SteveK
Guru
- Joined
- Jul 5, 2019
- Messages
- 5,821
- Location
- Gulf Islands, BC Canada
- Vessel Name
- Sea Sanctuary
- Vessel Make
- Bayliner 4588
I agree with 30 up to 60 before slack to start going through.
There no reason to fear going through the canal, it’s well marked and easy to transit.We are making the trip on one engine, starboard engine is seized, hopefully be able to get it swapped out there in june, if not while I’m there, then I’ll have to wait till fall. Have been practicing with single port engine docking, learning the effect of prop wash. I lose the engine while in the canal, I’m up a creek for sure no matter what the currents doing. Maybe better to go around, your giving me the hee bee gee bees, lol
Thank you for the links, I will make use of those.Congrats on a successful cruise! You mention cruising to Olympia. You'll want to take the lessons learned here and think about your passage through the Tacoma Narrows enroute to Oly. Currents of 4 to 5 kts are common, sometimes faster. And there is Deception Pass, another rite of passage for those learning currents in the local area.
A blog you may find interesting Sailing with Puget Sound’s tides and currents
A detailed study of tides and currents in Puget Sound. Starpath's Tidal Currents of Puget Sound
A visualization of Tacoma Narrows currents. Surface Currents at Tacoma Narrows
A publication I have found very useful. Tide Prints The price they are asking for it is outrageous. I can't see the value in that. But if you can find a used copy at a better price it's worth having on your chart table when cruising Puget sound.
To complicate matters a bit, the PT Canal seems to run a bit earlier than the tables would indicate. That means the flood and ebb begin, in reality, sooner than the current table would indicate. I have observed this over the past ten years. I use this program for the most part: WWW Tide/Current Predictor - Site Selection .Looking at this tide chart for the Townsend canal, I’m assuming that slack tide there is no current, then when it transitions to Ebb that is the time the tide starts going out, then the following slack is the peak of low tide.
Thanks for any input to understand what’s happening with the current, my understanding is when there is an Ebb tide in the canal the current flows north towards Port Townsend, just looking to get the timing right as it seems from 10:48am to 2:18pm would be the best time to go from Puget sound to Port Townsend through the canal.