Winter Cruising in the PNW

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ohno3kids

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Mar 20, 2019
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To introduce my family to trawler cruising, I'd like to charter a 3-cabin Selene over the Christmas holidays. The only ones I can find are in Anacortes. If all goes well, I'm hoping to buy one next spring. The weather looks cold there in December, and they are fair weather fans. Is it generally too cold to enjoy cruising there during Christmas week?
 
If the boat has diesel heat then no problem. The real problem will be all the rain. Bring lots of indoor games.
 
I do much winter cruising in the area, mostly sailing but also power.

The weather is very unpredictable in the winter here. Your charter could be blessed with calm seas and sunshine, or driving rain and heavy seas, or snow and freezing. Is your intention that your "fair weather" family have a wonderful time on this charter, hence cementing the deal on buying a Selene? If so, that may be very risky.
 
The three responses above are all right on!

To paraphrase one of my friend’s favorite sayings, “Winter cruising in the PNW can be an awful ordeal or a wonderful adventure!”
 
I like cruising the bigger cities in winter. Lots of room on the dock and plenty of restaurants open. The smaller places and parks have pulled the docks and closed for the season so I tend to not bother with them.
 
If you're open to chartering a Grand Banks, NW Explorations in Bellingham has many well-equipped boats to choose from. As said, the weather that you will have is a complete crap-shoot, ranging from sunny and calm to gale-force winds and snow.
 
It will be one of those epic family adventures that will be told over and over at clan gathers for years to come, regardless of the weather.

Won't bore you with mine, but if you do this please post up here as I will be watching from my wintering place in Baja.

Would you harbor said boat purchase up here or down south?
 
If it's a do or die for your family, in other words if this experience decides whether or not they will support getting a trawler, then I would not suggest doing it in December. The weather is too unpredictable. You might get fortunate and it will be cold and clear and beautiful. But much more likely it will be cold and gray and drizzling, with the potential for high winds. If it's really important that this be an excellent trip, I would recommend trying sometime after May.

Also, a second vote for Bellingham charters like Northwest explorations. They even have a Fleming, and I'm pretty sure they also have a Selene that can be chartered.
 
“ Also, a second vote for Bellingham charters like Northwest explorations. They even have a Fleming, and I'm pretty sure they also have a Selene that can be chartered.”

I don’t think the Fleming is in their charter fleet anymore.
 
Thanks for the guidance. It looks like Chitwood in Sarasota has a coupla 3-cabin trawlers. I'm gonna check their options. Miserable weather and conditions could dampen their enthusiasm, and we're not likely to be more than warm weather boaters once we take the plunge.
 
I think it would depend on what your family defines as cold. Cruising can be beautiful up here on a nice clear day with fresh snow on the mountains. It can also be like putting on rain gear and standing in a cold shower.

Cold and rain aside it gets dark up here around 4:00 that time of year and the shops on the islands don't stay open very late. So you need to be happy hanging out on the boat from 6:00pm on.
 
Those that complain about rain need to find something else to do. But I wouldn’t go forth in a boat w/o heat.

The brick wall that put us out of business is/was daylight. That was in Alaska and w a 6 knot boat. But even w faster boats and more daylight hours there still may be shorter hours underway and less distance traveled. And the sun is much closer to the horizon so “daylight” time is more like daylight time and twilight time. Add heavy winter clouds and indeed your daylight may be more of a downer than rain.
 
The problem with winter cruising on a charter is that you are by definition on a schedule. I’ve had some of my best days on the water in the winter. I’ve also wound up in a gale with 40 knot winds and 7+ foot breaking seas within 5 miles of Friday Harbor trying to get home after avoiding the winds for 4 days, but with just a slight unexpected shift in wind direction I was suddenly fully exposed instead of protected.

Winter here, by definition, is often unpredictable and unstable weather. On my own boat, I can find the short windows in the weather to take advantage of. Showing up on a planned week for a charter, hoping for good luck, is in my opinion asking for trouble. Low probability, high risk.

Plus, during the winter, lots of things are closed, towns are not as much fun. It’s more for locals to enjoy than tourists. Nothing worse than being cold and wet, stuck on the flybridge for visibility in rain and fog in an area you don’t know like the back of your hand.

Truthfully, good chance you would have a good time, but if you DID have a bad time, it would likely be epic bad. Not the kind you cherish and laugh about later, the kind you don’t talk about and just never repeat.
 
I like winter cruising here. However, I’m a bit odd.

If your family likes good books, board games, and the pleasure of a hot drink while the rain and wind are beating the windows, it could be a fantastic time. We have spent a number of Thanksgivings on a boat in my lifetime, mostly small sailboats without the creature comforts we enjoy with our trawler. But as i said, I’m a bit odd….
 
We spent 3 Christmas’s in Victoria, BC on boats. Some of our best winter memories. We had snow one year at the dock in front of the Fairmount Express Hotel.

We like to anchor our but for winter cruising we’d go marina to marina. Availability was always good and it was easier (and drier) than taking the dinghy to shore. We did have to allow for weather days. We were stuck at the dock more than once from winter storms.
 
dhays said:
I like winter cruising here. However, I’m a bit odd.

If your family likes good books, board games, and the pleasure of a hot drink while the rain and wind are beating the windows, it could be a fantastic time. We have spent a number of Thanksgivings on a boat in my lifetime, mostly small sailboats without the creature comforts we enjoy with our trawler. But as i said, I’m a bit odd….
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I'm with Dave on this one. We love winter cruising in the PNW, though I think the points made about the inherent schedule you are on with a charter is a good one. But if you plan short hops and remain in relatively protected areas, it will be fine. Now if you are sunshine and swimming people, then think twice about it.
 
ohno3kids said:
To introduce my family to trawler cruising, I'd like to charter a 3-cabin Selene over the Christmas holidays. The only ones I can find are in Anacortes. If all goes well, I'm hoping to buy one next spring. The weather looks cold there in December, and they are fair weather fans. Is it generally too cold to enjoy cruising there during Christmas week?
Click to expand...

Wifey B: As you're in TN, come south and nearer by than the cold, frigid PNW. Your family wouldn't be at all prepared for it. Last Christmas, Bellingham, WA...high 49, low 31. Last Christmas, Sarasota, FL a cold snap of 62 and low 48 but the entire week was in the upper 70's and even 80. :)

Two major charters are https://www.chitwood-charters.com/ and https://www.swfyachts.com/ . I would call now though as that time period may be full or fill up quickly. :ermm:
 
There’s an old joke about the PNW that relates to your inquiry: SUMMER IN THE PNW IS AWESOME. BOTH DAYS OF IT.
 
For years when the kids would come home for Christmas we would load up and cruise to Sucia Island and had it to ourselves most years. In those years they would pull the main dock but kept open the smaller dock. Hike the island and have hot drinks afterwards. Great memories. Spent a couple weekends cruising to Friday Harbor during Thanksgiving too. Have memories of some terrible weather and rough water trying to get home too.
 
localboy said:
There’s an old joke about the PNW that relates to your inquiry: SUMMER IN THE PNW IS AWESOME. BOTH DAYS OF IT.
Click to expand...

Wifey B: We've boated with snow falling and it was beautiful, but locked up inside a boat with the heater on is not my idea of a family vacation. More like a National Lampoon version. You want to enjoy the outdoors. :)
 
We spent a wonderful Christmas vacation, about 10 days of it, on our boat, cruising from Vancouver to Nanaimo, to Silva Bay, Clam Bay, Long Harbour, Montague Harbour, and returning to Vancouver. That was in an unusually benign winter over 20 years ago. Regrettably it hasn't been repeated, though the chances of good weather are getting better with climate change.
Having a diesel galley stove is key to making the after dark hours in the boat comfortable.
 
I'll add my $0.02. In winter in the San Juans when it's good it's great! Fabulous with few boats and people around. And when it's bad it can be very bad. I've seen near T-shirt wx and super pods of Orcas. I've seen icing conditions so severe to turn a heavy steel workboat back. And everything in between. As others have said your biggest problem is chartering puts you on a tight schedule. No wiggle room to wait for good wx.
 
Mostly good advice given so far.
My opinion is, it depends on you and your family!! :)
Winter boating in the PNW can be great, fun, and very enjoyable, but only if you know what you are "getting into" and have the right mind set.

You must understand how variable the weather is, and how the odds are that you will have mostly grey, wet days (and nights), sunny days happen, but are somewhat rare, you will need to have a good source of heat onboard (diesel heater), and you may experience high winds (25 knots plus) with accompanying waves. Being on a time "schedule" could turn into a problem, but at that time of year, you could possibly "wait out a storm" and return the boat "late". Ensure your schedule allows for that possibility.

If your family isn't into short possibly grey, wet days where you read, play games, watch a movie, etc. or go for walks (even in the rain), in cool (not cold) probably wet weather, then maybe wait for summer when this area is great!!!!
 
So a video of a sailboat in the Strait of Georgia (Salish Sea) during a blustery day. Can a trawler handle these waters - yes. But you wouldn't be having any fun during your cruise. The reality is sailboats are better off in these waters than trawlers.

 
We spent last Christmas out cruising. Christmas eve it blew 30-40 in the north sound, but we were tucked away in a little cove (that I won't name) listening to music and reading. Listening to our music, not the guy across the bay. That's the joy of winter cruising in the PNW. It's not for everybody, thank God.
 
In a stabilized Selene I would not worry about rough weather, except for getting in and out of marinas, and even that shouldn't be bad unless it is seriously stormy. Any weather stormy enough to threaten you in that boat will not last long, and is easy to plan around. I would prefer to charter out of Anacortes over Bellingham as I think it is a nicer town to spend a day or two in without a car if weather keeps you on the dock for a day or two at the beginning or end of your charter. We use our boat all the time in the winter in the San Juan's and love it. It will be a family vacation to remember. If Covid and the weather allow I like the idea someone mentioned of going up to Victoria for Christmas.
 
ghost said:
The problem with winter cruising on a charter is that you are by definition on a schedule. I’ve had some of my best days on the water in the winter. I’ve also wound up in a gale with 40 knot winds and 7+ foot breaking seas within 5 miles of Friday Harbor trying to get home after avoiding the winds for 4 days, but with just a slight unexpected shift in wind direction I was suddenly fully exposed instead of protected.

Winter here, by definition, is often unpredictable and unstable weather. On my own boat, I can find the short windows in the weather to take advantage of. Showing up on a planned week for a charter, hoping for good luck, is in my opinion asking for trouble. Low probability, high risk.

Plus, during the winter, lots of things are closed, towns are not as much fun. It’s more for locals to enjoy than tourists. Nothing worse than being cold and wet, stuck on the flybridge for visibility in rain and fog in an area you don’t know like the back of your hand.

Truthfully, good chance you would have a good time, but if you DID have a bad time, it would likely be epic bad. Not the kind you cherish and laugh about later, the kind you don’t talk about and just never repeat.
Click to expand...

This is spot on.
 
Wear sweaters and enjoy a special opportunity in the PNW. I moved to Seattle from Miami so know both. Water is for the most part protected if you pay attention to the weather especially wind direction.
 
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