I got a call from a customer who I’ve delivered two boats for in the past. Repeat customers are quite rare in this business, at least in the NW, not so much on the East Coast. This customer had just bought a brokerage in Portland and was looking to get some more inventory on the docks. The first boat he wanted moved was a 42 foot Express Cruiser moored 30 min drive North of Anacortes and as it didn’t have a recent survey prior to its purchase I said I would have to go look at it before I would agree to move it south. Im glad I did as I found it so far up the Samish River where there were no soundings on the charts for the area. The former owner said that he could probably get the boat out on a high tide but as it wasn’t his anymore he wouldn’t risk it. This was concerning as it was coming from a mariner that grew up on the body of water. I told the new owner I would deliver the boat if he got a local to get the boat to Anacortes. Also the running lights didn’t work and the plexiglass windows were too fogged to safety navigate though. I then asked if there was another boat ready to be moved south.

Also bought without a survey was an Ocean Alexander 40 in Gig Harbor. I said I would have to look at it first and drove down to meet the former owner who was unsure about the boat’s ability to do the passage. Saying that when he first bought the boat the engine made funny/not funny sounds that scared him and motivated him to have the boat trucked instead of moved on its own bottom.

The boat was a well maintained tri-cabin of a good pedigree with many electronic upgrades. I was told that there were $30,000 of upgrades aboard. The previous owner was less than enthused by the Raymarine Axiom series plotters he installed and the poor customer support that he encountered when the transducer didn’t match up forcing to buy a second display rather than hauling out to install a new ducer.

Everything looked doable but as it was a single screw boat and I planned to exercise extra caution.

I noted that the oil was low and that the strobe light that was meant to meet the requirement for flares was out of batteries. I’m not a fan of these. There are lots of flashing lights out on the water at night and its not something that attracts the attention you want when you need help.

I went to Fisheries Supply in Seattle and bought filters, oil, and flares. Then contacted a gentleman who had expressed an interest in joining me on a delivery at some point because he was getting his captain’s license and planned to become a delivery captain.

John met me at 6 am in Shilshol and we drove to Gig Harbor where after filling up the oil we got on the water to head to Port Townsend for fuel.

The fog was not too thick but enough to slow us down.

Fun fact: Did you know that with the advent of radar boating collisions and allusions* have gone up? Now you do. It seems to me that there is an imprudent reliance on tech in the marine world and a converse decline in situational awareness. I think tech is good and should be utilized but it should serve as an addition to the eyes and seats of the pants.

Fortunately, John has a tech background and quickly calibrated the radar overlay on the plotter.

The fog lifted as we passed Seattle but not much later we were pulled over by the Coast Guard while I was taking a nap.

We welcomed the kids onboard and prepared to present the required equipment. Unfortunately, this and the fog meant we would arrive in Port Townend after the fuel dock closed at 4.

The next day we were on the fuel dock before the attendant arrived. A nice fellow named Eric who fit the description of the laidback NW nautical townsperson. Eric offered his card saying that in the future he would make himself available to help us out after hours.

I had been watching the forecast closely and knew that we were in for a bumpy ride in the straits as a strong westerly was forecast for the waters north of Port Angeles just as we would be passing through due to our later departure. I had hoped to make it to Neah Bay by sunset but this would not be the case.

The morning’s delay found us feeling out where the strongest ebb was north of Discovery Bay and south of the inbound shipping lanes.

The morning’s delay found us feeling out where the strongest ebb was North of Discovery Bay and just South of the inbound shipping lanes. The sun was out and the water flat and we wondered if the forecast was wrong and if we would be able to sneak through with our feathers and breakfast undisturbed. Nope

Popping wheelies in the Strait of Juan De Pukea

Not only did it pick up quickly, but once in the washing machine, I didn’t dare make the coarse adjustment necessary to get into the flatter water to the south in the back eddy. There was only one way and that was through. At some point, after asking if this is what ten-footers looked like, my shipmate asked to lie down as the Scopolamine patch wasn’t doing enough to mitigate the queez.

I put on some appropriate tunes and rode it out throttling up and down to maintain steerage without going too fast. I regretted my greediness riding the ebb longer than I should have. Noted. It was looking like we wouldn’t make it to Neah Bay and Clallam Bay would have to do for the night.

As the sun went down we set the anchor and the anchor alarms on the plotter and my phone.

The sun rose and we were underway having added some oil. I was a little concerned about how much oil the old Perkins was burning.

Now for the jump. I had called my friend who was a Crabber in the area and asked about where to expect the pots and the floats that would be such a threat to our single prop and source of power. Out passed 40 fathoms for the commercial nonnative and inside of that for the native gear. AKA pots everywhere but way outside.

We cut through Hole In The Wall and headed for deep water. There were still pots over 300 feet and 15 miles offshore. further south the water got deeper and we stopped seeing the gear.

The next day as the sun came up we came in from the deep water and could see the floats all around and in the channel to the Columbia River. Even up river 4 miles from the bar there were floats in the channel.

Now it wasn’t the pots we had to dodge it was the trees.

Slowly we made it upriver to Kalama before the sunset. We made our way up to the McMenamins for dinner and a beer. I recommend the “Rubyhead” which is a mix of Hammerhead and the Ruby and John doesn’t recommend the BBQ chicken pizza. Chinook salmon season opened a few days earlier and the charter boats swarmed the river the rest of the way to Hayden Island. We hugged the shore to find currant relief and to avoid pushing the engine. The engine was burning way too much oil and after finding a leak in a loose fuel line the old hose concerned me. We weren’t to the marina before another scare was had. 2 feet of water right at the entrance meant we had to approach the entrance in a counterintuitive way.

The boat was barely tied up before the old boat brokers were climbing board and poking around their new listing happy to have another slip full.