Pairadice and ASD Columbia River Adventure 2018

On our way back down river, man, I really like this “Locking down” option! Spending the night in Boyer’s Park.

Cheers all!

Locking down is a piece of cake. It's like being in a bathtub when someone pulls the cork to drain it.


Have fun at Boyer. See ya in a couple of days. The ribs are thawing as I type this.

BandB said:

Wifey B: In one trip you'll go from lock virgins to lock sluts. Seriously, just go in prepared and locks are nothing. Sounds like a great trip. We wished when we were there we could have gone further. One day we will.

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Wifey B: I told you guys so. Locking is easy.

I'm like the proverbial chicken crossing the road. Why did wifey B go through the lock? To get to the other side and I must always see what is on the other side. Not letting a silly wall with gates keeping me from seeing it. I hate dams that don't have locks.

If we could have had locks on the Catawba River, we could have one so far and not been dammed in on one lake. We could have gone from Western NC and the mountains to the SC coast.

We are now at Fish Hook Rec area. Tri-Cities tomorrow afternoon. The lock today was a wild ride. The lock operator pulled the "BIG" plug in the tub!!!! It seemed less than 10 minutes once the door was closed!

A few Pics from Yesterday

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

A few Pics from Yesterday

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Your first photo is of an activity I've engaged in many times. Welcome back to civilization, such as it is.

Give me a shout when you're back at the Port docks.

On our way down river on the Columbia. Tri-Cities was fun and I would highly recommend Clover Island. Nice day for a cruise. Thanks again to GFC for a wonderful 4th.

Well sorry for the double pics. That strange. Posted from my phone.

Tom, got your text and it will be done. Thanks for doing the "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" thing with us. We really enjoyed the whole afternoon/evening with you four.


Boat safely and have fun.

The end to an awesome trip

We left Hood River yesterday with 35mph winds on our bow. The wind surfers were having a great time, a little choppy for us, but it wasn't uncomfortable. As useful as it seems with down locking, Bonneville delayed our lock down by 45 minutes. I would have to say that out of all the 8 dams and locks, Bonneville is the worst.

We are leaving in a few hours for our winter dock, while Pairadice returns to Portland to start preparations for next summer's trip south. We will miss them a lot.

I am sure Crusty will add a final word here with stats and such. It was an interesting trip and fun with our friends. We met fellow TFs along the way who treated us like royalty. Would I do it again. Probably not for a very long time. The biggest disappointment was Hell's Canyon Resort in Clarkston, WA. The City of Clarkston needs to take over that operation.

All in all it was a fun trip and an awesome time with our friends, John, Tracey and Patches. ASD will truly miss these fine folks who we have the privilege to call friends.

Glad you four are safely back in your home waters. It was our great pleasure to meet all of you and be able to have you here on the 4th for some dinner, then out on Pairadice to watch the fireworks.


If all goes as planned we'll be in your neighborhood on Monday afternoon, hope to stay at CRYC, then to Multnomah Yacht Repair on Tuesday. Keep your fingers crossed.

Tom and John.....I've been watching your river trip from AK. We're in Sitka for another week or so. It's not the same up here without the ASD and Pairadice pirates! I know Crusty is keen on Mexico next year. I'd bet that your 2019 adventures will be in the Sea of Cortez.

GFC said:

Glad you four are safely back in your home waters. It was our great pleasure to meet all of you and be able to have you here on the 4th for some dinner, then out on Pairadice to watch the fireworks.


If all goes as planned we'll be in your neighborhood on Monday afternoon, hope to stay at CRYC, then to Multnomah Yacht Repair on Tuesday. Keep your fingers crossed.

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Mike,

If you need anything, a ride, help on getting your boat in, please dont hesitate in contacting me.

Cheers my friend.

Ken E. said:

Tom and John.....I've been watching your river trip from AK. We're in Sitka for another week or so. It's not the same up here without the ASD and Pairadice pirates! I know Crusty is keen on Mexico next year. I'd bet that your 2019 adventures will be in the Sea of Cortez.

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Ken,

We were sitting on the dock just below Beacon Rock and had a discussion not only about this trip but how much we missed the Alaska adventure. It truly is amazing after nearly 10,000 miles how many really cool people we have met along the way, all living the dream. What’s even more amazing is how many of them are TFer’s. It is such a experience to put a face to the individual that we have shared on the ole interweb.
We are looking forward to the trip south next year. ASD will return to Alaska as many of you will also. We wish you all fair winds and following seas. And may you meet a few more friends along the way that will remain friends for as long as you live.

Cheers my friend, John

PS, are you still carrying a few AA’s on board for those special occasions?

Ken E. said:

Tom and John.....I've been watching your river trip from AK. We're in Sitka for another week or so. It's not the same up here without the ASD and Pairadice pirates! I know Crusty is keen on Mexico next year. I'd bet that your 2019 adventures will be in the Sea of Cortez.

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Too dang hot going south, ASD will be heading north next summer.

So one last adventure today. We were heading down the Columbia by Kalama WA. We let a fuel barge pass us as we were just enjoying the morning cruise back to our winter dock. It was a bit windy and some serious wind waves were going on. Then we see a fishing boat with everyone waving at us. I thought they were saying hi. Then we realized they were signaling for help.

We turned around and there was a boat load of people, grandpa, son, daughter and 3 kids, all out for a day of fishing. Grandpa stated they had run out of gas and asked for a tow. I stated "really you ran out of gas." He said yes, we had a 1/4 tank on the gage when they left. All of this going on in 4ft wind waves.....

I told him to hold on as I would have to lower my dinghy and the Yacht does not tow. The Admiral stepped up to the plate and took over ASD as I lowered the tender, while bouncing all around. My dink has a VHF radio so I could talk to the Admiral. I call the Coast Guard and stated I was in the shipping lanes doing a rescue tow.

It took about an hour to get back to Kalama, with ASD standing guard. It was actually a pretty cool sight. Grandma was waiting at the dock, crying and thanking me over and over.

Grandpa approached me with a wad of bills. I stated no thank you, but you could do me a favor. He stated he owed me and anything.

I told him to take that cash and invest in a VHF radio. The big ships are not going to see you waving or stop to avoid you and your awesome grand kids.Its just down right dangerous and he was risking his life and those on board, especially your grandkids. He responded"You are right." I called ASD and had the Admiral meet me in a bay where the wind was less and I could raise the tender back on ASD without getting beat up.

I pulled away from the dock with a smile and call the Coast Guard with all safe message.

Good job Tom. That's what boaters do for other boaters who aren't as well equipped or trained.

Nice work with the tow, Tom. Many lives assisted or perhaps saved!

Thanks for taking us workin' folk along on another grand adventure.

See you on your way by in May?

You bet buddy. I want to tie up next to that Nordy.....

GFC said:

Tom, got your text and it will be done. Thanks for doing the "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" thing with us. We really enjoyed the whole afternoon/evening with you four.


Boat safely and have fun.

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Check your wallet!!!

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

So one last adventure today. We were heading down the Columbia by Kalama WA. We let a fuel barge pass us as we were just enjoying the morning cruise back to our winter dock. It was a bit windy and some serious wind waves were going on. Then we see a fishing boat with everyone waving at us. I thought they were saying hi. Then we realized they were signaling for help.

We turned around and there was a boat load of people, grandpa, son, daughter and 3 kids
I pulled away from the dock with a smile and call the Coast Guard with all safe message.

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Tom, nothing feels as good as a good deed done. Congratulations for the lesson for Grandfather. Sound advise, it is forum members such as yourselves that makes the rest of us thankful for examples of seamanship you displayed.
Looking so to your voyage up this way next year. Will have the Alaska brew on ice.
Many post in the meanwhile.

Al-Ketchikan

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

We left Hood River yesterday with 35mph winds on our bow.

We are leaving in a few hours for our winter dock, while Pairadice returns to Portland to start preparations for next summer's trip south. We will miss them a lot.

I am sure Crusty will add a final word here with stats and such. It was an interesting trip and fun with our friends. We met fellow TFs along the way who treated us like royalty. Would I do it again. Probably not for a very long time. The biggest disappointment was Hell's Canyon Resort in Clarkston, WA. The City of Clarkston needs to take over that operation.
.

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Thanks for taking us along again guys.
This being my home turf I wondered what you guys would think of this trip and think I am seeing a little f what I might have expected in the paragraph above.
I do not think this trip would be on my ‘top ten’ list but thinks parts of it would be interesting.
I think my ideal trip on the Columbia would be on a nice trailerable and later in the year after the current and temperatures subside significantly. The nice thing about a trailerable besides a size and draft potentially more appropriate for this water is that you you could pull it out at the Tri Cities after you have seen most of what is worth seeing on the lower main stem and then drop it back in the water in the Columbia River pool above Grand Coulee Dam they call Lake Roosevelt. For my taste, that is a spectacular body of water. You cannot get there from the lower main stem in a big boat.
I think that trip and Lake Roosevelt in Sept/October would be a trip worth doing.

ASD, well done on the tow and the advice.

The current in the Portland area is most often in the neighborhood of 1-3 knots or so. The Portland area is about as far inland as the tide will affect the river flow, in a practical sense tide only matters when river flow is low.

Time of year is a big factor and weather. Late summer, lower water. With all the rain lately the Colombia is up but the Willimette is really high, that means a lot more water heading for the ocean downstream of Portland.

In spring runoff times the Bonneville Dam spillway whitewater is an epic sight.

The dam is where it is because the river is narrow there, and it's narrow because of an ancient landslide from the WA side. The wider parts are slower of course.