again, to his port and was edging me over close to the tide rips and kelp beds off Canoe Is! So I gave him 5 blasts on the horn, and he went to stbd then for red to red again. When we got closer, I looked over with the body language that one uses for hey pal, WTH was that all about?!?! He pointed to himself and says, " you mean me?", yeah you jerkface. Ahh, yachting!
