T&T: Coastal Rabbit Hopping

[John Marshall]

Mike,
	This is excellent, and your first SMS came through just fine to the  
forum. This looks like it'll be very educational for those of us who  
find cruising up that particular stretch of coast to be very  
challenging.

	I see you've picked up on the forecasted southerlies for the area  
just east of Dungeness Spit. NWS has been forecasting strange weather  
for the area between Dungeness Spit to Point Wilson for days.  
Yesterday it was strong northerlies, and for Tuesday its strong SW,  
yet areas east, west, north and south don't have strong wind warnings.  
Very weird. Reality is that I don't think any of that has materialized  
so far, except over at Smith Island. Otherwise, just breezy.

	The only time we've gotten snockered by unique winds in that area was  
a SE blowing out of Discovery Bay at 45 knots when we passed south of  
Protection Island (which is the direct route from Sequim Bay to Point  
Wilson). It was just a gap wind between the narrowing of Discovery Bay  
and the wind getting turned as it flowed up against the cliffs of  
Protection Island, but 45 knots on the beam was enough to get my  
attention. Local knowledge says to stay north of Protection Island in  
a southerly blow.

	Do you have an AIS transponder on board? If so, I might be able to  
wave Hello as you come by Sequim Bay.


John Marshall
N55-20 Serendipity
Sequim Bay, WA


>
>
> Message: 13
> Date: Sun, 04 Oct 2009 11:14:32 -0700
> From: Mike Maurice <mikem at yachtsdelivered.com>
> To: TT <trawlers-and-trawlering at lists.samurai.com>
> Subject: T&T: Coastal Rabbit Hopping
> Message-ID: <4AC8E608.4000901 at yachtsdelivered.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> You may recall that I provide buoy reports to your cell phone, which  
> you
> can access from anyplace that you can send a cell phone SMS message.  
> The
> usage of this free service has not been overwhelming, but  
> occasionally I
> see someone put it to use. The creation of the code for doing the buoy
> reports was completed several months ago. In the past day or so, I  
> have
> finished additional computer code to provide a way of my sending SMS
> messages from my cell phone to the Trawler Forum, here. Of course I
> could send the messages directly, but then the cell phone email  
> address
> would be exposed and I would have to deal with the spam that would
> result. Due to the limited message length in SMS, it is effectively a
> one way medium.
>
> I have never had an effective way of sending email from the boat while
> underway to the forum and as of today, that is no longer true. Writing
> about trips after the fact is not as effective at teaching others  
> about
> the decision making process as when it actually happens. The process  
> is
> not a straight line, as there are mistakes and corrections that have  
> to
> be applied in order to accomplish a fairly successful coastal hop.
>
> Which brings us to the next great experiment. Over the next few  
> days, I
> intend to provide a running commentary of taking a boat up the
> Washington Coast. The messages will be necessarily short and focused  
> on
> the weather, wind, waves and safety issues; concerning bar crossings  
> and
> when to get off the ocean.
>
> You can view the underlying data which I use to make these decisions  
> at
> the following web sites. And of course you can do your own analysis  
> and
> draw you own conclusions as to what you would have done and compare  
> with
> what I do.
>
> Forecast North WA coast.
> http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/eka/getprod.php?sid=sew&pil=cwf
>
> Forecast South WA coast.
> http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/eka/getprod.php?sid=pqr&pil=cwf
>
> Buoys and Winds
> http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/maps/NW_Straits_Sound.shtml
> http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/maps/Columbia_River.shtml
>
> The teaching process starts here with a summary of the expected  
> weather.
>
> Sunday night. Strong winds from the North quadrant, dying out after
> midnight. Low swell, small ebbs ending near sunrise.
>
> Monday, NE winds from the beach. Stay near the beach. Cross the  
> Columbia
> Bar right after daylight. Pass Grays Harbor near the top of the high
> flood, close to the beach.
>
> Stay over at La Push Monday night, maybe make Neah Bay.
>
> Light winds in Straits on Tues, becoming strong westerly later in the
> day. Make Port Townsend or Port Angeles. Watch out for strong  
> southerly
> winds near Dungeness Spit, makes crossing to Port Townsend difficult.
>
> If east wind becomes excessive on Monday, or too much ocean lump, stop
> at Grays Harbor or anchor out, up the coast, Destruction Island or  
> some
> other place.
>
> Notice that the wind forecasts show stronger winds beyond 10 miles
> offshore. This may make for a lumpy sea even close to the beach.  
> Expect
> comments later about this situation.
>
> I don't expect the forecast to resemble reality...
>
> End of Summary.
>
> There will be a least one test message from my cell phone to verify  
> that
> the cell phone SMS is working.
>
> If you have questions they should be posted by 1800 PDT today, as I  
> will
> be on the road by then. Otherwise I won't be responding until I get
> back, most likely on Thursday; at that time I will try to take the  
> time
> to answer questions.
>
> The boat is a 50 foot twin screw powerboat.
>
> Regards,
>
> Mike
>
> _________________________
> Capt. Mike Maurice
> Tigard, Oregon (Near Portland).