The Columbia Bar

Sailing with Dummies (Seattle to The Dalles Edition)
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
by Mike

Today I got up early to head toward the Columbia River. In order to get to the Columbia River, I first had to cross the Columbia Bar. The Columbia Bar is a system of bars and shoals at the mouth of the Columbia River. Since 1792, approximately 2,000 large ships have sunk in and around the Columbia Bar.

The nearby United States Coast Guard station at Cape Disappointment, Washington is renowned for operating in some of the roughest sea conditions in the world and is also home to the National Motor Lifeboat School. It is the only school for rough weather and surf rescue operation in the United States and is respected internationally as a center of excellence for heavy boat operations. Approximately 16 bar pilots, earning about $180,000/year, guide ships across the bar, often approaching the ships by helicopter.

I decided to go it alone. But I wanted to do it in the easiest of conditions; therefore, I took off around 5:30am so I could cross the bar between 11:00am and noon. That’s when I thought it would be the calmest. High tide and not much current. The NOAA forecast called for the worst conditions to be at 3:15am and 3:30pm. Those were the times to definitely not be on the bar.

It was cloudy with no fog. Visibility was about 6 miles. Not bad. The wind was finally favorable so I even raised a sail. With all the plans complete I spent most the morning reading a book. About 30 minutes from the channel I began to make final preparations. I put on foulies over my three layers since I would be outside at the steering wheel during the crossing. Made sure everything in the boat was tied down, in case the water got rough. Checked the latest weather forecast on the radio and on the internet. No change.

Then I went outside to double check the outdoor chartplotters and set them up as needed. The right chartplotter was dead. The left chartplotter was stuck on a starting screen. The channel was 15 minutes ahead. I lowered the sail and proceeded on slowed engines and the channel became 25 minutes ahead. It turned out that I needed 20 of that to get things right.

After lots of tries, including completely removing the chartplotter and refitting all the connections, I gave up on the right chartplotter. I was just about to turn around and head back out to sea to buy more time, but didn’t like the thought of that. With time ticking away my desired crossing time might pass. Five minutes before entering the channel the left chartplotter finally booted up and was running. I switched control of the engines to the left helm and relaxed a bit.

The channel begins a few miles out (about 30 boat-minutes) from the Columbia Bar itself. There were two ships coming out as I approached the bar. Other traffic on the bar was a good sign. The swell from the northwest had grown throughout the morning and was now probably more than eight feet. Wind speed was 25 knots from the same direction so the wind waves were just mixed in. As I turned northeast into the channel it got rough. The period of the swell was short.

Continuing toward the bar the swell lessened and the ride got better. Both of the ships were out of the way so I could concentrate on watching the water. It looked normal to me. Crossing the area that is reputed to be the worst the ride improved to almost smooth. I thought, “this is it?”

I was getting distracted with the scenery, which is very pretty, when I noticed birds everywhere. Hundreds of them were in the water and in the air. Then the ride went from smooth to rough. The boat was tipping all different directions and started yawing back and forth. Then it took a strong swing to the left, stayed that way for a few seconds, and then headed back in the original direction.

That was it. That was my Columbia Bar crossing. It lasted about 20 seconds. Then the birds were gone and the water was even smoother.

I parked the Minnow at the Astoria Marina. Bob is flying in tomorrow and then we’ll head up to The Dalles to see Uncle Meredith.

Daily Cuisine: Today was breakfast on the boat and McDonald’s for a late lunch. Supper was off the boat too, so it doesn’t really count.