Dan re Floating Logs
Dan - with regard to concerns about floating logs and if they ever cause problems - you BET they do! The stories are endless. But, I think for a number of reasons it's better than it used to be. Maybe partly because the price of timber has increased to the point where loggers aren't leaving as much behind, the easy-pickings near the shore have all been logged off and they have to go further back from the shore? These are just guesses. There is an effort to capture drift logs and debris but this varies according to funding (disclaimer: I live in Washington so I don't get all the news that a Canadian would get and I base this on what I've read in the local boating magazines). Several years ago at Port Hardy a guy commented that they were hauling about one boat a day with log-impact damage. Damages ranged from caved in bows to prop and rudder strikes. It's a good idea to have an Alaska bulkhead in the bow - that's a watertight area that if the bow is holed the inrush of water won't flood and sink the boat. One year I went up the Sunshine Coast (north of Vancouver) and in the channel abeam Mary Island I noticed a dead head (the term used to describe a log floating vertically with just the but end adrift at the water surface) with some red bottom paint on it. Later we arrived in Pender Harbor and there was a Chris Craft Connie, about a 55-footer, that was slowly sinking. The guys wife I talked to was absolutely frantic. The prop shafts are about 3-inch diameter. They had hit a dead head on the way up - cold have been the same one I saw as they had red bottom paint - anyway, the management was trying to launch a boat that was on the ways that they were working on so they could put the Chris on there. There was also a question of whether the Chris could even fit on the ways but later I found out they got it on. A dead head can be very hard to see, especially in choppy water. Powerboaters need to be up on the bridge so they have visibility and can spot them in time. Besides dead heads and logs there is also the problem with just plain flotsam and the biggest concern here is those pieces of driftwood that aren't big enough to hole the boat but can cause prop, prop shaft, and strut damage. This stuff can be really be hard to spot. Basically you just have to be constantly on the alert and looking out for what's ahead. Under sail at a slower speed isn't quite as much concern at under power or when going at high speed. This is one of the few areas on Earth where you can go and in a fairly short time get some distance from the hoards of people, their development, and their trash that is quickly ruining and destroying our planet. The pollution in the atmosphere and the ocean, unfortunately, is becoming more wide spread so you can't escape and leave that behind.
Dan - with regard to concerns about floating logs and if they ever cause problems - you BET they do! The stories are endless. But, I think for a number of reasons it's better than it used to be. Maybe partly because the price of timber has increased to the point where loggers aren't leaving as much behind, the easy-pickings near the shore have all been logged off and they have to go further back from the shore? These are just guesses. There is an effort to capture drift logs and debris but this varies according to funding (disclaimer: I live in Washington so I don't get all the news that a Canadian would get and I base this on what I've read in the local boating magazines). Several years ago at Port Hardy a guy commented that they were hauling about one boat a day with log-impact damage. Damages ranged from caved in bows to prop and rudder strikes. It's a good idea to have an Alaska bulkhead in the bow - that's a watertight area that if the bow is holed the inrush of water won't flood and sink the boat. One year I went up the Sunshine Coast (north of Vancouver) and in the channel abeam Mary Island I noticed a dead head (the term used to describe a log floating vertically with just the but end adrift at the water surface) with some red bottom paint on it. Later we arrived in Pender Harbor and there was a Chris Craft Connie, about a 55-footer, that was slowly sinking. The guys wife I talked to was absolutely frantic. The prop shafts are about 3-inch diameter. They had hit a dead head on the way up - cold have been the same one I saw as they had red bottom paint - anyway, the management was trying to launch a boat that was on the ways that they were working on so they could put the Chris on there. There was also a question of whether the Chris could even fit on the ways but later I found out they got it on. A dead head can be very hard to see, especially in choppy water. Powerboaters need to be up on the bridge so they have visibility and can spot them in time. Besides dead heads and logs there is also the problem with just plain flotsam and the biggest concern here is those pieces of driftwood that aren't big enough to hole the boat but can cause prop, prop shaft, and strut damage. This stuff can be really be hard to spot. Basically you just have to be constantly on the alert and looking out for what's ahead. Under sail at a slower speed isn't quite as much concern at under power or when going at high speed. This is one of the few areas on Earth where you can go and in a fairly short time get some distance from the hoards of people, their development, and their trash that is quickly ruining and destroying our planet. The pollution in the atmosphere and the ocean, unfortunately, is becoming more wide spread so you can't escape and leave that behind.
