OK, maybe this is just so I can vent a little, but...
When traveling south between the north and south Puget Sound, we always stay to the west of Vashon Island and take Colvos Passage. Even though it has a mild perpetual northerly current. Coming home today from a quick trip north to meet some friends, we decided that a nice warm fall day with light winds would be a perfect time for getting in a little more practice with our spinnaker. We expect to encounter a couple of WOT power boaters along the way, and maybe a tug towing a barge or logs... But today, over the course of about half its length, we encountered TWO large cargo ships (one northbound and the other chasing us south)... Traveling right down the middle of this narrow passage at about 15 kts, slowing periodically as they needed to steer in one direction or another around various points on Vashon Island or The Great Peninsula. It was not my idea of a fun time, trying to navigate around them in a space that's only a little over 10 NM long and as narrow as about .5 NM!
Why they had to use Colvos, despite the existence of a perfectly usable (and as far as I could tell, EMPTY) Traffic Separation Zone on the east side of Vashon...
Is it just me or, does this qualify as a legitimate case of, What the ?... Over?
When traveling south between the north and south Puget Sound, we always stay to the west of Vashon Island and take Colvos Passage. Even though it has a mild perpetual northerly current. Coming home today from a quick trip north to meet some friends, we decided that a nice warm fall day with light winds would be a perfect time for getting in a little more practice with our spinnaker. We expect to encounter a couple of WOT power boaters along the way, and maybe a tug towing a barge or logs... But today, over the course of about half its length, we encountered TWO large cargo ships (one northbound and the other chasing us south)... Traveling right down the middle of this narrow passage at about 15 kts, slowing periodically as they needed to steer in one direction or another around various points on Vashon Island or The Great Peninsula. It was not my idea of a fun time, trying to navigate around them in a space that's only a little over 10 NM long and as narrow as about .5 NM!
Why they had to use Colvos, despite the existence of a perfectly usable (and as far as I could tell, EMPTY) Traffic Separation Zone on the east side of Vashon...
Is it just me or, does this qualify as a legitimate case of, What the ?... Over?
