ASD 2019 Alaska Cruise

[Ken E.]

There's that king salmon you were telling us about. Without divulging any secrets, approximately where was it caught? Kay did quite well on the crab!

 

[AlaskaProf]

We made a reservation at Shilshole Bay Marina. WOW! This is by far the most expensive moorage at $108 a night.

Updated our Blog.

Sorry Ken E., AlaskaProf showed up and had the very last AA......

Tom,

Present yourself at Corinthian YC (North end of the marina). If you have reciprocity, they will give you a form for reimbursement. Besides they have a great bar.

Sorry we didn't connect in F.H. The "navigation committee" wanted to press on to Port Townsend.

'Prof

 

[Ken E.]

"Sorry Ken E., AlaskaProf showed up and had the very last AA......"

If anyone was going to get the last one, I'm glad it was Bill!

 

[dhays]

Sorry Ken E., AlaskaProf showed up and had the very last AA......

AlaskaProf is a great guy to share a drink with!

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

There's that king salmon you were telling us about. Without divulging any secrets, approximately where was it caught? Kay did quite well on the crab!

Believe it or not: Khutze Inlet

 

[Ken E.]

You are sh##ting me! Never seen a line in the water 20 miles from there, either way. Did you just have.......intuition?

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

You are sh##ting me! Never seen a line in the water 20 miles from there, either way. Did you just have.......intuition?

I am with you brother. Fish everywhere! It was Kay I tell you. She has an inside track.....

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Seattle

The trip from Friday Harbor to Seattle was hot. I almost stripped naked. But by the time we made it to Shilshole Marina a north wind popped up and the harbor master assigned me 2 slips I could not get into because to the wind. He ended up putting us on a "T" dock. Should have requested that in the first place.

We departed early and headed up the throat of the devil, aka Ballard Lock. We had to wait for 2 hours to get into the lock. About 20 boats piled up behind me with some pushing forward trying to get ahead of the line.

When we were told to enter, all large boats first. That would be me, so we entered. Kay tossed the line up to the line handlers. Then we had 2 boats raft to us. The lift was only about 29-30 feet. No worries, the Columbia River was much larger and no line handlers.

Don't know what I was thinking. Our fenders had covers on them. The covered caught on the rock wall. One was ripped off and went forward. Nice folks caught it for us. Then we had a fender blow up!! Crap. I had to use my feet to push the boat away from the wall. I am now convinced the Columbia is much easier.

We docked at Miller and Miller Boatyard. Very friendly folks. I backed in. Why? So I can watch the zoo at the lock! This so much fun watching all these boats doing the "Boat Dance!" Boats everywhere.

Then I saw the sister ship to ASD. It was a Camargue "Star Weird!" Cool I could get him to respond to my hails. Oh well.

Once we are done here, it is a 3 day travel back to the Columbia River.

 

[Crusty Chief]

Yep, nothing like having the lock to yourself EH? Like the Columbia/Snake river locks.

Cheers

 

[MartySchwartz]

Darn Tom, missed you by a week. We just got back from the Brougton's on Sunday. If you can add a day or two on your return you should come on over to Poulsbo for a couple of days when you leave Seattle. Nice anchorage if you don't want to tie up at the port. Nice little Norwegian town. Be happy to show you around and I have about 6 Alaskan Amber's in the cooler right now.


Marty......................

 

[Pau Hana]

Darn Tom, missed you by a week. We just got back from the Brougton's on Sunday. If you can add a day or two on your return you should come on over to Poulsbo for a couple of days when you leave Seattle. Nice anchorage if you don't want to tie up at the port. Nice little Norwegian town. Be happy to show you around and I have about 6 Alaskan Amber's in the cooler right now.


Marty......................

Met up with Tom and Kay today to discuss some insurance issues (and catch up). Coming out of the large locks was a 200+’ superyacht, followed by a 180’ expedition yacht, followed by a vessel just short of 100’.

Simply amazing view.

ASD is a VERY cool boat!

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Yep, nothing like having the lock to yourself EH? Like the Columbia/Snake river locks.

Cheers

Don't you know it!! This barley qualifies as a lock and not a waterfall to run at high tide.

Darn Tom, missed you by a week. We just got back from the Brougton's on Sunday. If you can add a day or two on your return you should come on over to Poulsbo for a couple of days when you leave Seattle. Nice anchorage if you don't want to tie up at the port. Nice little Norwegian town. Be happy to show you around and I have about 6 Alaskan Amber's in the cooler right now.


Marty......................

Thanks Marty,

Met up with Tom and Kay today to discuss some insurance issues (and catch up). Coming out of the large locks was a 200+’ superyacht, followed by a 180’ expedition yacht, followed by a vessel just short of 100’.

Simply amazing view.

ASD is a VERY cool boat!

A very dirty ASD.

 

[GFC]

Tom, thanks for the tutoring on the Ballard Lock. I've been through all the locks on the Columbia and Snake rivers and, while they don't scare me any more, they do raise my blood pressure a little bit.


It's awe inspiring to pull into the Ice Harbor Lock at the low end where you're looking at a concrete canyon that is 86' wide by 675' long and about 120' tall. The average lift at Ice Harbor is 105' though the highest lift we've seen is 118'.

 

[Ken E.]

"I backed in. Why? So I can watch the zoo at the locks!"

When I was a kid growing up in Seattle, sometimes we'd go down to the locks on Sunday afternoons. During the summer, boats would be returning from the weekend. Lots of boats, many liquored-up, doing bumper cars with other boats and of course quite a bit of yelling and swearing. This was great fun to watch from above for a kid. But sometimes, a bristol Chris Craft, Trumpy or something similar would serenely cruise in, easily tie up and lock through, probably heading for the Seattle Yacht Club. Typically, an old guy was running the boat and was just so skilled that all of the hooplah didn't exist for him and his crew. Easy and effortless boat handling. To this day, I've always aspired to be like those guys...I'm certainly old enough. But I'm not there yet.

 

[BandB]

Wifey B: Ballard Locks are the biggest clusterf... in terms of locks I've seen or been through. We went and observed first but then went through early on a weekday for minimum traffic. What we observed on a summer weekend was scary with all the boats tied to boats tied to boats tied to boats.

I've been told some of the locks on the Ohio are that bad over holidays. I know Chickamauga on the TN River is during Riverfest.

On a busy day, Ballard just seemed to me like we're going to pack as many boats as possible however we can. I haven't been through at one of those times and wouldn't want to. By comparison I wouldn't even consider the Panama Canal stressful.

 

[AlaskaProf]

The packing is expected by the users; preferable to long waits for another cycle.

Also, the lockmaster is responsible for maintaining the critical water level in the Ship Canal and the lakes and is disinclined to expend the resource inefficiently.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

What surprised me is that it is run by the Corps......

 

[BandB]

The packing is expected by the users; preferable to long waits for another cycle.

Also, the lockmaster is responsible for maintaining the critical water level in the Ship Canal and the lakes and is disinclined to expend the resource inefficiently.

Wifey B: I know the whys and the wherefores, but doesn't change what it is. It's nightmarish. One boat screws up and five or ten or twenty or a million are messed up.

I've seen other locks using rafting but none looked as chaotic as what I saw there. Now, I've seen a video on the Ohio River that looked just the same, but on a smaller scale because the lock was smaller.

I don't like rafting anywhere so it goes to say I don't like mass rafting in locks. Have no problem rafting beside a tow in the TN River but rafting in the midst of 50 boats or more where the lock wall is many boats away from me, not my cup of tea.

 

[twistedtree]

It's funny how perspectives can be so different. I think the Ballard lock is well organized and civilized, albeit very crowded at times. Boat's come in as directed, tie up where directed, and boaters are helpful and civil. It can still be a LOT of boats, and inexperienced boaters can make things harder, but everyone chips in to make it work. And the attendants are the picture of patience. I would go ballistic if I had that job.


That said, I always tried to avoid the weekend rush because I just don't like crowds.

 

[GFC]

We were standing alongside Ballard lock a few years ago watching about an 80' boat come into the locks headed from the lake to salt water. It kept wanting to turn to the right as it approached the lock. The skipper would apply the bow thruster to bring it back in line but that scenario (turn/thruster) was repeated all the way into the lock. He bumped the wall on the starboard side of the lock several times as he came in.


His crew secured the boat and he came out of the pilot house to look at the lines. As he walked past me I quietly said "You should turn off your autopilot when you come into the lock."


The very embarrassed skipper looked at me, got this funny look on his face and just quietly thanked me. Then he went back up to the pilot house to, I presume, turn off the autopilot.

 

[JadePanama]

It's funny how perspectives can be so different. I think the Ballard lock is well organized and civilized, albeit very crowded at times. Boat's come in as directed, tie up where directed, and boaters are helpful and civil. It can still be a LOT of boats, and inexperienced boaters can make things harder, but everyone chips in to make it work. And the attendants are the picture of patience. I would go ballistic if I had that job.


That said, I always tried to avoid the weekend rush because I just don't like crowds.

Totally agree. I think the Ballard locks by and large are well run and have never had any issues. The only issue is all the damn commercial traffic taking priority over recreational in the small locks. As far as traffic, coordination and rafting it’s all well organized and the folks going through for the most part all know their part.
And we do a lot of peak time visits so we have had more than our fair share of long waits and crowded large lock passes.

 

[AlaskaProf]

What surprised me is that it is run by the Corps......

Who else?

The army has always had a major presence in nautical matters. You should see the fleet they maintain in Tacoma.

 

[AlaskaProf]

....and the dredges along the ICW.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Here are a few pics

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Sorry for the double post

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

So I learned something today when using these locks. "LLL" When releasing your lines practice LLL (Last, Line, Lake). So the last line released is the lake side. So a lift to the lake the BOW line would be released last. A down lock, salt water, the last line released would be the STERN.

 

[Pau Hana]

We’ve been running the Ballard Locks for the past decade, and feel that they do a great job- especially given the volume of marine traffic that goes thru the locks.

 

[Wayfarer]

The average lift at Ice Harbor is 105' though the highest lift we've seen is 118'.

118'!??! Crikey, that's a lot. I don't think I've ever done more than 40 or so. That's gotta be one of the deepest locks in the world. Time for an internet rabbit hole search for the world's deepest locks. Wish me luck!

Update: 'In December 2005's Waterways World, we looked for the world's deepest lock - and found it at Oskemen, in Kazakhstan. Here's how we described it: Oskemen is on a resurgent river route from northern China to Russia. Its rise of 40m-42m (around 138ft)'

 

[BandB]

We’ve been running the Ballard Locks for the past decade, and feel that they do a great job- especially given the volume of marine traffic that goes thru the locks.

Wifey B: I have no doubt it's well run and they do their job well. Still I find it on a busy holiday or weekend day to be a mess I'm not a fan of getting in the middle of. I drive on I-95 occasionally during rush hour but doesn't mean I find it pleasant.

Any chaos I observed had nothing to do with the lockmaster but was boaters who were unprepared and/or couldn't follow directions.

 

[Russell Clifton]

I only went thru the locks once. Our previous boat was in Lake Washington when we took possession. It was July 4th and I knew I did not want to be caught up in that mess, especially since I had only operated the boat for a few minutes during the seal trial. So we were up at daybreak and moved down to the locks. When the light turned green to signal it was OK to enter, we did so with one other boat. Not a single person watching.