Cruising the PNW
That does it for me. I used to want to cruise up there but...Logs!?
Bears!?
DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT cruise the PNW. In addition to the logs and
bears, we have to contend with.... Rain 24/7/365. Heavy, dense,
impenetrable fog six months a year. Thousands upon thousands of crab
traps set 25 feet apart in most of the major channels year round because
there is no defined fishing season for native tribes. Continuous bands
of debris in the water including huge floating kelp patches, lumber,
rotting lines, abandoned gillnets, busted pallets, stumps-- if it
floats, it's there. Deadheads are everywhere, the waterlogged logs
(usually hemlock) that float vertically in the water with their tops
barely breaking the surface. They are almost impossible to see, and if
you hit one even at slow trawler speeds, that it-- you're finished.
Many of them weigh more than your boat.
We also have do deal with almost continuous boardings by the Coast
Guard, Customs and Immigration, and the Fisheries folks looking for
terrorists, drugs, illegal aliens, illegal cigarettes, and out-of-season
fish. There are errant torpedoes from the various torpedo test ranges
in Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia. These torpedoes home in on
sound and the ones that "get away" are responsible for sinking or
damaging hundreds of recreational boats a year, particularly trawlers
which are too slow to get out of their way. There are millions of
seagulls which thanks to Darwinian evolution now defecate ONLY on boats.
Staggering fuel prices that get even more staggering in Canada. To say
nothing of the thousands upon thousands of uncharted rocks and reefs
which annually damage or sink hundreds of boats.
All of this is assuming you make it to your boat to begin with. On land
you have to deal with the first or third worst traffic in the country
depending on which survey you read. Drivers who would rather run you
off the road than let you merge. Freeways with on-ramps that feed cars
into the fast lanes instead of the slow lanes. As to convenient mass
transportation, forget it. Seattle has been trying for decades to get
everything from light rail to trolleys to monorails built, all with no
success. So the chances are good you will never make it from the
airport to your boat anyway.
Moorage fees are astronomical--- $500 to $1000 a foot is typical. Also,
due to the hideous weather, marina fires are an almost weekly occurrence
as the result of malfunctioning boat heaters and dehumidifiers. The
most recent fire, in Gig Harbor, destroyed about 50 boats.
Boat insurance is almost impossible to get, partly because of the
constant marina fires but also because of the emerging threat from
whales. The grays, humpbacks, and orcas that inhabit or transit these
waters are learning that it is very easy to damage or destroy a
recreational or whale-watching boat. Each year the number of boats
damaged or sunk by whales triples as the whales realize that if they
don't want to be hassled by whale-watch boats, sonar sounds, annoying
recreational boaters zooming around in their dinghies, etc. all they
have to do is destroy the boats. I've seen what a really pissed-off
gray whale can do to a CHB or Grand Banks and it ain't pretty. The
whales can do all this without repercussion since they're protected by
law. And wildlife biologists are saying they are starting to see sperm
whales in the area. The word must be out that this is a great area for
boat-busting. I've been around sperm whales in Hawaii--- they attack
boats just for the sheer joy of doing it.
It is estimated that within five years, boat insurance will no longer be
available in the PNW particularly if it's proven that the sperms are
deliberately coming to the area to mess with the boats. All the
marinas up here require that they be named on a boater's insurance
policy to protect them if (or rather when) a boat catches on fire or
otherwise damages the marina. So you can see where this is headed---
with insurance impossible to get, it will be impossible to moor a boat
in a marina because the marina can't be named on an insurance policy.
So only people like Bill Gates, Paul Allen, etc. who own waterfront
estates will be able to have boats because they can afford really big
ones to stand up to the whale attacks and they can moor their boats at
their own private docks.
The rumor is that it's really beautiful cruising country from Puget
Sound to SE Alaska, the best on the planet. What most people don't know
is that this rumor is fostered by the local boat dealers who are
desperate to get somebody-- anybody-- to buy a boat. In fact no one
really knows how beautiful it is or isn't along the coast because
between the rain and fog it is virtually impossible to see more than
about a quarter mile in any direction. And on the rare occasions when
the visibility increases beyond this, the permanent, unbroken cloud
layer that hovers between 100 and 500 feet up prevents us from seeing
much of anything. The constant rain, fog, and cloud cover is a major
reason why the PNW has the highest suicide rate in the US. Boaters are
a disproportionate percentage of the folks who off themselves up here.
So save your money-- and very possibly your life-- and cruise somewhere
else. If the weather or the deadheads don't get you, the bears,
cougars, or whales probably will. That's assuming you aren't so driven
into depression by the rain that you simply choose to end it all
yourself. Stick to the ICW or the Gulf or the coast of Maine or
southern California, but say a prayer every now and then for those of us
who vainly struggle against insurmountable odds to operate a boat in
this hell hole called the Pacific Northwest. It's a Bad place and our
lives will be short.
C. Marin Faure
GB36-403 "La Perouse"
Bellingham, Washington
C. Marin Faure
Producer/Director, Boeing Video Services
telephone (206)650-5622
fax: (425)965-4253
e-mail: marin.faure@boeing.com
[demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type application/ms-tnef which had a name of winmail.dat]
It's about time that the truth about PNW boating is told. Thank you Marin
Rich
GB32-277
Seattle, WA
-----Original Message-----
From: trawlers-and-trawlering-bounces@lists.samurai.com
[mailto:trawlers-and-trawlering-bounces@lists.samurai.com] On Behalf Of
Faure, Marin
Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2005 10:52 AM
To: trawler list
Subject: T&T: Cruising the PNW
That does it for me. I used to want to cruise up there but...Logs!?
Bears!?
DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT cruise the PNW. In addition to the logs and bears,
we have to contend with.... Rain 24/7/365. Heavy, dense, impenetrable fog
six months a year. Thousands upon thousands of crab traps set 25 feet apart
in most of the major channels year round because there is no defined fishing
season for native tribes. Continuous bands of debris in the water including
huge floating kelp patches, lumber, rotting lines, abandoned gillnets,
busted pallets, stumps-- if it floats, it's there. Deadheads are
everywhere, the waterlogged logs (usually hemlock) that float vertically in
the water with their tops barely breaking the surface. They are almost
impossible to see, and if you hit one even at slow trawler speeds, that it--
you're finished.
Many of them weigh more than your boat.
We also have do deal with almost continuous boardings by the Coast Guard,
Customs and Immigration, and the Fisheries folks looking for terrorists,
drugs, illegal aliens, illegal cigarettes, and out-of-season fish. There
are errant torpedoes from the various torpedo test ranges in Puget Sound and
the Strait of Georgia. These torpedoes home in on sound and the ones that
"get away" are responsible for sinking or damaging hundreds of recreational
boats a year, particularly trawlers which are too slow to get out of their
way. There are millions of seagulls which thanks to Darwinian evolution now
defecate ONLY on boats.
Staggering fuel prices that get even more staggering in Canada. To say
nothing of the thousands upon thousands of uncharted rocks and reefs which
annually damage or sink hundreds of boats.
All of this is assuming you make it to your boat to begin with. On land you
have to deal with the first or third worst traffic in the country depending
on which survey you read. Drivers who would rather run you off the road
than let you merge. Freeways with on-ramps that feed cars into the fast
lanes instead of the slow lanes. As to convenient mass transportation,
forget it. Seattle has been trying for decades to get everything from light
rail to trolleys to monorails built, all with no success. So the chances
are good you will never make it from the airport to your boat anyway.
Moorage fees are astronomical--- $500 to $1000 a foot is typical. Also, due
to the hideous weather, marina fires are an almost weekly occurrence as the
result of malfunctioning boat heaters and dehumidifiers. The most recent
fire, in Gig Harbor, destroyed about 50 boats.
Boat insurance is almost impossible to get, partly because of the constant
marina fires but also because of the emerging threat from whales. The
grays, humpbacks, and orcas that inhabit or transit these waters are
learning that it is very easy to damage or destroy a recreational or
whale-watching boat. Each year the number of boats damaged or sunk by
whales triples as the whales realize that if they don't want to be hassled
by whale-watch boats, sonar sounds, annoying recreational boaters zooming
around in their dinghies, etc. all they have to do is destroy the boats.
I've seen what a really pissed-off gray whale can do to a CHB or Grand Banks
and it ain't pretty. The whales can do all this without repercussion since
they're protected by law. And wildlife biologists are saying they are
starting to see sperm whales in the area. The word must be out that this is
a great area for boat-busting. I've been around sperm whales in Hawaii---
they attack boats just for the sheer joy of doing it.
It is estimated that within five years, boat insurance will no longer be
available in the PNW particularly if it's proven that the sperms are
deliberately coming to the area to mess with the boats. All the
marinas up here require that they be named on a boater's insurance policy to
protect them if (or rather when) a boat catches on fire or otherwise damages
the marina. So you can see where this is headed--- with insurance
impossible to get, it will be impossible to moor a boat in a marina because
the marina can't be named on an insurance policy.
So only people like Bill Gates, Paul Allen, etc. who own waterfront estates
will be able to have boats because they can afford really big ones to stand
up to the whale attacks and they can moor their boats at their own private
docks.
The rumor is that it's really beautiful cruising country from Puget Sound to
SE Alaska, the best on the planet. What most people don't know is that this
rumor is fostered by the local boat dealers who are desperate to get
somebody-- anybody-- to buy a boat. In fact no one really knows how
beautiful it is or isn't along the coast because between the rain and fog it
is virtually impossible to see more than about a quarter mile in any
direction. And on the rare occasions when the visibility increases beyond
this, the permanent, unbroken cloud layer that hovers between 100 and 500
feet up prevents us from seeing much of anything. The constant rain, fog,
and cloud cover is a major reason why the PNW has the highest suicide rate
in the US. Boaters are a disproportionate percentage of the folks who off
themselves up here.
So save your money-- and very possibly your life-- and cruise somewhere
else. If the weather or the deadheads don't get you, the bears, cougars, or
whales probably will. That's assuming you aren't so driven into depression
by the rain that you simply choose to end it all yourself. Stick to the
ICW or the Gulf or the coast of Maine or southern California, but say a
prayer every now and then for those of us who vainly struggle against
insurmountable odds to operate a boat in this hell hole called the Pacific
Northwest. It's a Bad place and our lives will be short.
C. Marin Faure
GB36-403 "La Perouse"
Bellingham, Washington
C. Marin Faure
Producer/Director, Boeing Video Services telephone (206)650-5622
fax: (425)965-4253
e-mail: marin.faure@boeing.com
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name of winmail.dat] _______________________________________________
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Yep, Rich. Sure would be nice to hear the truth about the PNW once in a
while. I have one question. Does it rain or snow in the winter out there?
We keep seeing pictures of Vancouver in gridlock because someone painted the
rain white and there is half an inch of slush on the roads. You should just
be glad you don't live in Buffalo. They get five feet of snow every day
from November 1 to May 31. At least you don't have to shovel rain.
Bob Davies
-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Davies
Sure would be nice to hear the truth about the PNW once in a while. I
have one question. Does it rain or snow in the winter out there? We
keep seeing pictures of Vancouver in gridlock because someone painted
the rain white and there is half an inch of slush on the roads.
REPLY
Actually Bob, it snows much of the time once you get more than 100 feet
above sea level.
I found out the tourism bureau has contracted a company to paint the
snow on the ground green to make it look as if it is grass.
How else do you figure Vancouverite can go skiing right into summer less
than a half hour drive from downtown Vancouver?
Arild
Snow bound just outside Vancouver.
Nice try!!!!!
Phil
Faure, Marin wrote:
That does it for me. I used to want to cruise up there but...Logs!?
Bears!?
DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT cruise the PNW. ....................................
I'm told by the locals we have the largest concentration of black bears in
North America right here in River City!
Also, Me thinks the Boeing guy doth protest too much!
Regards....
Phil Rosch
Old Harbor Consulting
M/V "Curmudgeon" MT44 TC
Currently lying Bond Creek, NC
Faure, Marin wrote:
The rumor is that it's really beautiful cruising country from Puget
Sound to SE Alaska, the best on the planet. What most people don't know
is that this rumor is fostered by the local boat dealers who are
desperate to get somebody-- anybody-- to buy a boat. In fact no one
really knows how beautiful it is or isn't along the coast because
between the rain and fog it is virtually impossible to see more than
about a quarter mile in any direction. And on the rare occasions when
the visibility increases beyond this, the permanent, unbroken cloud
layer that hovers between 100 and 500 feet up prevents us from seeing
much of anything. The constant rain, fog, and cloud cover is a major
reason why the PNW has the highest suicide rate in the US. Boaters are
a disproportionate percentage of the folks who off themselves up here.
Yeah, Marin got it about right. In 3.5 ugly and boring months on the BC
coast this summer I had to cope with at least 10-12 days of bad weather.
Richard Cook
New Moon - Bounty 257
nice try.... probably as unsuccesfull as out attempts to scare the
snowbirds with huricanes, gators, mosquitoes, tidal waves, crime, Janet
Reno, Jelly fish, etc...
pascal
miami, fl
Actually we suggest folks not get into boating at all. It's way to dangerous
and expensive. Its much safer and more fun to purchase big RV and hit the
roads!
After spending a year in BC and the gulf islands (by land) in the mid 80's,
we did here about the "whirlpools" that formed in that area. Truth or rumor?
The story was that small fishing boats would "spin around" the whirlpools to
catch fish. Geezee...was I that gullible?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Pascal Gademer" pascal@pam-trading.com
To: "Trawler List" trawlers-and-trawlering@lists.samurai.com
Sent: Friday, December 02, 2005 8:05 AM
Subject: Re: T&T: Cruising the PNW
nice try.... probably as unsuccesfull as out attempts to scare the
snowbirds with huricanes, gators, mosquitoes, tidal waves, crime, Janet
Reno, Jelly fish, etc...
pascal
miami, fl
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Your forgot to mention the ravaging storms which can come out from nowhere
(even in the summer). There is no protection from them, been know to
swallow a whole anchorage in the blink of an eye. Combined with the huge
tidal currents, some as high as 20 knots, causing a 20' 'water fall' to
appear right in the middle of the channel. There is a reason Wood Boats are
so common up here: Their lower inital cost helps partially to offset the
high rate of lost of sunken crafts.
And being a border crossing, the 3 days needed to complete the 'paper work'
to clear in and out of customs. Both ways. And that is assuming you can
overcome the language barrier, 'eah'?...
-al-
----- Original Message -----
From: "Faure, Marin" marin.faure@boeing.com
To: "trawler list" trawlers-and-trawlering@lists.samurai.com
Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2005 10:51 AM
Subject: T&T: Cruising the PNW
That does it for me. I used to want to cruise up there but...Logs!?
Bears!?
DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT cruise the PNW. In addition to the logs and
bears, we have to contend with.... Rain 24/7/365. Heavy, dense,
impenetrable fog six months a year. Thousands upon thousands of crab
traps set 25 feet apart in most of the major channels year round because
there is no defined fishing season for native tribes. Continuous bands
of debris in the water including huge floating kelp patches, lumber,
rotting lines, abandoned gillnets, busted pallets, stumps-- if it
floats, it's there. Deadheads are everywhere, the waterlogged logs
(usually hemlock) that float vertically in the water with their tops
barely breaking the surface. They are almost impossible to see, and if
you hit one even at slow trawler speeds, that it-- you're finished.
Many of them weigh more than your boat.
We also have do deal with almost continuous boardings by the Coast
Guard, Customs and Immigration, and the Fisheries folks looking for
terrorists, drugs, illegal aliens, illegal cigarettes, and out-of-season
fish. There are errant torpedoes from the various torpedo test ranges
in Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia. These torpedoes home in on
sound and the ones that "get away" are responsible for sinking or
damaging hundreds of recreational boats a year, particularly trawlers
which are too slow to get out of their way. There are millions of
seagulls which thanks to Darwinian evolution now defecate ONLY on boats.
Staggering fuel prices that get even more staggering in Canada. To say
nothing of the thousands upon thousands of uncharted rocks and reefs
which annually damage or sink hundreds of boats.
All of this is assuming you make it to your boat to begin with. On land
you have to deal with the first or third worst traffic in the country
depending on which survey you read. Drivers who would rather run you
off the road than let you merge. Freeways with on-ramps that feed cars
into the fast lanes instead of the slow lanes. As to convenient mass
transportation, forget it. Seattle has been trying for decades to get
everything from light rail to trolleys to monorails built, all with no
success. So the chances are good you will never make it from the
airport to your boat anyway.
Moorage fees are astronomical--- $500 to $1000 a foot is typical. Also,
due to the hideous weather, marina fires are an almost weekly occurrence
as the result of malfunctioning boat heaters and dehumidifiers. The
most recent fire, in Gig Harbor, destroyed about 50 boats.
Boat insurance is almost impossible to get, partly because of the
constant marina fires but also because of the emerging threat from
whales. The grays, humpbacks, and orcas that inhabit or transit these
waters are learning that it is very easy to damage or destroy a
recreational or whale-watching boat. Each year the number of boats
damaged or sunk by whales triples as the whales realize that if they
don't want to be hassled by whale-watch boats, sonar sounds, annoying
recreational boaters zooming around in their dinghies, etc. all they
have to do is destroy the boats. I've seen what a really pissed-off
gray whale can do to a CHB or Grand Banks and it ain't pretty. The
whales can do all this without repercussion since they're protected by
law. And wildlife biologists are saying they are starting to see sperm
whales in the area. The word must be out that this is a great area for
boat-busting. I've been around sperm whales in Hawaii--- they attack
boats just for the sheer joy of doing it.
It is estimated that within five years, boat insurance will no longer be
available in the PNW particularly if it's proven that the sperms are
deliberately coming to the area to mess with the boats. All the
marinas up here require that they be named on a boater's insurance
policy to protect them if (or rather when) a boat catches on fire or
otherwise damages the marina. So you can see where this is headed---
with insurance impossible to get, it will be impossible to moor a boat
in a marina because the marina can't be named on an insurance policy.
So only people like Bill Gates, Paul Allen, etc. who own waterfront
estates will be able to have boats because they can afford really big
ones to stand up to the whale attacks and they can moor their boats at
their own private docks.
The rumor is that it's really beautiful cruising country from Puget
Sound to SE Alaska, the best on the planet. What most people don't know
is that this rumor is fostered by the local boat dealers who are
desperate to get somebody-- anybody-- to buy a boat. In fact no one
really knows how beautiful it is or isn't along the coast because
between the rain and fog it is virtually impossible to see more than
about a quarter mile in any direction. And on the rare occasions when
the visibility increases beyond this, the permanent, unbroken cloud
layer that hovers between 100 and 500 feet up prevents us from seeing
much of anything. The constant rain, fog, and cloud cover is a major
reason why the PNW has the highest suicide rate in the US. Boaters are
a disproportionate percentage of the folks who off themselves up here.
So save your money-- and very possibly your life-- and cruise somewhere
else. If the weather or the deadheads don't get you, the bears,
cougars, or whales probably will. That's assuming you aren't so driven
into depression by the rain that you simply choose to end it all
yourself. Stick to the ICW or the Gulf or the coast of Maine or
southern California, but say a prayer every now and then for those of us
who vainly struggle against insurmountable odds to operate a boat in
this hell hole called the Pacific Northwest. It's a Bad place and our
lives will be short.
C. Marin Faure
GB36-403 "La Perouse"
Bellingham, Washington
C. Marin Faure
Producer/Director, Boeing Video Services
telephone (206)650-5622
fax: (425)965-4253
e-mail: marin.faure@boeing.com
[demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type application/ms-tnef which had a
name of winmail.dat]
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Trawlers & Trawlering and T&T are trademarks of Water World
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