Seamanship And Boat Ability Questions

[timgoodwin]

My wife and I plan on visiting the west coast soon and would like to travel down the coast and I have a few questions regarding our safety and the boats ability. Hope someone can help.

1. How do I bring her onto a beach off of a high sea without floundering?
2. Can my small craft handle a trip down the coast from Washington to California and back?
3. My transom is pretty low and it makes me nervous about turning away from any sea. What can I do about that.
4. Does she always have to be facing into the sea?
5. Would double pumps be of service maybe?
6. How high of a sea could she handle if I take her bow first into the sea? (Just in case I got caught out in weather).
7. I guess really high swells would be a big problem as well. What do I do if I get caught in those?
8. Do I need to do anything to my motors before putting her into salt water or will she be fine?

[Skagit Hideaway]

Perhaps you should think about doing some day, overnighter, < week cruises, in your new/old boat, on rivers/lake/bay waters first, before you consider going on an extended, offshore adventure. There is a lot (the boat, motors, gear, navigation, weather, sea conditions, anchoring, etc.) to become intimately familiar with.

[bruceb]

I was thinking the same line as Lance- my choice to test the idea of a coastal "adventure" would be taking the trip from Port Townshend to Friday Harbor ( through Cattle Pass) and back in one day. That'll test you, your boat and your relationship....
Highly recommend finding a copy in a used book store- "Piloting, seamanship and small boat handling" by Chapman. A bible to be read cover to cover !

[Helmar]

My wife and I plan on visiting the west coast soon and would like to travel down the coast and I have a few questions regarding our safety and the boats ability. Hope someone can help.

1. How do I bring her onto a beach off of a high sea without floundering?
2. Can my small craft handle a trip down the coast from Washington to California and back?
3. My transom is pretty low and it makes me nervous about turning away from any sea. What can I do about that.
4. Does she always have to be facing into the sea?
5. Would double pumps be of service maybe?
6. How high of a sea could she handle if I take her bow first into the sea? (Just in case I got caught out in weather).
7. I guess really high swells would be a big problem as well. What do I do if I get caught in those?
8. Do I need to do anything to my motors before putting her into salt water or will she be fine?

Because I have never done anything like that, I can't answer your questions.
One thing I Do know is the hull design of your boat is pretty darn close to the Glasspar Seafair Sedan.
I was reading were someone took one of those out from some place down in either LA or San Diego and sailed it all the way down the Mexico peninsula.

Pulling onto the beach in bad weather is tricky, I have always knows to come in straight.
One of the bad things about the older boats is that Large Bucket engine well. I plan on putting 4 drains into the 21 ft Bell Boy as she will be out in the ocean. I was also able to narrow that up so she holds less water but kind of hard to do with a fiberglass bucket.
I also put in twin big pumps in case he takes one over the back and it makes it way to the cockpit. (might have a picture of that to share)

I have had my 20ft Skagit offshore take one over the bow. Not knowing what I was doing, I came around the bottom of Whidby Island and heading back up to Port Townsend and the swells were almost 5 feet as the tide was ripping in and I pointed her right into it. She rode up on one swell and then, Bam, came down and the second one came over the bow and up over the cabin windows and up to the bridge window. After that, I took them at a angle and she kind of rolled a little but was just fine.

You will have more than enough sailing in the Puget Sound, San Juans and out into the Straights. You can get some rough water to play with and learn how she preforms in it.

As fare as the motor, just find out from your local boat motor shop on how and where to put on the Zinc's for salt water. Coming out, always flush the crap out of your engine.
You never want to go out without a Kicker motor mounted on the back.
My 20 ft Skagit, I have a tilt down kicker bracket with a little 15hp engine. I had to use it and it seemed to even get home with the wind hitting me head on.

[Helmar]

I was thinking the same line as Lance- my choice to test the idea of a coastal "adventure" would be taking the trip from Port Townshend to Friday Harbor ( through Cattle Pass) and back in one day. That'll test you, your boat and your relationship....
Highly recommend finding a copy in a used book store- "Piloting, seamanship and small boat handling" by Chapman. A bible to be read cover to cover !

I agree totally as the one time I tried to cross from Port Townsend to Friday Harbor, the weather blew up. It can be pretty interesting out there.

[John Nelson]

Come visit soon, drive down the 101. Take a charter out at Ilwaco or Garibaldi youll have a nice time.

[Skagit Hideaway]

Our Skagit's extension eliminates the transom cut-out and splashwell completely, so we gained some extra cockpit space and 13" freeboard aft, besides a considerable amount of aft floatation. A bulkhead 4" in front of the old transom and extra framing/deck reinforcement provides the hull stability of the old splashwell bulkhead. The hole through the transom for the engine connections will be virtually water-tight.

A Google search for "west coast offshore cruising", returns a considerable number of interesting firsthand accounts for that route.

[DMCI]

I know three guys made exactly that trip, with a layover in Grays Harbor for repairs. They did not have any women on board, but they did bring along their sons as additional hands for the voyage. Their primary purpose was to move their boat from San Diego to Portland. There is a point that sticks out in California and sailing from San Diego to their was a mix of 5 to 7 foot seas, this of course in the summer. The reason they had to stop in Grays Harbor was that they had bow on seas, causing them to use a lot more fuel than expected. After they rounded the point that it got rough they were running in continuous 12 to 15 foot swells and whitecaps. These were very experienced men and the put the thing further in the perspective the vessel was a 90 foot wheelhouse trawler yacht. They also were going through fuel filters like crazy having got some contaminated fuel at some point in the voyage. Not something for the faint of heart in my view, let alone in a small craft.

[TheBronze]

A trip down the coast sounds exciting! And dangerous.

Remember, these are bay boats. They really aren't meant for "high seas". Even the best of them have relatively flat bottoms, low freeboard and leaky cabins.

The waters around Puget Sound are an interesting place. Some days it is flat as a pancake and these old boats shine. Other days, it is chop with 1-2 foot swells. Some boats handle these fine, others pound (like my 404). Beyond that, it can get real nasty in the Winter. Even in the worst of weather, you could pilot one of these old girls across the sound and arrive. Likely you'd be beaten up a bit, but you'd make it. All this to say, these are really very protected waters, which make them a great playground and very unlike open seas where it can go from tranquil to rough to dangerous in very little time.

For me, I would advise against a coastal trip in one of the classics. Maybe in the 31 Skagit, but not much else. Too risky for rough seas IMHO. Unless you want to take all summer and play each day by ear. That could take quite some time!

If you are really set on it, buy a seaworthy sail boat in the 35-40 foot range. Slow going, but meant for that sort of trip.

Landing ashore in rough waters. I've done this many times. Either going to Blake Island, or getting caught out in the wind. I've had the most success bringing her in close to shore, then fending off of the beach. Get close, get off, then point the bow into the swell. And be prepared to get wet! I use an anchor buddy for these kinds of days. Along with a shore line it keeps the boat floating and away from the shore and allows you to retrieve at will.

And +1 for Chapmans. You can get an old copy at any used marine store. I found a nice pocket sized one at Metzger Maps in Seattle. Makes for good reading and skill building.


Spend a few years knocking about the Sound. There is a LOT of adventure to be had here and you are usually close to shore in case something goes sideways. Plus, it is really pretty.

[Skagit Hideaway]

Darksidesailor posted about his successful 17ft Skagit, tuna overnighter, ca. 30 miles off the Oregon coast last year. He has experience and as experienced offshore boaters will tell you, in a 20ft boat, you have to wait for perfect weather/sea conditions to go out for just the day. Harbour hopping down the NW coast is not the same as driving down the I5, taking every interesting exit. That is what some boaters recommend though - trailering to San Francisco and starting your southbound cruise there.

http://www.classicboatclub.com/showt...darksidesailor

[timgoodwin]

Hmmmm! Sounds kinda dangerous, especially with a wife on board. Maybe just stick to the bay and later on when I am more comfortable take a fun trip like down the coast in a bigger boat. Why out from SF and not further up north?

[Skagit Hideaway]

Hmmmm! Sounds kinda dangerous, especially with a wife on board. Maybe just stick to the bay and later on when I am more comfortable take a fun trip like down the coast in a bigger boat. Why out from SF and not further up north?

Cape Mendocino, where the Juan de Fuca plate, Pacific plate, and North America plate meet and respective ocean currents converge.

[Guest]

There have been a lot of good advice here. The problem with running the west coast is that there are few good harbors. It's easy to be over a hundred miles from the nearest safe hardware, and in bad weather that could mean twenty hours of extremely delicate tacking back and forth to avoid the big waves. And your fuel use doubles. Can you carry enough fuel for three or four hundred miles?

Let me give you an example of what happens here on the west coast:
You leave Fort Bragg, where the weather is adequate on your way to Eureka. That's where I live. It's about a hundred miles, so one of the shorter legs. About sixty miles out you pass Point Mendocino, and the weather gets worse. That's common. You slow down because it's getting worse. You have to tack back and forth because if you run straight you're in the trough, which is the worst place to be when it gets snotty. After about nine hours and 120 miles you get to Eureka. You're exhausted- I sure would be. Eureka has a bar to cross, and in bad weather the Coast Guard closes it. If it's open, you shouldn't cross it unless you've already crossed bars several times in good and mediocre weather. The next harbor that's open is Crescent City, which is another fifty miles. Say another six hours of tacking and praying you don't make a mistake. Oh- soon it will be dark, so you can't see the big waves anymore. That's when you seriously consider calling the Coast Guard for a rescue.

You should expect that kind of thing to happen at least twice on a trip like you propose. The 21 foot Bellboy Helmar is restoring for me (thank you Helmar) is a much larger boat and I would never consider a trip where I was fifty miles from a safe port.

Over at least 90% of the west coast and in anything but perfect weather, beaching your boat would be a last-ditch attempt to save your and your wife's lives, knowing you will destroy the boat and everything in it but have maybe a 50% chance of living. If you did everything right.