One of the greater challenges of cruising in the Pacific NW is dealing with tides and currents. The water levels rise and fall large distances (today, around fifteen feet) four times a day. As the water rises and lowers huge amounts of water moves creating currents.
Roberta and I spent the last few days anchored in a large bay called “Turnbull Cove.”
One of the fun things to do in Turnbull Cove is to hike to a nearby lake. The hike is short; only about a half mile. To do the hike you park your tender on the beach and follow a trail to the lake. Sounds simple, but it isn’t.
Here’s a picture of the beach:
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Here’s that same beach six hours later:
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Roberta, I and the pups tendered to shore to do the hike (at high tide). The approach to the beach was dangerous because the water is murky. You can’t see the bottom in order to know what rocks are there for the propeller on the tender to hit. If we hit a rock with the prop on the tender, it is game over for the tender for the season. Thus, you have to tilt up the motor and paddle the last twenty feet or so to shore.
As we arrived at shore I wasn’t sure what to do. If I tied the tender to a tree, the tender would be sitting on land by the time we hike to the lake and return. The tide would be dropping rapidly and our tender is too heavy for Roberta and I to lug down to the water.
Thus… We went back to our boat and decided to watch other boaters to see what they did.
There weren’t a lot of boats in the anchorage. The first group we watched were on kayaks. They had it easy. They just beached the kayaks and dragged them down to the water later.
The next group had a small tender. Lightweight and easy to drag to the water. They paddled in and then dragged it back.
The next group had a tender like ours. Heavy. They tied one end to the stump and the other to a tree on shore. This didn’t work out so well in that when the tide went down the tender wound up on shore and a tender from another boat had to help them drag their tender to deeper water.
Roberta and I do have kayaks on the bow and thought about putting them into the water, which probably was the best solution. The only reason we didn’t is that it was our last day in the anchorage, and lowering the kayaks from the bow (with the davit), digging out and attaching all the accessories, and them loading them back onto the bow is a chore. If we planned on staying for several days we would have done it, but we had plans to depart the next day. There was also the issue of my recent knee surgery. The half mile walk to the lake would be easy, but if I were to trip on a boulder and mess up the surgeon’s work, that would not be good.
I’m not 100% certain what the right solution to this puzzle is. Normally I carry a long (100’) bungie cord for these situations. I anchor the tender in deep water using the bungie cord. Then I take the tender to shore and attach a second (non-stretchy) long line. We step off the tender and attach the line to a tree. The tender then is pulled to deeper water by the bungie cord, but can be pulled close to the beach for getting on. It hovers in deep water between the two lines; one to the anchor and one to a tree on shore. Some form of that would have worked in this situation, but it’s a new tender and my bungie cord never made it onto the new tender. I need to remember to buy one after the trip.
Anyway… if you want to post your ideas on what to do, visit my website: www.kensblog.com and post a comment at the bottom of the article, or visit my facebook page: www.facebook.com/kensblogdotcom and share your thoughts.
And, lastly here are some random pictures from the last few days…
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And, that’s it for this edition of the blog.
As always, thank you!
Ken and Roberta Williams (and Keely and Toundra)
MV Sans Souci
www.kensblog.com
12 Responses
Ken/Roberta: Enjoy your travels. Me? I would have begged a ride with the Couple in the like tender and then paid with BBQ Pizza.
And BTW spectacular pics and country. 🙂
The two Bobs seem to have retreival wired.
In regard to the knee, i would follow your surgeons instructions to the letter and if you haven’t already got an athletic knee brace some crepe bandage might suffice as a prop for this kind of walking. I am now 11 months out of a total shoulder replacement and have, with physio, regained almost 100% mobility. However in the early stages my body was quick to advise the limits it was prepared to tolerate as I’m sure will yours. Post 13 weeks seems to be the point at which light normal exercise is possible. I think you were wise to be wary of unstable surfaces as these can bring even fully fit peeps undone.
Great to see you back on the water and enjoying the challenges.
SUBJECT: Fwd: [Kensblog 2017-04] A riddle for you to think about
Hi Ken,
Here”s a tender retrieval system I”ve used many times, give it a try. It will allow you a longer distance than the bungee type of retrieval. Very simple, just a long line tied to the bow and stern, with the middle going thru the ring or shackle at the top of the anchor.
Let me know how you did.
We enjoy your trips…..
Bob Feldman
Begin forwarded message:
From: Passagemaking with a Nordhavn
Response to a post by dougpaper who said:
SUBJECT: RE: [Kensblog 2017-04] A riddle for you to think about
Ken are their resources that give you the tide changes by the hour so you can plan accordingly? My guess is yes but probably changes by the season
Thanks
doug
From: Passagemaking wit…
Doug:
There are books you can buy. But, what I use is my chart plotter software. It shows exactly when the high and low tides are.
I usually try to traverse any narrow passage at high slack. It ensures there is plenty of water beneath me and minimizes the risk of high current or whirlpools.
Response to a post by gubbybarlow who said:
SUBJECT: Re: [Kensblog 2017-04] A riddle for you to think about
We have Turnbull cove on our float plan (I think ), so please note where we must enter the beach!
Gubby
Gubby
206-850-0011
________________________________
From: Passagemaking with a …
Greetings Gubby!!!! Great meeting you.
I’m overly cautious and tend to only go through the narrow passages at high slack. If you have Nobeltec you should have tide data that you can pop up. If not, email me – ken at kensblog.com (http://kensblog.com) — and give me the date and I’ll tell you when.
I saw boats mine and your size going through at low tide slack. A lot depends on if it is a negative low tide. The depth is 13′ — so — even at low tide there is room. That said, its close enough that I prefer to wait for high slack.
We thought it was a great anchorage.
Another idea for you … We are having dinner tonight at Nimmo Bay. Getting dinner reservations is virtually impossible — but, well worthwhile. Call or email them and beg.
We are anchored just outside the entrance to Little Nimmo Bay.
-Ken W
SUBJECT: Re: [Kensblog 2017-04] A riddle for you to think about
We have Turnbull cove on our float plan (I think ), so please note where we must enter the beach!
Gubby
Gubby
206-850-0011
________________________________
From: Passagemaking with a Nordhavn
Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2017 10:54:02 AM
To: gubbybarlow@[…]
Subject: [Kensblog 2017-04] A riddle for you to think about
Hi Ken, Glad your finally discovering some of the best cruising in the World.
Solution to the dinghy problem. We had a RIB which like yours was too heavy to drag on the beach–except maybe with “wheels” that drop down on the transom.
We carried a several hundred foot piece of 5/16″ anchor line, to make an “endless mooring line”. We had our small dinghy anchor, with about 10 feet of 3/8″ chain. There was a snatch block shackled to the end of the chain, and the “endless line, passed thru that block. One end of the line was attached to the bow eye of the inflatable, the other end was to a stern eye. If several people, we would let them off at the beach, and then I would set the hook. For just the 2 of us–we set the hook on the way in to the beach and paid the two lines out as we went in to the beach. This was well beyond where the beach would be at low tide (always checked the tide tables). After we disembarked, we pulled the dinghy out to deeper water, to give at least a 3/1 scope with the bow line–and then tied the stern line to a tree well above the high tide mark.
When we returned, we pulled the dinghy back to the edge of the beach–pulled out to the anchor with the line, and pulled the anchor. All coiled back into a plastic bucket for the next time’s use.
Our best for cruising this wonderful area.
Response to a post by James Bulger who said:
I would drop an anchor just offshore attach a ball to anchor with a pulley take pulley lines into beach attach dingy and pull out to ball just like the old clothes lines! It works !
Thank you! I will be including the comments in my next blog article.
SUBJECT: RE: [Kensblog 2017-04] A riddle for you to think about
Ken are their resources that give you the tide changes by the hour so you can plan accordingly? My guess is yes but probably changes by the season
Thanks
doug
From: Passagemaking with a Nordhavn [mailto:blogcomments-4GD5G@[…]]
Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2017 1:54 PM
To: dougpaper@[…]
Subject: [Kensblog 2017-04] A riddle for you to think about
I wonder if it would be practical to replace a tender with an Amphicar? Just drive up on to the beach and drive back into the water when ready to go. Apparently a company called Sealegs makes traditional tenders with wheels as well. (sealegs.com (http://sealegs.com) , I am not affiliated)
I would drop an anchor just offshore attach a ball to anchor with a pulley take pulley lines into beach attach dingy and pull out to ball just like the old clothes lines! It works !