Seeking a Columbia Bar Crossing Opportunity

[jssailem]

That looks like Peacock Spit on a brown shorts day....

The Columbia Bar can properly be described as BiPolar.
A good day crossing the bar

 

[NYSail]

Know your limits. know your boat. Study the water hazards and how to avoid them. If concerned, take a ride and observe the areas of risk. Then use the knowledge to empower you. Approach the risks from a conservative angle.

Looking at this image of Woods Hole It appears that other skippers have successfully visited this water front without harm.
View attachment 214838

The Columbia Bar is no different. It is not about crossing the bar it is about preparing to cross the bar. You can see the bar and all of it's fury from the Coast Guard station lookout on the Washington side. You can visit with the local Astoria or Ilwaco boat man who use the bar as a transition from harbor to great fishing. You can plot your route from Astoria Marina to the bar and back, making note of the currents, the sand bars, the speed of your boat so that you time the crossing at best water. You can practice all of this timing in the Columbia River verifying your boat speed and calculating your boats performance.

The boaters who get in trouble fail to do any of this preparation. They leave it all to chance. And just like buying a lottery ticket, sometimes they are lucky and sometimes they are not.

My comment was a light hearted joke....

 

[FastOlson]

That looks like Peacock Spit on a brown shorts day....

"Brown!" Rather accurate!
Note that the USCG training school is located there. Those boys and girls go out in terrible conditions because that provides the best training...

Link to a rescue story from north of the Columbia a ways, at LaPush. Coast Guard Rescues 3 off the Coast of La Push, WA - Boat Watch, International search aid for missing & overdue boats.
Like the Columbia, sometimes it's glassy and sometimes wild.

 

[dkinzer]

Always on the flood or "flood slack".

The flood slack that you refer to - is that at the beginning or the end of the flood tide cycle?

On the day we expect to cross, the current ranges from -0.5 kts to +0.5kts over a two hour period mid-morning before the high tide peak about two hours later about noon.

 

[jssailem]

The time and duration of slack tide varies each day. Using a tool like DeepZoom you can see the changes graphically. It can help with your time planning. DeepZoom Trip

Just locate the Columbia Bar on the map. Then select a day and time. You can adjust the time using the slider. As you move the slider you can see the arrows and current speed demonstrated on the map. Slack Flood would be the window during the tidal change from the end of EBB to the beginning of Flood. If on the water you can see the wave action visibly change (like the sea is laying down). If you are heading out to sea (sailing West). You can leave Astoria during the EBB (water flowing to the West out into the Ocean). The current will give you a speed boost getting to the bar. If your timing is correct you arrive approaching the area of Sand Island as the tidal current changes from EBB to Flood. This will mean the Tide will start coming in over the bar. That would be when you strike out to cross the bar.

Using Deep zoom you can see that the tidal current is 0 knots at 10:30AM on the 21st of April 2023. You could plan your trip to arrive near the bar about the time of ZERO current (shown here in this screen shot inside the red bracketed lines).

As I suggested you can watch this happen on the bar if you climb up to the CG light house.

They generally consider "the bar" to be the area between the north and south jetties and Sand Island (see detail of bathymetric map for locations of these)

 

[FastOlson]

The flood slack that you refer to - is that at the beginning or the end of the flood tide cycle?

On the day we expect to cross, the current ranges from -0.5 kts to +0.5kts over a two hour period mid-morning before the high tide peak about two hours later about noon.

I should have been more clear. I meant top of the flood tide, when water stops moving for a bit. So, the end of the flood cycle.

 

[Stu Jackson]

The flood slack that you refer to - is that at the beginning or the end of the flood tide cycle?

On the day we expect to cross, the current ranges from -0.5 kts to +0.5kts over a two hour period mid-morning before the high tide peak about two hours later about noon.

You do recognize the difference between current and tide, right?
John's right about Deep Zoom, a fantastic tool.

 

[jssailem]

I meant top of the flood tide, when water stops moving for a bit. So, the end of the flood cycle.

There is good merit in the timing identified by @FastOlson . The water over the bar would be at it’s deepest. The more depth the smaller waves from swell the least likely to have breaking waves.

The bar conditions would depend on the weather pattern in the ocean.

Note if you have breaking waves as pictured by @dmax the CG will post restricted or closed conditions on the bar. Should you begin to head out to cross the bar it is likely the CG lookout will call the boat dispatch and tell the officer in charge that there is some fool in a sail boat approaching the bar. Then there will be a decision to

1. launch a life boat to challenge to the skipper.
2. A radio call to the boat’s skipper challenge the skipper’s intentions
3. Or a training session for the lifeboat crew will be launched just to stand by and watch.