LibertyBay, Poulsbo to Port Townsend, our first real cruise

[GrandWood]

Hello all, we are planning our trip to Port Townsend to do our bottom, this will be our first real cruise. Plan to go thru the Townsend canal, and want to verify the current direction so I’m going with it or at slack.
Flood direction is 150 and ebb is 330, so with my limited knowledge, I’m wanting to go at ebb (or slack before the ebb) as that would mean the current through the canal would be towards Port Townsend.

I know your all prolly slapping your forehead, rolling your eyes, thinking this guys gonna die, lol.

Run boats on lakes, but never out in the sea. We have motored in the bay here, but haven’t ventured out.

Any tips on the voyage would be very much appreciated, looking to go may 27th/28th, as haul out is on the 30th, thank you

Joe

 

[AlaskaProf]

Good choice for a first adventure. If you should stop at Port Ludlow (many do), give a wide berth to these notorious rocks:

 

[AlaskaProf]

You have a choice of two marinas, I've always preferred Point Hudson, a retired Coast Guard training base with a lot of history. A great example of WW II "temporary" architecture. Reservation will be necessary.

 

[GrandWood]

You have a choice of two marinas, I've always preferred Point Hudson, a retired Coast Guard training base with a lot of history. A great example of WW II "temporary" architecture. Reservation will be necessary.
View attachment 154949

Thank you, planned on anchoring outside the port a bit north of it, and was told I might be able to dock at the staging dock for haul out. Depends on who all is there. Maybe even get a transit slip if available.

 

[GrandWood]

Good choice for a first adventure. If you should stop at Port Ludlow (many do), give a wide berth to these notorious rocks:
View attachment 154948

Shows the trip at 7knts should be 5hrs, we plan to do the whole run with no stops. And we will stay away from the rocks you pointed out

 

[klee wyck]

That is a very nice trip. I live basically on the PT Canal. You need to look up current information for the canal specifically as the timing does not match the strait and can run pretty hard at times. The channel will seem narrow for newbies and still gives me the heebie jeebies at low tide when the current is active after a hundred trips through it. I am dee draft and see less than 5' under the keel.
The anchorage at PT is vast but if winds are from the south, you can use Port Hadlock Bay near our home which is also a good anchorage.

 

[sjisailor]

From Poulsbo, it is not that much longer/farther to go around instead of going through the canal. So you could do that rather than worry about timing, if needed.

If so, watch out for container ships! The worst wake I've ever caught (maybe 6' waves) was about 2 miles abeam of a ship headed south in Admiralty Inlet.

As for the anchorage, if you're talking about the anchorage south of Port Townsend, outside of the marina, I can't speak from experience but it has a bad reputation on Active Captain (check it out, the title is "Deceptively Bad Anchorage" .. due to the bottom condition and debris). So Port Hadlock would be preferable IMHO.

In any case, sounds like a great trip!

 

[ScottRhodes13]

One thing to keep in mind as you enter the Port Townsend Canal from the south -- the red markers are on the left, green on the right. You're not "returning" to Port Townsend, you're leaving Puget Sound.

 

[klee wyck]

One thing to keep in mind as you enter the Port Townsend Canal from the south -- the red markers are on the left, green on the right. You're not "returning" to Port Townsend, you're leaving Puget Sound.

Oh man, flashback!! One night Summer before last we were in Poulsbo and decided to come home to Port Hadlock on a night cruise. We were coming into the South end of the PT Canal about 1 AM. Even though I knew better, my brain defaulted to red/right. I figured it out as I got real, real close and made a very hard correction to make the opening at the last minute.
I had left a track on the chart on my Ipad, so I went back to the scene of the crime in the morning with the dinghy and determined that I had only cleared the rock jetty by 30 feet.
What an idiot. Several family members on board. A lesson I will not soon forget, but luckily no scars.

 

[AlaskaProf]

Thank you, planned on anchoring outside the port a bit north of it,

Certainly do-able; one sees it done, but it is very "rolly". If you look at my chart above, that Point Hudson buoy at the right margin clanks away constantly with the wakes of the passing traffic.

 

[GoneFarrell]

I usually anchor south of the ferry dock good bottom there. North gets sketchy. And you have to factor the wind direction/strength as klee mentions above.

 

[Ka_sea_ta]

When we head north our first stop is normally PT, we normally try to get a buoy at Fort Flagler. It is very protected in there and quiet. We haven't been in there in a few years so I'm assuming the state still has mooring buoys in there,

 

[GrandWood]

From Poulsbo, it is not that much longer/farther to go around instead of going through the canal. So you could do that rather than worry about timing, if needed.

If so, watch out for container ships! The worst wake I've ever caught (maybe 6' waves) was about 2 miles abeam of a ship headed south in Admiralty Inlet.

As for the anchorage, if you're talking about the anchorage south of Port Townsend, outside of the marina, I can't speak from experience but it has a bad reputation on Active Captain (check it out, the title is "Deceptively Bad Anchorage" .. due to the bottom condition and debris). So Port Hadlock would be preferable IMHO.

In any case, sounds like a great trip!

it’s says on navionics it’s a fouled a anchorage, last week we were up there and just north by old pier there were a few anchored

 

[Ken E.]

It's not in PT but another anchorage near it when strong south winds are blowing is Mystery Bay state park, Marrowstone Island . Very protected but shallow. Entrance is near the Navy base at Indian Island. Once in between Marrowstone and Indian islands, it's very shallow but the channel is well marked. I wouldn't attempt it at low water but it's probably doable with care.

 

[GrandWood]

It's not in PT but another anchorage near it when strong south winds are blowing is Mystery Bay state park, Marrowstone Island . Very protected but shallow. Entrance is near the Navy base at Indian Island. Once in between Marrowstone and Indian islands, it's very shallow but the channel is well marked. I wouldn't attempt it at low water but it's probably doable with care.

I’m a stone cold Nub, so we won’t be attempting nothing of the sort.

 

[GrandWood]

Well we made the trip up and back with no major problems, trip up we had some weather and once we came out of agate pass it got rolly and things were sliding around the cabin. The PT canal we hit a bit late, and had current in our face, which was moving boat side to side, and slowed us quite a bit,
Powered up and was fine, did see 5ft under us mid canal. Took 6hrs.

Comming back we hit the canal at the beginning of the flood, no problems but did see the 5ft under us again mid canal, had traffic and noticed that the boats stayed more to the east side, we’re I was trying to stay in the middle. Weather was great, wind at our back, and took 5hrs.

Took us 7 days to get the bottom done mostly due to weather, waiting for it to quit to paint. 3 full coats over entire bottom, 5 on bow and waterline.