Full disclosure my name is Jason. You may recall the name "Mike Honcho" from the movie Talladega Nights. I use it in forums
Sailing in the Puget Sound
- Thread starter Bill Roosa
- Start date
thanks to all youall. Clearly a very friendly sailing community exists in the PNW also. I'll be settling in and have to buy a house/land-build and then get the retirement business restarted so I may be a while before the wife and I get around to sailing again.
Going through Deception when running 7kts? With or against? More guts than me...
I’d never make it thru if against. Actually quite tame. Hit the uplifts in the middle and leave the camera & phone alone
jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 24,453
Here you go. A picture of the skipper in full control.
Zooming through the Passage
Zooming through the Passage
Hi Bill, welcome to the PNW where the sailing season lasts but a week, gunk holing locations forget it and currents always running against you. Plus never any wind, always rains, never any sunshine, etc., etc., etc. That is the PNW narrative we use for newcomers.
On a brighter note, the moderate climate allows us to cruise year around. A diesel furnace adds to the comfort for those off season cruises. A Waggoners Guide offers numerous gunk holing suggestions to numerous to mention here. Depending upon your chosen route, it helps to pay attention to tidal action and currents. Some passes should be transited at slack water. Generally, north south currents will run stronger than east west currents around the islands due to the sea water rush from/to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Ports and Passes and a good chart plotter helps us make time on the water almost trouble free and quite pleasant.
That was a low tidal day. the lowest low I have seen in Oak Harbor was -4.2' and the highest high was over +13'.
The reviews for AC in the app store are not good. Last time I looked at it (before Garmin took it over), it seemed pretty East Coast centric
As one who goes through Deception Pass several times on every cruise I almost never try to time the slack. It can and often is up to 45 minutes off due to wind influences. I time it to go in my direction which means I can go through 12 out of 24 hours whereas slack is only about 10 minutes long four times a day If you miss slack going to an adverse current you are stuck for 6 hours.
The secrete to safe passage is to always stay in the north half of the main channel. I divide the channel into 1/3rds and place my boat in the northern 1/3rd line. The current on this side pushes you away from the Pass Island and flushes you straight through. If you go south of mid channel you WILL get into whirlpools which WILL turn you 90º toward Whidbey Island. North is safe, South is SCARY! I limit myself to 7 knots outbound and 6 knots inbound but those currents are only experienced for a couple of hours on high tide days so they are easy to wait out.
I used to teach a class on DP passages to my sailing club so If anyone wants more information, send me a PM.
Terry, as someone mentioned, AC is very east coast-centric. I looked at it back in SF and it was useless, unpopulated as it were. Before you bother with it on your phone, why not try it on your computer and see if there's anything worthwhile. I haven't since I've been here, since I've gotten more info from my new "real" friends here than anything I could get from AC. In fact, I haven't even looked, I trust them more! Good luck. Let us know what you find. I may even give it a go soon...
I just did. What a waste. Not much of anything for comments that aren't better covered by Waggoners. At least in Canada.
Besides, as I've read on other forums, primarily cruisersforum, once Garmin took over, they messed up the graphics big time. Old days the chart took up 90% of the screen. Now it's only on the right side. I didn't find an easy way to get rid of the panes on the left. Might be there, but if it isn't easy to see how to do it...??? Plus it doesn't include the Canadian charts. Doh!
jssailem
SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
- Oct 22, 2014
- 24,453
Stu... you are morphing into a Canadian... "No Canadian Charts!' "Not much of anything... Canada" I'll bet you have given up baseball and are watching Hockey... Who would have thought it would be so easy to co-opt you.
Just uploaded the update to Coastal Explorer. There are charts produced by the "Canadian Hydrographic Service" approved by the Queen and in French for those so inclined "le Service hydrographique du Canada".
There are Active Captain identifiers with descriptions of places. The weakness is there are only a few skippers posting about the sites in the Pacific NW do reviews can be several years old. Here is a screen print of Maple Bay Yacht Club. 48* 48.174'N 123*36.137'W All of the place markers on the chart are AC references in Coastal Explorer. CE is using the new AC API.
Waggoner's has positioned themselves as the bible here in the PacficNW. They actively cruise the waters and contact the local haunts printing their annual Guide and updating their website with information.
"No Canadian Charts!' "Not much of anything... Canada" I'll bet you have given up baseball and are watching Hockey... Who would have thought it would be so easy to co-opt you. Just uploaded the update to Coastal Explorer. There are charts produced by the "Canadian Hydrographic Service" approved by the Queen and in French for those so inclined "le Service hydrographique du Canada".
There are Active Captain identifiers with descriptions of places. The weakness is there are only a few skippers posting about the sites in the Pacific NW do reviews can be several years old. Here is a screen print of Maple Bay Yacht Club. 48* 48.174'N 123*36.137'W All of the place markers on the chart are AC references in Coastal Explorer. CE is using the new AC API.
Waggoner's has positioned themselves as the bible here in the PacficNW. They actively cruise the waters and contact the local haunts printing their annual Guide and updating their website with information.
