[PCW] Rough West Coast Weather Cruising (long post)

[D C *Mac* Macdonald]

USCGAux, and believe the USCG also, have pretty much left the
"We don't have come back, but we have to go out." motto in the
dust.  They are now very strong on Risk Awareness and Assessment
in making decisions to go out.  What was stated in my Aux training
several years ago basically stated that you need to come back, and
the decision to go out must be based on the likelihood of coming back.

** D C "Mac" Macdonald **
* m/v Another Adventure *
** '95 Carver 355 ACMY **
* Grand Lake - Oklahoma *
** AGLCA (#217) & USPS **



> Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2008 09:23:18 -0800
> From: tulgey at earthlink.net
> To: power-catamaran at lists.samurai.com; dennis at wildmountain.com
> Subject: [PCW] Rough West Coast Weather Cruising (long post)
>
> Dennis Raedeke was saying:
>
> We hit a severe storm. If I had
> waited,  after looking at the weather, the trip would have
> been fine. If we are doing this for enjoyment then we have to boat in
season
> and even then work around the weather. Haste does make waste.
>
> I have been off the Oregon coast in 20 foot seas, going down wind in Wild
Wind
> IV. It was a good ride. At the time the port engine was down. That is
another
> story. The problem out there is when the seas get bad there is no place to
> hide. The river entrances are so bad it is more dangerous than staying out.
We
> were happy to get into Crescent City CA.
>
> I would like to hear comments from the people on this list that are from
that
> area.
>
> Yes, Dennis, much of the coastal waters of the west are pretty
> inhospitable in any sort of particularly windy or bumpy weather, from
> Neah Bay all the way to San
> Francisco. We do get some pretty rough weather too -- last December we
> broke the moorings on two of our big NOAA offshore weather buoys in
> 100mph winds and 70 foot swells. And there are darn few attractive
> harbors to start with. All the potential harbors of refuge are closed
> by the CG when they get too boisterous, although just off the top of my
> head, I would consider Gray's Harbor, the Columbia bar, maybe Newport,
> Coos Bay, and Crescent City the later ones to close. All of them are
> white knuckle crossings in poor conditions. The ones with significant
> river flows involved (Columbia bar most particularly!!) change
> dramatically with the state of the tidal currents. I always time my
> arrivals and departures with lower slack water, I consult the CG
> frequently for bar conditions, and have Plans B and C available. I have
> also crossed the Columbia bar a number of times when it was still as a
> pond, or nearly so. In the case of the Columbia, the CG of course has
> it's base at Cape Disappointment, with it's national training base for
> bar and surf lifeboats there because they feel it offers the finest
> opportunity to train their crews on the most deadly bar in the nation.
> (I'm not talkin' about that tavern in Illwaco...). In every case,
> contact the CG about any refuge needs, they are way beyond superb at
> saving our butts from disaster. The lifeboat crews say that they have
> to go out, but they don't always have to return.
>
>
>
> That's my (typically long winded) view from here on the Columbia anyway,
>
> Gary Bell
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