Point Wilson Tide Rip

[joempo]

As some of you who were on the Desolation Sound Cruise will remember, SLO Ranger, Amstel, Veritas and Y-Knot had an encounter with the Point Wilson Tidal Rip on the way to Sidney Harbor. We told wild stories being tossed about and crew members being ill.

I have finally had the opportunity to put together a very abbreviated video of that adventure. As you watch and read the captions, I'm certain you will have a better appreciation for studying charts, reading accounts and (hopefully) learning of hazards from other experienced sailors.

To those who are attending the Rendezvous at Cap Sante, have a great weekend. I'm sorry Robyn and I will have to pass on this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACHnAPuX9w8

Joe

 

[jimschu]

Joe

I could not open the video as it is marked private. Is there another route to see the video.
We have been through the area several times and know how rough it can get.
In the Squeezer 7 on the galley shelf is a bottle of Jack Daniels old #7 and has been on our last couple of boats.
It is only used on a very special occasions. We only use it after a rough crossing which we try to avoid as much as possible.
We learned that a combination of fog, ebb tide, opposing wind, no radar, a 20' boat, should be avoided. Some lessons are learned the hard way.
Jim

 

[SUWANNEE]

I tried also but got funny face marked private 😱

 

[baz]

Joe: Your video is marked PRIVATE. 😱

 

[joempo]

I apologize.
This is my first You Tube video, and I overlooked the "privacy" settings. You should have access now.
Have a great day.
Joe

 

[baz]

Joe: Got it... that was some video and well done enduring those seas. Here are some observations I took watching the video and some thoughts about what I was looking at...

1) First, a great video and wondered what brand/type of camera was used as the picture was very steady ?
2) No wiper action was seen !
3) No wind, as you mentioned.
4) Was auto pilot engaged or were you navigating manually ?
5) It's so important when encountering these kind of conditions to have other boat company as it reduces the anxiousness by a factor of 100 IMO. You were fortunate to have other boats to chat with and collectively make choices.
6) Yes, the Ranger Tugs are very suitable for these sea conditions that exist in our PNW area. I've been in the Strait Georgia at least two times now with sea conditions that at first seem impossible but our R-25 (Classic) proved its worth and has provided me with confidence if ever we encounter bad seas of this kind. Being on your own in bad seas is very stressful and we all must realize it can happen with the best of plans.
7) What speed were you maintaining ?
8) Did you have radar and were you able to lock onto your fellow Tugnut boats ?
9) I could here a lot of chattering in the background which was continuous... was that a radio or communication with the other Tugs ?
10) Did you have to avoid any large commercial ships ? Did you see any during that crossing ?

Thanks for making your video available to us.

 

[tlkenyon]

Very nice video. Thanks for sharing. Glad it all worked out.

 

[bluestreak]

Looks a lot like the weather we had on Bear Lake in Utah a couple of weeks ago on a late afternoon / early evening search and rescue.
Our 25 ft Boston Whaler, Challenger cabin model, was taking water over the cabin top on occasion.
Constant attention to the throttle with the twin 225HP outboards and helm was the order of the day all the while searching for a couple who fell off or were tossed off a PWC, Personal Watercraft.

 

[Spinner]

Great video! I, unfortunately, did the same crossing during the evening of July 25, no fog, but the promised gale-force winds had materialized and were combined with the tide rip on the ebb tide.

I wish I had a record of that crossing, if only to remind myself to rely more on the weather forecast and less on an hours-old report from someone crossing...

How did you mount your camera?? Was this taken in the morning?

Sue
Spinner

 

[Olytuggers]

Watching this makes me green (and not with envy!). Thanks for taking us along to share your experiences crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We can learn a lot from what you went through. We will miss seeing you and Robyn at the Rendezvous.

Lois and Dan Cheney
Hoku Kai R225SC

 

[joempo]

Baz,
The camera is a Go Pro "White" with a suction mount to the windshield. The suction cup holds very well, while also buffering from vibration.
We use Rain-Ex and have found it to be very satisfactory in keeping the windshield clear.
The auto pilot was on as, IMHO, it would have been very difficult to navigate without it. You might ask Doug (Veritas), as they went through it without AP.
I believe we were cruising at 7-8 knots. Mainly, we were keeping Amstel in sight.
We do have radar, but spent more time looking out the windows than watching the screen.
Most of the background chatter was between Robyn and me. There was some on the radio. As I recall, there had been a report of an empty kayak off one of the San Juan Islands and the USCG was broadcasting an alert every 20 minutes. There was also a boater in the fog who was asking the USCG if they had any idea how far north the fog extended.
As for commercial shipping, we broke through the fog about a mile south of the shipping lane, so we were able to see them from a distance.

Sue,
As I recall, we left Point Hudson Marina shortly before 11:00 AM, with the idea of catching the ebb tide, cruising across the Strait on the slack and being propelled north to Sidney on the flood. Unfortunately, nobody I spoke with regarding this plan mentioned the Point Wilson Rip. Now I know, and will not hesitate to share this experience.

A somewhat amusing side note - on the cruise, I believe it was at Nanaimo, Jeff handed out several copies of Waggoner's cruising guide. Days later, while we were on our way home from Desolation Sound, Robyn was reading an article written about the Point Wilson Tidal Rip and how to avoid it. We could not help but identify with the writer's account of their adventure.

As I have time, I'll post more video I recorded on the cruise.

Joe

 

[Pete]

So you have a lovely Ranger 25, with many thousand dollars invested in radar, auto pilot, camera and I'm sure a nice chartplotter. But you go cruising without first spending 20 bucks on the cruising guide for your area?
Not intended as criticism, more an observation of a trend I see among boaters. With lots of high tech at our fingertips there's perhaps less incentive for the pre-planning and research we used to do in the days before we had all this hardware at our disposal.
Pete

 

[baz]

So you have a lovely Ranger 25, with many thousand dollars invested in radar, auto pilot, camera and I'm sure a nice chartplotter. But you go cruising without first spending 20 bucks on the cruising guide for your area?
Not intended as criticism, more an observation of a trend I see among boaters. With lots of high tech at our fingertips there's perhaps less incentive for the pre-planning and research we used to do in the days before we had all this hardware at our disposal.
Pete

Peter does have a good point about all the fancy gear persuading us out too quickly and without too much thought and little fear of the 'Gods'. It's a dangerous combination for sure. Pre-planning, homework and weather watching are critical prerequisites for any cruise.

Thanks Pete for making us think more clearly during the excitement of preparing for setting off... Gives one some pause...

Recently, I sat in our car at our Marina with Thunder & Lightening every 5 minutes (the lightening was hitting the water as well), limited visibility, no wind, calm seas and torrential rains all around us. We had planned our trip during previous few days, all boat operational gear had been checked & rechecked and the boat was ready to go and we were excited to meet up with some 160 Tugnutters at Cap Sante for the annual meeting. Apart from the lightening I thought maybe we could make it as a weather break seem to be approaching... however, a fisherman who had just come in told me... "you don't want to go out in this... no matter what.". So decisions, decisions.... should we wait for a break in the weather or simply drive up to Cap Sante in our car (some 70 miles and about 90 minutes of driving by land).

As it turned out, we did get a weather break and we did cruise up to Cap Sante in our boat without issues... mind you, I did so with the boat cruising at just under WOT (at 3500 rpm on our Yanmar 4BY2-150) and some 14 kts for most of the way as I wanted to beat any nasty weather fronts coming our way. We did made it in clear weather, as did several other Tugnuts who undoubtedly had similar negative thoughts about venturing out.

Weather conditions trump everything else no matter how much built up excitement you have for getting underway.