Advice for 1st Time Cruisers

D

Dukeofhawg

New member
Hi All,

I live on the Oregon coast and just purchased a 2006 22CD. My wife and I absolutely love this boat. We need advice about where to take a 3-4 day cruise with it. We can be at the Columbia river in 3 hours and Seattle in 6 towing the boat. Is there a good place to go for beginners that would get our feet wet learning to live onboard for a few days? Any advice would be much appreciated.
 
Do your wife and yourself a huge favor by first, before going out for "a few days"

1. Study the weather
2. Study appropriate nautical charts (and know how to read them) - first cruise
protected waters only
3. Know your boat thru-hull locations and how to secure them watertight
4. Study the weather
5. Know your boat engine and make sure it's been serviced; check the oil and use
fresh non ethanol gasoline
6. Know how to operate a VHF marine radio
7. Have the USCG required safety items aboard
8. Know how to anchor and secure your boat to a mooring or dock - know about
the tide
9. Have and understand your GPS chart plotter - do not go out at night
10. Study the weather
11. Have appropriate warm and dry clothing, don't fall overboard or go swimming
where sharks live
12. Have fun

Aye.
PS: Study the weather
 
Howdy Duke,

Why not pick one of the large costal lakes to get used to the boat... Ten Mile might be a good start.

The Columbia is good, but be careful if you anchor. If you get the rode wrapped around your lower unit, you could be pulled under by the current. You could launch in the Astoria area, cruise upstream for a day or two, then back down. Tyboo would have ideas about where to leave the vehicle while you’re on the water. There is a good marina at Cathlamet, Wa, the water trail organization http://www.estuarypartnership.org/explore/water-trail has good info on campsites, docks, etc.

Have fun!
 
Great advice, Foggy.

Duke, an excellent, free (!!!), online resource is Garmin's Active Captain website.

If you sign up on the site, you will have access to marine charts for the whole country, along with crowd-sourced information about individual anchorages, marinas, local hazards, launch ramps, etc.

It's an invaluable tool for trip planning. I wouldn't leave home without it.
 
Great advice all. I really appreciate it. We were planning something late spring or early summer 2019. We have a few lakes here on the central coast of Oregon we could try a night or two. Ten Mile is a great idea Wandering Sagebrush!

Foggy, great safety advice. I have a quite a bit of experience on the Ocean tuna fishing and trolling for salmon. I just repowered the boat from twin Honda 40's to a single 2019 Yamaha 90, with a kicker. I am good on all the coast guard safety equipment. I have an Axiom Ray Marine, GPS/Plotter/Fish Finder. I do not have radar. Not sure if I want to invest in that yet or not. So far in 3 months I have about 130 hours on the Ocean and rivers near my house. Awesome boat... Just a fun comfortable ride... except wind chop.... Sucker chatters like an old flock of hens lol.

Appreciate you all!

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I highly recommend the Boating Skills & Seamanship course from the Coast Guard Auxiliary. I've taken it twice and learned a few new tricks each time. It's fun, can save your life and those around you and every boater should know the rules and procedures taught in the class.
 
Dukeofhawg":2agc82dr said:
... We can be at the Columbia river in 3 hours and Seattle in 6 towing the boat.
Click to expand...
If you're interested in visiting Puget Sound, but don't want to hazard the horrendous Tacoma/Seattle/Everett traffic, you might consider launching in southern Puget Sound—Olympia or Shelton. Lots closer to you than the northern launch points.
 
As far as the "ride" in chop--if you don't have a Permatrim foil on the outboard, and trim tabs, strongly consider getting both. That will allow you to get the bow down enough to avoid the pounding. Becomes an entirely different boat. The motor and tabs need to be up when running down wave/seas. But you probably know that from your prior boating experiencs.
 
Pandion":lz7gra7e said:
Dukeofhawg":lz7gra7e said:
... We can be at the Columbia river in 3 hours and Seattle in 6 towing the boat.
Click to expand...
If you're interested in visiting Puget Sound, but don't want to hazard the horrendous Tacoma/Seattle/Everett traffic, you might consider launching in southern Puget Sound—Olympia or Shelton. Lots closer to you than the northern launch points.
Click to expand...

An other option might be the west side of Hood Canal, (often times more protected, though the North-South fetch is considerable). Several launch places there, a nice marina - Pleasant Harbor, and there are some other state parks in the area, Twanoh , Potlatch etc. If you are going to spend more than 7 nights at Washington State Marine Parks, it is worth it to get an annual WSMP pass.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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If you are planning a 3 - 4 day cruise in the winter months in the NW, I would go to the San Juan Islands.

Because of the Olympic rain shadow the weather there is about as good as it gets anywhere from Washington to N. California, particularly if there is a high pressure system in the area...something that passes through every couple of weeks all winter long. Day time temperatures will be 45 - 50, winds calm or on the order of 10 - 15 knots. Days sunny.

I would launch from Anacortes, spend the first night in that marina, and eat dinner at Anthonys Home Port, which is within walking distance. The next day leave the marina, turn left, go past the Anacortes waterfront and cross over to Lopez Island and anchor or tie up at a state buoy at Spencer Spit state park if conditions are calm. Walk on the beach and dig for clams. The next day go around the island to Fishermans Bay, and either anchor or go to one of the two marinas. Rent a bike or walk into the nice little town, which is about a mile away. On the last day cross over to Friday Harbor, tie up to their docks and explore the town, or return the way you came and stay at Rosario on Orcas.

The return trip back to Anacortes will take you no more than 2 - 3 hours. You will never be more than a mile or two off shore at any time during the entire trip, and most of the time will be running 200 yards off the beach. A high pressure system usually produces 3 -4 days of good and sunny weather in the San Juans, so if you time it correctly, you will be able to do the entire trip before conditions change.

We spent two years cruising off shore in a Nordhavn and people even in exotic locations would often ask us why we left Puget Sound. Their claim being the best cruising anywhere was in the SJI. And we have found them nearly vacant during the winter months.

KWare
TomCat 25.5
 
Duke;

Welcome aboard.. Our first cruise was in the San Juans in 2006. I have similar experience as you tuna fishing off the coast of Northern California. We did launch at Anacortes but now we prefer Bellingham. Either is a great place to start. The weather on Rosario is the first hurdle that you will encounter. We have never had an issue there but, it could be rough for about 6 NM. After that you are in protected waters. Our first trip was to Picnic cove for a picnic then to some of the marinas since we had our service dog with us and needed to give him access to shore. Deer harbor on Orcas Is. is a favorite Marina. Sucia is a great area to anchor and also has a public dock. Lopez Is. is also close to everything and of course Friday Harbor is a nice little city to visit..

We did this trip and stayed a week. The following year (2007) we decided that BC was doable and should be fun. We visited Princess Louisa and continued to Sullivan Bay before heading back home, a two week trip.

In 2008 we decided to cruise the whole summer so Alaska was our destination and went to Elfin Cove for great Halibut and Salmon fishing.


We haven't regretted any of the trips. Now we make an annual trip into BC all the way to the Broughtons. We have taken our boat to Elfin Cove Ak twice since. But, we do fly to Elfin Cove annually and stay with a friend we met in 2008 who lets us use his TomCat while we're there.

However, on our way back we always spend a few days in the San Juans. It is a wonderful area to unwind and very plesant cruising. Our photo albums on this site show a number of trips that we made and, gives you an idea of what to expect.

Radar is probably one of your most important safety items. I would not feel comfortable if we didn't have it.

Be Safe and Have Fun!!!!


Gene
 
Although I agree Radar is an important tool, We only used it 2 or 3 days out of 5 inland passage trips--probably total cumulative time in the area Sequim to the Icy Straits area, is over 30 months...So our experience spread over a number of years--is that really pea soup fog is fairly rare--but almost all of our cruising was April thru Oct. If you are running at night---definitely get the radar.

AIS is also a wonderful safety tool--just a receiver will let you know where those ferry's and cruise ships are!
 
As Dr Bob says I have only used the Radar a few times cruising the inside passage. However, Northern California and Oregon Pacific waters have foggy days way more often. I need the radar about 25% of the time that I fish out of Eureka. If you plan on fishing out of the West coast it is essential. The traffic during the fishing season is heavy and most of the vessels don't have AIS transmitters. I guess it depends how you use your boat. My Garmin 18Hd radome was less than $900 and well worth it when you don't have to plan your trip around a foggy morning when the fish are biting.
 
The first time you use your radar to get back home when the fog rolls in on you, will more than pay for itself. Anyone that is going to do any serious boating in open or waters with other traffic, should prioritize it right up there with a chartplotter and depth sounder! And practice using it in good clear weather as well also, before needing it in the dark or fog! Colby
 
colbysmith":3jaorn1k said:
The first time you use your radar to get back home when the fog rolls in on you, will more than pay for itself. Anyone that is going to do any serious boating in open or waters with other traffic, should prioritize it right up there with a chartplotter and depth sounder! And practice using it in good clear weather as well also, before needing it in the dark or fog! Colby
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Agree, for sure. I live on the south shore of Juan de Fuca Strait and cross that piece of water several times a year. There, AIS is my most used safe navigation device, right next to radar even in clear weather. I spend most of my boating time in BC waters, and have been on the water at some time or another nearly year around. I have been a believer in radar since day one. Honestly, I probably would have balked at paying for that "extra accessory" IF I had been buying a new boat, thinking sure, I can just wait until the fog lifts. And I could. But there are times when I doesn't, or it drops onto you like wet blanket and stays, right out of a blue sky. Although I run my radar if the boat is running, I would say I seriously needed it about 25% of the time. (OK, lets do that math, 1400 hours on the engines, that comes to 350 hours of useful radar time.) NOAA defines fog as visibility of less than 1 mile. On our boats, at our speeds, that is a lot of visibility. For me, at 1/2 mile the fog horn comes on and my speeds slow, At 1/4 mile the side windows open and the speed goes down to 2-3 knots. At each step the radar is zoomed in from 6 - 3 - 1.5 miles. So serious, thick fog might be half of those 350 hours, so in the neighborhood of 100 - 200 hours.

Actually, I am surprised at 350 hours. I had no idea it was that much, but I know there are plenty of times. As Colby said, "The first time you use your radar to get back home when the fog rolls in on you, will more than pay for itself." Or if it keeps you from getting splattered all over the front of some guys tin boat as he is running home in the fog, slowed down to 20 knots and sitting in his cockpit staring at his GPS track because that is the say he came out so it should be clear to go back in on.

Prioritize both the radar and the AIS, and in knowing how to use them reliably.

Cruising in the PNW watch the weather. Look for a good (stable) high pressure zone. That should give good (predictable) crossing conditions, and dry days.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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I live in the San Juan Islands, so I cruise there all the time. I have radar, but I hardly ever use it (except at night which I don't do much). In the day time, the only time I can imagine needing it around here is in thick fog. We do get thick fog.....almost entirely in high summer. In 95% of the cases when that summer fog does exist, if you wait until noon, it's gone (sometimes early afternoon). I can only think of one time when had I had to use radar to navigate home in thick fog because I didn't want to wait for it to clear (it is very rare that it doesn't clear during the day).

P.S. I talking here about IN the protected waters of the islands themselves. The Strait of Juan de Fuca might be an entirely different story.
 
We fish off the NW Coast of Oregon between Newport and Depot Bay and most trips out and back this last Summer have been in the fog. You may go out in the morning with light fog and then within a short period of time it sets in heavy. Having Radar is a necessary safety measure for us and we would not go out there without it. We rely on Radar to see where other boats are on the water, anticipate their travel and avoid them. When the fishing is good there are boat everywhere and going in all directions and some at very high speed. Having Radar makes it not so scary when you are 15 miles out and need to get back without the worry of having another boat coming out of nowhere. Having Radar on your boat doesn't mean that you are now totally without worry and you will be safe. We try to plan out trips to fish without fog but sometimes it just comes in without any warning regardless of the weather forecast. Radar just makes travel safer with less stress and sweat pouring down your forehead.
 
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