Pairadice and ASD Alaska Adventure 2017

[rochepoint]

Oh by the way, its still friggin raining. LOL

But The day started OK at Calvert Island.........

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Well I did wake up the blow boats with the nice rumble and smoke from 3208T/As...... Nice run today. We saw our first whale too. A humpback. It kept slapping its flipper fin on the water as if to say : I am here!! Don't run over me!! Then he started to breach. I wanted pics but we were a little far away...

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Well staying another day in Shearwater. Last night was rough, 30-45mph winds. Heading north tomorrow.

 

[GFC]

Are you getting anxious?

 

[Crusty Chief]

Are you getting anxious?

Mike,
One cant be too anxious with regards to weather. We have a short exposed crossing to get back inside. Today's waves are 3-5 footers at 5 seconds. Tomorrow they are supposed to be 2 footers at 7-8 seconds. So we wait it out for nicer weather.

Some time early this morning (between 3-6 AM) we had winds in excess of 35 knots and we dragged anchor. Tom was the first to fire up, then we separated as we were side tied. Tom moved ASD and set anchor with no issues.

Pairadice did have some issues though. I overworked the windless and it shutdown. Probably should have taken more time and got out of the warm and dry pilot house and on deck, checked on the rode angle and drove up on the anchor. With the high winds and in excess of 225 ft of chain, the windless shut down when we had 75 ft to go. Made for a somewhat tense morning. And not having my morning coffee just made matters worst.

So, lesson learned. No damage to the boats, and no one hurt.

The adventure continues!

 

[Ken E.]

John, where were you anchored?

 

[dhays]

John, were you and Tom rafted together with one anchor down or with each having an anchor down?

 

[sunchaser]

.We have a short exposed crossing to get back inside. !

Crusty, what passage are you citing that is exposed to the weather? From Shearwater going towards Klemtu and beyond it is fairly protected. Taking Reid Passage north off the west end of Seaforth Channel pretty well keeps you out of any weather with Ivory Is to your port.

Conditions for the next four days look good, likely all the way to Prince Rupert. Friday may be iffy. From Shearwater to Bottleneck Cove (bomb proof) which is just past Klemtu is a pretty nice run.

 

[Tator]

I can remember being holed up at the dock in Shearwater for days. During one wind storm a large barge that was anchored out west of the docks came loose and headed for the docks. The only boat avaliable to deal with it was a small harbor tug. It took all it had and about an hour to stop it and get it secured. It was pucker time on the docks to see if it could actually stop it.

 

[Crusty Chief]

John, where were you anchored?

Right at the blue dot.

 

[Ken E.]

We've been in Shearwater many, many times and never seen wind like you experienced. Wow . Looks like you're tied up on the outside of the T at the marina. Ask Cristoff, the harbor master if he's seen anything like that before in May. Tell him hi from Hatt Trick and that we'll see him soon on our way up.

 

[Crusty Chief]

Crusty, what passage are you citing that is exposed to the weather? From Shearwater going towards Klemtu and beyond it is fairly protected. Taking Reid Passage north off the west end of Seaforth Channel pretty well keeps you out of any weather with Ivory Is to your port.

Conditions for the next four days look good, likely all the way to Prince Rupert. Friday may be iffy. From Shearwater to Bottleneck Cove (bomb proof) which is just past Klemtu is a pretty nice run.

Last year, we rounded the corner from Seaforth Channel into Milbanke Sound, on what we thought was a nice weather window, we got caught in short interval 3-4 footers from the WSW with 15 knot winds from the North. Very confused seas and although it was a relatively short hour and a half to get around the corner to head North into Finlayson Channel, it was a miserable trip until we got into the protection of the Islands. Once we made it into Finlayson it was a smooth run from there. So, hope you can understand our reluctance to cross it again in the short snotty stuff.

We hope to cross around Noon tomorrow just before the winds change direction.
Then it will be smooth cruising North until we exit Grenville Channel for Prince Rupert.

 

[Old deckhand]

We were in Shearwater May 2003 and waves were washing over the dock. The wind blew hard and one boat had a cleat pull out.

 

[Ken E.]

John, like Sunchaser described, you can avoid that section of Milbanke Sound by taking a right at Ivory Island, up Reid Passage, through Percival Narrows, then Jackson Narrows and then up Findlayson. Reduces exposure to ocean conditions, although Findlayson can be rough in strong south winds. Bottleneck inlet is a good stopover in that area.

 

[Crusty Chief]

We've been in Shearwater many, many times and never seen wind like you experienced. Wow . Looks like you're tied up on the outside of the T at the marina. Ask Cristoff, the harbor master if he's seen anything like that before in May. Tell him hi from Hatt Trick and that we'll see him soon on our way up.

Ken,
We decided to tie up to the Dock until I made sure we had a working windless.
I talked with Cristoff at the "Wharfinger" office, was a bit busy with others who wanted to stay another day because of the snotty weather.
And yes the discussion about two boats dragging across the bay this morning was the main topic, until I steeped in and then they all wanted to know how we handeled it. Nobody had expected that kind of wind, especially us. We estimate we dragged almost 400 feet before we could separate safely. Tom handeled his boat like a pro, and the girls were admirable in helping us with lines and fenders.

As a side note, A sailboat by the name of "Morning Star" also anchored in the bay, but he choose to anchor on the SE side of Shearwater Island maybe 200 feet away. He also dragged anchor and had to relocate to the other side of the bay. He was very fortunate to have a very good anchor alarm, as he would have been in big trouble had it failed.

We all were fortunate and now have a scary tale for the grandkids.

Ain't boating the bomb?

 

[Crusty Chief]

John, were you and Tom rafted together with one anchor down or with each having an anchor down?

Dave,

We decided to raft together, mainly cuz of a TV Series that Tom brought called "Game of Thrones" we were looking forward to a quiet night and 2 episodes.

We were on my hook, as we have done countless times before. I had 230 ft of chain "in the water" with my Mack Daddy Snubber. I build that snubber line last year and kind of went overboard with it. When deployed, it is 15 ft below the waterline and each end is routed trough the forward Port and Starboard Hawse Pipes and secured to the Samson Post.

Can't imagine trying to untangle 2 anchors in snotty weather, we had our hands full as it was.

 

[mramoo]

John,

Your always looking for a good adventure, LOL

 

[MurrayM]

Trading nasty wind stories from that neck of the woods?

We were in Klemtu during a hurricane force storm. You know it's bad when you see high walls of spray being picked up off the water, then the doors to the restaurant would get pushed open, then the ceiling tiles would start to jump around and the locals lined up at the windows would go, "Ooooooooo!"

Too bad Cone Island blocked the view of Finlayson...must have been mayhem out there...

 

[MurrayM]

I've never rafted up with anyone overnight before. The convenience is alluring but sure sounds like it comes at a price if you have to skedaddle. There must have been enough light to help figure things out, eh?

 

[dhays]

Dave,



We decided to raft together, mainly cuz of a TV Series that Tom brought called "Game of Thrones" we were looking forward to a quiet night and 2 episodes.



We were on my hook, as we have done countless times before. I had 230 ft of chain "in the water" with my Mack Daddy Snubber. I build that snubber line last year and kind of went overboard with it. When deployed, it is 15 ft below the waterline and each end is routed trough the forward Port and Starboard Hawse Pipes and secured to the Samson Post.



Can't imagine trying to untangle 2 anchors in snotty weather, we had our hands full as it was.

Thanks. I have rafted with others before for short term but always on their anchor. Since this was quite a while ago, at that time I was less confident of my own ground tackle.

I am NOT criticizing your decisions since the wind was greater than expected, but do you think that the two of you would have dragged if you had been anchored separately? That may be a question impossible to answer. Also out of curiosity, how deep was the water you were in?

I appreciate your sharing this experience as I certainly learn from it.

Edit: PS, Game of Thrones is worth having to up-anchor in the middle of the night. The series is very well done but as usual, the books are even better.

 

[Crusty Chief]

I've never rafted up with anyone overnight before. The convenience is alluring but sure sounds like it comes at a price if you have to skedaddle. There must have been enough light to help figure things out, eh?

Thanks Murray,

Yes,we had light but at the time we had 35-40 winds and raining like crazy, glad I took the time to put clothes on from that warm cozy bed.

Cheers Buddy ?

 

[sunchaser]

Last year, we rounded the corner from Seaforth Channel into Milbanke Sound, on what we thought was a nice weather window, we got caught in short interval 3-4 footers from the WSW with 15 knot winds from the North. Very confused seas and although it was a relatively short hour and a half to get around the corner to head North into Finlayson Channel, it was a miserable trip until we got into the protection of the Islands. Once we made it into Finlayson it was a smooth run from there. So, hope you can understand our reluctance to cross it again in the short snotty stuff.

We hope to cross around Noon tomorrow just before the winds change direction.
Then it will be smooth cruising North until we exit Grenville Channel for Prince Rupert.

If you take Reid Passage you avoid Milbanke Sound.

 

[Crusty Chief]

Thanks.
I am NOT criticizing your decisions since the wind was greater than expected, but do you think that the two of you would have dragged if you had been anchored separately? That may be a question impossible to answer. Also out of curiosity, how deep was the water you were in?

I appreciate your sharing this experience as I certainly learn from it.

Edit: PS, Game of Thrones is worth having to up-anchor in the middle of the night. The series is very well done but as usual, the books are even better.

Dave,

I estimate that both boats had a combined weight of about 50 tons. Last year we rafted up more times than I can remember, sometimes a third also. But never in winds like last night, and never dragged.

And its kinda hard to say if we might of dragged anchor separately. Maybe, but probably not. The wife and I were caught in a good blow last year by ourselves and the Bruce held strong. Although as I mentioned earlier, a sailboat did also drag anchor and he seemed to be a fairly Salty guy. I suspect that we had a few good gusts that may of helped a little.

The anchor alarm did work and was audible once I was awake, but it was Toms Cats firing up that got me out bed real quick. Might have to look into a external speaker for the berth below.

Jeezzz........The projects never seam to end!

 

[GFC]

Jeeeez you guys are sure keeping us homeboys on the edge of our seats.


John, did the windlass survive?

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Well we sure didn't expect the winds to pop up the way they did. So long as the anchor held, I felt it was too dangerous to break loose. When we did start dragging, we had no choice but to separate.

You know, I have now seen John before his first coffee! Its bad, really really bad! The look on his face when he popped up in his PH when I started the cats.......priceless.

Looks to be a really nice day for a cruise today. Sunshine and smooth water. 8 hours to Khutze.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Leaving Bella Bella

 

[GFC]

Now THAT is the kind of photo of the PNW waterways that we all like to see!


Smooth waters, blue skies. Carpe Diem!

 

[MurrayM]

Now THAT is the kind of photo of the PNW waterways that we all like to see!


Smooth waters, blue skies. Carpe Diem!

Central coast waters...different country...you ain't in Kansas anymore
Dorothy!

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Passing Klemtu

 

[MurrayM]

You guys are winning the north coast BC weather lottery!

It's been raining/drizzling here for weeks and snow came a couple hundred feet from the valley floor a few days ago. There are mushrooms growing in peoples lawns. Birch leaves were going yellow even as they were coming out of bud. Right now there's huge masses of clouds inland and out in the north Pacific...but there's a clear sky corridor straight up into SE Alaska, and it's warm finally.

Good timing

Are you going to the back end of Khutze Inlet? Looks cool back there.