S/V Ripple

Coffman Cove to Lake Bay 5 nM, 2nM as the crow flies June 4, 2015 The education of a skipper is a long process that proceeds in increments of imprudent behavior. String enough of them together, survive, and eventually you achieve some semblance of competence. I should live so long. This day was one of those days, among the most memorable of the trip, and indeed, of all my days aboard Ripple. I made three important mistakes, born of complacency and inexperience. Mistake number (1) was to not take the weather forecast seriously enough.  We had listened several times on the day before, and there were reports of gale winds coming in off the Gulf of Alaska. Listening to the weather channels on VHF is tricky business. If you don't know the landmarks in the report (some we did, others not), then it is hard to form a picture of what is happening, and if you don't know the waters, and how they fit together it is harder still. Inexplicably, that morning we didn't listen to...

Ketchikan to Coffman Cove: 65 nMiles June 3, 2015 I spent hundreds of hours poring over charts and guidebooks and Google Earth over the winter months. I memorized names of islands and passages and plotted routes and distances, trying to fix in my head a model of the route. It is an enjoyable pastime in the cold rain of a Seattle winter, and undoubtedly valuable, but of course inadequate in conveying the character of the experience one is likely to have. If I were to describe Clarence Strait in a single word, it would be menacing. I spoke to others along the route that felt similarly. Clarence is 110 nMiles from its mouth on the Dixon Entrance to where it opens into Sumner Strait, and its orientation is roughly aligned with the prevailing winds. Thats a lot of fetch (unimpeded distance for wind to build wave height). Armchair chart reconnaissance doesn't convey the visceral experience, and Clarence is nothing if not visceral. Each of my five experiences on the strait were an...