I know our boat is out there somewhere

This is a big Holiday weekend on Lopez Island and the bay gets really crowded.

We probably could sail our way out and back, but why bother. Instead we are going to have a nice dinner and drinks aboard Bolero tonight and wait for the fireworks show launch from the spit just south of us. We will have a great seat.

Happy 4th of July.

Super Low Tide = Strong Currents

Tuesday, 23 June 2009, was a pretty low tide day.

Specifically a -3.15 ft at 11:48. I wanted to go sailing but with 5 or 6 hours of the day at zero or below there wasn't really any chance of that happening.

So instead I decided to go down to the bay and take photos of the channel and shoreline during this significant low tide. I find that there is a great deal to learn from seeing the water in this condition.

The first, and most obvious, is that anywhere there is water at a -3 I can sail at a plus 2 since 5 ft is greater than my draft. This is actually pretty helpful info. In addition, I see the obstructions that I can't see at zero or plus one but that would be painful to encounter.

I thought I would pass along these photos, and video, in case anyone else had any interest.

I started south and worked my way north so here goes. My first stop was the Islander Resort. I would say that this is the destination for many of the folks that come to visit Lopez Island.

From my vantage, and I never use the Islander dock, the main low tide hazard is on the back side and the low lying rocks on the east shore. It seems you would almost have to go out of your way for them, but I know how that goes.

And here is a view looking south just because I thought it looked cool.

Working my way just a bit north, here is the view of the northeast side of the Island's Marine Center, IMC, dock.

And of course I had to take at least one photo of the least useful navigational aid in Fisherman Bay, the Fisherman Bay Channel Buoy 7.

I personally never sail near this buoy at any tide.

My ultimate goal was the channel entrance so I peddled my bike over to the Bay Cafe to have a look. And just as I rode up someone was making a tentative attempt at enter Fisherman Bay at a -3.15. By the time I managed to get my camera out of my backpack he had thought better of his idea and bugged out. Very wise choice.

One of my reason for going through this effort was to try and see the various hazards that lie at the entrance to Lopez Island and to try and discover the risks of different approaches. I tried to get photos that would help others get a better feel as well but alas I couldn't get my camera to see what I could see through my polarized sun glasses. But here are the pictures in any case.

This panoramic shows the path between the outer "Fisherman Bay Sector Light" and "Fisherman Bay Day Beacon 4" at the mouth of the channel entrance. Here is a link to the full size photo.

What I could see, but what is hard to see here, is the shoal between these two marks. From my vantage, and personal experience, the shoal is a bit to the west of the line between theses to marks. You can just make out the shoals and the eel grass in this area.

This corresponds well to the chart of the Fisherman Bay entrance.

I also took a photo of my favorite Fisherman Bay navigation aid at a really low tide. Good ole "Fisherman Bay Day Beacon 4". You can see that even at -3.15 we still can't quite see its termination into the sand.

You can also see the sloop of the shoreline as it meets the water and it is quite steep. This also combined with my personal experience is why I tend to hug this mark pretty tight. This technique limits your exposure to the strong channel currents and keeps in relatively deep water.

I came back to complete this cycle and take a few more pictures during the strong flood that was coming into to fill the void that this low, low tide left. The max flood at Pear Point, almost due west of the channel entrance, was 2.06 knots at 16:37. I don't know for sure, but it wouldn't surprise me if the corresponding current at the mouth of Fisherman Bay was 3 to 4 kts.

I was a little late for the max flood but the current was still hopping. But our hero from this morning had returned to navigate the channel with a bit more water. I didn't have my little point and shoot so I wasn't able to take a proper video, but I did manage to let the Nikon's motor drive loose. So here is accelerated time lapse video of his entrance.

He made an entry that was very similar to my own, and quite unusual in my experience from what I normally see.



Even so, the current had its way with him. This would have been a far, far more exciting entrance had he started out mid channel like so many others who enter Fisherman Bay. This entry was very well done, darn near perfect actually, in a very demanding current environment.

In the end Fisherman Bay channel can be challenging to transverse. But we routinely sail in, tacking against the wind, usually with the current with tides of zero and greater (we draw 4 3/4 ft). Although I have gone through the channel during minus tides, I don't recommend it unless you have the appropriate local knowledge.

Bolero Short Sailing Video

Last Saturday I took a couple of short videos and promptly forgot to include them in my log post. So it is.

This was a very nice day with plenty of wind. Truth be told I could easily have a reef already tucked in, which I latter did.

Forgive my poor mainsail trim as I was all alone on this day and Bolero may have headed up while I was distracted.



Update:

And here is another short video that I forgot to post. This time from our sail on May 9th to Shark Reef which was a much lighter wind day. Quite the contrast.

Saturday - June 20 - San Juan Channel (9 NM)

Back on the water again. For no really good reason, we took a week off from sailing. We did have a mediocre weather forecast but as is often the case it was just the forecast that was bad and not the actual weather, which was pretty nice.

Today's weather, wind and tides specifically, weren't ideal. The wind forecast was for 5 - 15 kts from the SW which is the dreaded who knows what the wind strength will be forecast. And with a low tide of -1.75 ft at 9:36 and a high of 7.96 ft at 18:38 the flood current was a screamer. As usual we stopped by the parking lot by the Bay Cafe to check out the channel entrance conditions and I had never seen such a current in the mouth of the channel.

The good news was that by now, around 14:00, the tide was a plus 2ish and the wind was more from the W. I wasn't sure that we would get out today but with the W wind and high water I thought we would give it a go.

In the end all my worrying was for naught. Bolero sailed out powerfully never dropping below 3 kts and then we headed up to a close reach and quickly jumped to 5 kts. My kind of exit.

But we still had to deal with the light and variable winds and strong current in San Juan channel. As we came out I saw a sailboat race over in the North end of Griffin Bay and decided to check it out. The current and wind had other ideas. We made it part of the way but quickly lost the battle with the current under dying wind.

And that would have been the end of a short, but nice, afternoon daysail expect I spotted this beauty under our boom.

I have been reading Tim Lackey's Glissando cruising logs in the morning with my tea or coffee and it seems that if he drops his camera and it accidentally goes off he captures another boring classic beauty plying the coast of Maine. But up here in the Pacific Northwest classic beauty is rare indeed. So of course I was anxious to go have a look.

The problem was the wind was still light and variable and this beauty was down current from us and our channel entrance. Should we sail down to her and the wind completely died we would be dragged north until the tide change. I hemed and hawed until suddenly she tack up towards us in what looked like good wind.

Well that was all the incentive I needed to close our distance.

IRIS, is a Alden Cutter built in the 30's.

We chatted and sailed together for a short while. It turns out she is moored in Friday Harbor on San Juan island. I don't know how I have missed her over the years. In addition her owners mentioned that the also have a Rhodes designed Evergreen and an old Folkboat sailing out of their same dock. Who knew.

They invited us to come racing on Friday nights and even offered us a place to tie up for the night. We might have to give that some thought.

We eventually left them on their way home and headed home ourselves. In the light wind I decide to forgo my new reefed entry rule and headed in under full sail. Of course the wind strengthen as we came in but it was easily handled.

We quickly sailed up to our mooring and performed a perfect pickup. All in all a nice, but short, day sail.

June 12 Tides - Friday Harbor

June 12 GPS Track

2009 Sailing Summary
Sailing Days-18 / 46 (39%)
Blissful Hours of Hand Steering - 2:15 hours today & 60:10 hours for the season
Total Miles Under Sailed this Season - 224 NM

Gentlemen Never Sail to Weather

Then I am no gentleman. Big surprise here, I know. I just don't really care for sailing off the wind. Broad reaching and downwind sailing are relatively slow points of sail for Bolero and reduce our options under sail to deal with boat traffic and currents.

Just about every exit out of Fisherman Bay is downwind, mostly dead downwind. Usually against the current. In this type of situation, I am completely at the mercy of the local wind and current. I can't, for instance, head up during a lull to increase my apparent wind and boat speed. It is also much slower to bail on the attempt and spin the boat around head back the way I came.

Occasionally, I enjoy the warmth of an off the wind sail. But for me it gets old fast. I much prefer the balance, "locked in" feel of a boat heeled over on a reach or a close hauled course.

Perhaps I haven't pounded to windward in wet and nasty condition long enough to become a gentleman that doesn't sail to weather. I guess I will continue gleefully sailing to weather. Who knows, maybe there is a gentleman in me yet.