Friday Harbor Customs' Dock - beware of ferries!

S

Sarge

New member
Poor Pingu is a little worse for wear after clearing customs in Friday Harbor.

The Customs dock at Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, WA, has a long rubber fender running the length of the dock. This fender is held in place with metal rings and brackets that sit on the top of the dock. It looks very boat friendly...but BEWARE!

When I approached the dock, a WA ferry was just leaving Friday Harbor. I didn't think much of it. I was between the ferry and the customs dock so I wasn't in its way and I had a clear shot at the open dock. I approached the dock carefully with my fenders deployed and as I put the boat in reverse to swing the stern to be parallel with the dock the ferry wake hit! I was caught totally by surprise. The force of the wake lifted my boat up and over the rubber fender and onto one of the metal brackets holding the fender in place. When my boat hit the metal bracket it made a stomach churning sound.

Pingu survived a little worse for wear with an 8 inch long, deep scratch in her hull. Pingu is aluminum. I can only imagine what might have happened had she been constructed of a different material.

BOTTOM LINE:

When docking at the Customs dock at Friday Harbor, look for the darn ferry! Don't think that because it may have past behind you that it won't have an effect on you. Either dock before the ferry wake hits, or wait for it to pass. Don't be caught off-guard while docking like I was.

Please, learn from my mistake. :sad
 
Sarge,

I would be contacting the WSF offices about how they are going to make your boat like new! Everybody is responsible for damage done by their wake. Great seeing you at Nanaimo.
 
Last get together @ FH I was on Goyo with Steve at the last INSIDE slip, and man did his boat start rocking! I can only imagine what it was like outdside @ the customs dock.

And nice one, Tom. :lol: So true...
 
We also had the bad luck of being tied to the F.H. Customs dock when the ferry left. Our boat rock so bad, the gunnel was pinned under the round plastic bumpers. There was no damage but it could have been a disaster.
Good luck holding Washington State ferries responsible.
 
I just got of the phone with the Port of Friday Harbor and had a nice chat with a manager there. According to him, this is an on going problem with WSF. It seems that two of the boats are especially bad for producing large wakes (The class of boat that the Chelan is in). Also, the wakes can be much worse at low tide. He complains to the WSF constantly, and has even taken video of wakes doing damage. They have had broken arms and other injuries, and damage to boats. He said what works best is for the boaters to contact WSF.

He said to send a letter to WSF and state your complaint and specifics of incident, and request that your letter be "elevated to the Port Captain of WSF", and that you want the Port Captain to contact you. (No one else-just the Port Captain) He said that this gets the WSF to pay attention, and they send out a memo to skippers and the problem goes away for a period of time. He also suggested that a copy of the letter be sent to the Port Commission of Friday Harbor.

You won't get WSF to take responsibility for any damage (they know that it is very difficult to prove) but you may save someone else from damaging their boat, or suffering an injury.

Robbi
 
Sarge,
Thanks for the warning, and sorry your boat was damaged. Robbi, thanks too, for the follow up info. When we were at Friday Harbor CBGT, I watched that same action as the Ferries were coming and going there. Had the same dock action at Egmont when we fueled there. Guess one can never be to careful.

Roger, good point, the skipper is responsible for the wake, no matter the vessel size.

Harvey
SleepyC
 
Back
Top