Columbia Bar

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Edelweiss

Edelweiss

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May 15, 2011
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1976 Californian Tricabin LRC
In a previous thread, someone asked what the "Columbia Bar" was? (The mouth of the Columbia River where it meets the Pacific Ocean, between Washington and Oregon.)

Below is a video of two boats crossing the "Columbia River Bar" when it's less than perfect conditions!! :eek:

Incredible video - fishing boats in rough sea - YouTube
 
Crossed that suckered several times on USS Pigeon and a couple times on USS Sacramento. Always exciting loosing rudder authority on a 900 foot ship and surfing the waves on a flat bottom catamaran.
 
Edelweiss said:
In a previous thread, someone asked what the "Columbia Bar" was? (The mouth of the Columbia River where it meets the Pacific Ocean, between Washington and Oregon.)

Below is a video of two boats crossing the "Columbia River Bar" when it's less than perfect conditions!! :eek:

Incredible video - fishing boats in rough sea - YouTube
Click to expand...


That is not the Columbia river bar... I believe that is a entrance in New Zealand ... the CR bar is huge/wide by comparison and you cannot film from that angle or distance...

Also those boats have a flopper stopper system not used on USA boats.. and our boats are named on the bow.

Still impressive seamanship none the less.

Here is a CR bar video...

Fishing Vessel Capsizes on the Columbia River Bar - YouTube



HOLLYWOOD
 
Good eye Hollywood. That video is labelled the Columbia River Bar on LiveLeaks, but identified as the Grey River Bar, Greymouth, New Zealand in the original.
 
:Thanks for the nightmares to come.:D:D

Marty
 
I've been across the Columbia River Bar twice and both crossings were uneventful. The whole story to doing it safely has to do with timing your crossing with the correct tides. When you have a strong incoming tide flowing against the strong Columbia River current it gets real messy.
 
We're in the process of moving to Portland (Oregon), and I've already been anxious about boating there and the famous/dreaded Columbia River Bar. Seeing that video raised my blood pressure about 50 points, as well as scared the living daylights out of my wife. The thought of being in those conditions doesn't seem like much fun....
 
Endurance said:
We're in the process of moving to Portland (Oregon), and I've already been anxious about boating there and the famous/dreaded Columbia River Bar. Seeing that video raised my blood pressure about 50 points, as well as scared the living daylights out of my wife. The thought of being in those conditions doesn't seem like much fun....
Click to expand...
While the bar is notorious...it's not always that bad...the locals can best tell you the weather and swell parameters that make it safe to transit.

also for those who aren't around the waterfront a lot.....The high price of seafood is usually the "getting it to market/middleman" process...not what the fishermen get for it...
 
Endurance said:
We're in the process of moving to Portland (Oregon), and I've already been anxious about boating there and the famous/dreaded Columbia River Bar. Seeing that video raised my blood pressure about 50 points, as well as scared the living daylights out of my wife. The thought of being in those conditions doesn't seem like much fun....
Click to expand...

The Bar is a force to be dealt with but is pretty predictable so for the most part not to be feared. And that video , doesn't represent the type of wave typical on the bar.... when it's bad they are MUCH bigger than that!
Good luck on your move to the PNW

HOLLYWOOD
 
Hollywood, thanks for instilling what will now be endless nightmares of towering waves swallowing my little boat.... if I told my wife that the waves can be much worse than on the video, she would insist on giving up boating. We may be river boaters for a while (too bad there isn't a canal linking the Columbia River at Portland with Puget Sound, I wonder if that has ever been thought of).

Larry, I'm still investigating how to best get Endurance out there. Right now I think our best option is transport by ship, through a company called 'Seven Seas'. I don't want to remove the flybridge and chance transport by truck, but also have trepidations about a ship. Another company, Yacht Path, went bankrupt while their ship was en route. Maritime Law being as convoluted as it seems to be, I heard that the boats on the ship were seized despite their transport having been paid for. It would be horrendous to go through something like that (a nightmare even worse than sea conditions on the bar).

We would love to take it on its own bottom through the Panama canal, it seems like it would be the trip of a lifetime. But, we really don't have the time for what I think would be a 4-6 month journey, and I'm realistic enough about my boating skills to not want to try it on our own.
 
Nick, when are you headed to PDX? We live about 3.5 hours (by car) up the Columbia from Portland and love boating on the Columbia and Snake Rivers. From Portland you have about 110 miles downstream to the Columbia, 230 miles upstream to our neck of the woods and 160 miles of the Snake River to explore.

Plus you get the excitement and awesome adventure of going through the locks on the Columbia and Snake Rivers.

We're taking Beachcomber down to Portland in the spring some time. If you're out there it would be my pleasure to meet up and share some lies about boating over a cool drink.
 
Nick-have you talked to Seven Seas about shipping? Shipping from a US port to a US port can be a real issue as the vast majority of vessels are foreign registered. Only US registered vessels can go US to US (Jones Act issues). If coming from the East Coast to the West, usually the only available ports are Ensenada or Vancouver, CA. At 39', is over-the-road a possibility?
 
That would be a wonderful trip on her bottom, but given your time constraints. . . I vote for shipping to Vancouver, BC. Bring the boat down to Bellingham or Anacortes (a day trip) and enjoy boating Puget Sound, the San Juan's and the Gulf Islands for a summer or two. We have a number of Portland (Oregon) residence with boats in out marina. We're just a 3 1/2 hour drive up the road!!

Should you decide to move the boat to Portland . . . . From Anacortes, given good weather, it's just a long weekend trip. The Columbia Bar is nothing if you choose your tide and weather.

IMHO
Larry B
 
No need to go all the way to Vancouver. Most yacht shipping also deliver to Victoria.

:)
 
GFC, it would be great to meet up and share boating experiences/tall tales/horror stories over cool drinks. We're hoping to be in Portland sometime in the spring, I'll keep you posted.

THD, you're absolutely right, I've learned about the wonderful 'Jones Act'. Seven Seas picks up in Ft. Lauderdale FL and delivers to Victoria BC (which still means our bringing the boat down the east coast from the Chesapeake Bay to Florida, which is no problem, and then from Victoria to Portland.

Larry, we were hoping to do just that, spend some time in Puget Sound after delivery to Victoria. I've never boated on Puget Sound (except for a sea trial of the boat), it looks absolutely fantastic. It's the crossing the bar part to get to Portland that has me worried....

Maybe by then someone will dig a canal from Olympia to Longview? It seems that would be wonderful for pleasure boaters and allow direct access from the Columbia River to Puget Sound. It looks like the Cowlitz River is already a start, maybe just a little extension? I realize that there's probably no commercial rationale for such a project, but, it would be nice...
 
We tried to do that with the eruption of Mount Saint Helens, but it didn't work out so well, too much silt.:eek:

Victoria BC is a beautiful city and a great starting off point. Another option is, South Puget Sound, Olympia, is only 90 minutes from Portland and has nice marinas.

Even if you don't want to make the trip yourself, you can always hire a skipper or enlist an experienced crew to assist you. Any body of water can blow up, it's all about timing, monitoring conditions and a little local knowledge, really not as bad as it sounds.:thumb:
 
Endurance said:
...it's the crossing the bar part to get to Portland that has me worried.... QUOTE]

As previously said with todays weather forecasting and paying attention to the winds and tides it's pretty easy. We were told by some locals on the OR/WA coast, when crossing the river bars, to remember, "flood is fine, ebb is evil". We've been down the coast twice and the advice was spot on. :)
Click to expand...
 
"Flood is fine, ebb is evil"? I thought with the Columbia River Bar, it was the opposite. I'd been told that a flood tide, opposing the river current, made for rougher conditions than the ebb. Or, does one want to enter on a flood, and depart on an ebb?

Thanks!
 
I just crossed it back in October under the worse of conditions! First time ever! Didn't expect to bust my virgin bubble this way.

Read about it on my blog. Click the October Archives at the bottom, then the "Long Journey Home."
 
The prevailing wind/seas are on shore. With an ebb tide and strong river currents, the seas pile up at the bar making for very steep short seas. On a flood, you have the wind and tide which, will over take the outgoing current. Look at the reference in the previous post. He crossed on an ebb tide. No fun at all.
 
Nick, if you end up having to seriously consider over-the-road transport, let's talk. I shipped my boat from the Detroit area to Portland and I might be able to save you some headaches.

There's a boat marina/repair place in PDX that I used to reassemble the flybridge and install a bunch of other equipment. I was satisfied with the job they did but not too happy with their work schedule. They had 3 months to do the work and still ended up being 2 weeks late getting it back in the water.

That's not too untypical for boat yards these days so I wasn't too surprised or too unhappy. Part of the reason we're headed down to Portland in the spring is to have them do some work on the boat for me.
 
Nock-before you go with Seven Seas, check with Peters & May, you can find their website easily. They are a direct shipping agent and are well experienced in shipping yachts all over the world. We used them to bring the boat from Jupiter to Seattle via Vancouver. I know several other here and on another forum have used them as well. We were pleased, price was more than competitive (it still costs a small fortune!) and the service was very good. They may be able to get you shipped from Baltimore or Norfolk if you want to avoid the trip down to coast.

No connection to them other than a satisfied customer.
 
GFC, thank you, but I'm trying to avoid overland transport. Every time I have done it with a boat, it has always been headaches and problems, both with the trucking, and the reassembly. I hope to never do it again in this lifetime.

THD, thank you, I'll look up Peters & May, haven't heard of them before. It is a (not so) small fortune, which is all the more reason to be careful.
 
Take it through the canal, c'mon! That would make a great once in a lifetime trip. :D
 
It would be fun....
 
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