Preparing For Rough Seas

In preparing for high winds and rough seas some precautions should be kept in mind.

Some basic considerations for dealing with rough seas are as follows:

1. Secure all hatches, doors, windows and ports. 
2. Secure all loose items in the interior.
3. Pump the bilge's dry and check them at regular intervals.
4. Stow away all loose gear and lash down any large items that cannot be stowed. 
5. Keep your life preservers close and put them on well in advance of their necessity. 
6. Prepare emergency gear like flares and first aid kit, sea anchor, safety harnesses, etc.
7. Check your position and update your course as plotted on your chart. 
8. Prepare alternative routes to more protected areas. 
9. If  able. prepare some hot soup, coffee or stew for comfort. 
10. Monitor your VHF radio via NOAA weather broadcasts, US Coast Guard districts and channel 16. 
11. Reassure your crew and guests by explaining your plans to them. 

Be safe and enjoy your time on the water!

Docking Tips

Attempting to tie up to a busy dock on a windy weekend day can test any one's skills. The things you need to decide when you are about to dock is where you plan to tie up, where the other boats are at, where the wind is , and what the current is doing.

1) Look at how much room you have in the area you intend to dock.  2) Are other boats leaving or entering the area you need to turn?  3)  Which way is the wind is blowing? Knowing this can greatly aid your docking.  4)  Current can also effect you in a way similar to wind.  It may be in your best interest to maintain no more than steerage speeds and try to tie off immediately. Using your lines to assist in docking can save a great deal of time and can be used to provide a pivot point to swing your stern or bow to the dock. Let the lines do the work!

Boat Cleaning Tips

Metal Shine There are many quality cleaners available for keeping the chrome and stainless steel on your boat protected. After applying a light film on your bright work, let the cleaner sit for about 15 minutes then wipe off with a clean cloth. After cleaning, you may also want to apply a sealer to provide a barrier against salt air.  Teak Care Teak requires regular care to maintain the original color and protect the wood. Wash off your teak with the mild detergent used for the hull, rinse, dry, and apply teak oil. If the teak has lost some of its color, rub it gently with sandpaper, clean, allow it to dray and apply teak oil.  A little work in this area will make your wood look like new. Cleaning Your Engine It’s important to make cleaning your boat’s engine part of your cleaning ritual. Some boat owners choose to do this themselves, while others opt to have this done by an experienced mechanic. An engine cleaner like WD-40, used in combination with a cleaning cloth, is usually sufficient for removing grime and grease. These products also protect engine parts by creating a protective shield from moisture. If it’s an older engine with a considerable amount of build-up, you may need to employ a more powerful de-greaser, such as "Gunk." Be sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions carefully, and protect yourself and electrical engine parts first.  These are but a few of the many tips for protecting your vessel from the  environmentt.

A Cruising Guide to Puget Sound

A Cruising Guide to Puget Sound: Olympia to Port Angeles, including the San Juan Islands

Here is a book that everybody needs in their boat's library.

Review

"... should be all one needs... Easy to use... well designed... thorough." -- Practical Sailor

"... so complete that veteran cruisers will discover cruising grounds they didn't know existed or didn't consider navigable." -- Sail

"If I ever made it to half the places [Scherer] studied, I would be an exteremely happy cruiser... This book will be a keeper for my 'to take cruising' box." -- Sailing

"This is an outstanding cruising guide." -- Northwest Yachting

Product Description

Puget Sound is one of the largest and most attractive cruising grounds in North America, more varied by far than even beteran cruisers expect--great natural harbors, breathtaking scenery, and a mild climate that permits year-round cruising. Here is the first comprehensive boater's guide to the almost 2,000 miles of shoreline and more than 300 islands that lie between Washington's capital of Olympia and the Canadian border at Point Roberts, including the San Juans. Veteran Pacific Northwest cruiser and award-winning author Migael Scherer brings more than 20 years of Puget Sound sailing to this guide, offering intricate, hard-earned local knowledge of the approaches, anchorages, and facilities of hundreds of bays, harbors, and inlets, with annotated charts for many. Here also are insights into local history and attractions, and a rating system that details every harbor and anchorage, how and where to get ashore, and what facilities to expect.
A Cruising Guide to Puget Sound shows you not only where to cruise but how to make your cruise safer and more enjoyable, with a detailed discussion of weather, tides, currents, and the effects of commercial shipping, logging, and fishing.
Migael Scherer is a graceful, meticulous, and observant writer whose love and appreciation of all that Puget Sound offers rings clearly. Here is her personal tour.
From Olympia through the San Juans to Point Roberts on the Canadian border and Port Angeles in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Puget Sound offers nearly 300 islands and some 2,000 miles of shoreline.
Here is the definitive guide, including

• Tested piloting information, with comprehensive details on approaches, anchorages and moorage, getting ashore, and things to do
• Harbor and anchorage ratings, including beauty and interest, protection, and facilities-at-a-glance
• Advice on coping with tides and currents, weather, commercial traffic, log booms, and other navigational challenges
• Annotated chartlets
• Local history and seasonal highlights

"Everything a yachtsman's pilot ought to be: shipshape and workmanlike in its approach, unusually well written, very thoughtfully researched. . . . I wish you'd put the price up to, say, $1,000, and thereby deter a few people from discovering the anchorages that until now have been quietly traded between friends."--Jonathan Raban
"Simply, every local boater should have a dog-eared, well-thumbed copy of A Cruising Guide to Puget Sound as a permanent feature in the nautical library."--48 Degrees North
"This would be a welcome addition to the library of any Puget Sound sail- or powerboat owner. It could well become a hit among landlubbers searching for that elusive Sound-side getaway."--The Seattle Times

Rules of the Road for Boaters

 Everybody has to follow the rules of the road, even if the road is the Puget Sound.

I have seen some close calls and hope that its simply because people don't know any better and not because they just don't care.

Below is a link to the US Coast Guard web site that will open a .pdf file with the entire set of inland navigation rules.

Please read, download, pass along to friends and do what it takes to help other be safe so we can all have a great day out on the water.

Inland Navigation Rules

Help The Tacoma Youth Marine Center

 Help the Tacoma Youth Foundation expand their docks to house the fleet supporting the Sea Scouts, provide boater safety training and give the youth of the puget sound region a place to learn new skills, learn a trade and become productive members of their community. For more information, please read the following taken directly from the foundation web site.

Welcome to the Tacoma Youth Marine Center NEW DOCKS COMING! The Youth Marine Foundation board of directors is excited to be moving ahead with building new docks at our location on the East side of the Foss Waterway.  This will enable the large Sea Scout vessels to relocate from the West side and make this their base of operations.  There will also be launch and moorage space for sailboat training and boating safety classes. We are now raising the final $100,000 toward this $850,000 project, and we'd appreciate your help to make it a reality!  You may donate through this website, or contact us to talk further about it. Port of Tacoma is helping us secure the necessary permits and oru goal is to build the docks during the current "fish window," which ends February 15, 2011.   Please help!  After the docks, our next step is to place and equip a modular classroom building on our site, so maritime skills can be taught here.  Check back often for news about our capital campaign, to create a great training and recreation facility right here on the Tacoma waterfront!  A Place Where Youth Can 'Touch the Sound' Whether rowing, paddling, sailing or motoring, being part of the team that moves the boat over the waves creates positive, life defining experiences for young people. Youth can watch the birds, seals, otters, whales, and fish; learn how to fix a crack in the deck, repair a small engine, rebuild a diesel engine, navigate, safely operate a boat and do many other things that are not taught on TV. At the Tacoma Youth Marine Center, young people learn through experience to be good boaters, good mechanics, and good citizens.

Fisherman's Friends - No Hopers, Jokers and Rogues

Ok, this might not have anything to do with boating or fishing in Washington but it is a wonderful song from Fisherman's Friends.

Listen in and enjoy No Hopers, Jokers and Rogues from a great group.

Puget Sound Fishing Videos

Watch your favorite videos of fishing on the Puget Sound.

Washington State Requires Boater Safety Training

If you are a boater in the state of Washington, state law requires operators of motorboats with 15 horsepower or greater to take a safety education course to operate a boat. The safety course can be taken in a classroom, online, or at home.

The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission’s program promotes safe and responsible recreation on Washington's waterways. 

Match your age group with the year you are required to possess your certification card.

Year                     Age Group
2008                    12 years to 20 years old
2009                    25 years and under
2010                    30 years and under
2011                    35 years and under
2012                    40 years and under
2013                    50 years and under
2014                    59 years and under

After 2014 All boat operators need to have received this training except those people that fit in the groups below.

Group	Exemption
People born before 1/1/1955		No card needed.
Operators of commercial fishing boats		When operating a recreational vessel must have valid commercial license or Boating Safety Education Card.
Operators with U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) marine operator license		When operating a recreational vessel must have valid USCG operator license or Boating Safety Education Card.
Operators of exempt vessels		When operating a recreational vessel must have Boating Safety Education Card.
Operators of rented, leased or chartered vessels		When operating a livery vessel, must have a copy of the Commission-approved educational checklist in lieu of Boating Safety Education Card.
An operator who is a resident of another state or country		Does not need card for first 60 consecutive days. After this must have Washington Boater Education Card.
An operator who is a resident of another state or country who has a valid card from that state or country		Does not need card for first 60 consecutive days. After this must have Washington Boater Education Card.
A person purchasing a vessel		For the first 60 days after purchasing a vessel, the bill of sale showing date of purchase is valid in lieu of a Washington Boating Education Card.
A person not yet required to have a card		No card needed until date of phasing in. See above table on phase-in dates.

One location for training can be found at the Adventures in Boating-Washington with hands-on training web site by following the link below.

Course Description

The above link talks about one option to complete the training but you have a few options so pick the best one for you and not only become legal but earn some additional skill.

Washington Recreational Crabbing vote is in

The vote is in and for once the recreational crabber is on the winning side!!!!

Below is the press release from the CCA regarding this vote.

Today, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission voted to bring more fairness to the Puget Sound Dungeness fishery by adopting "Option A" for its new Puget Sound Crab policy.
This long overdue policy change rightfully recognizes the importance of recreational crabbing in Puget Sound and provides a SIGNIFICANT increase in fishing opportunity for Puget Sound crabbers.
The commission's decision increases equity in the crab allocation and is a victory for recreational crabbers. This is a huge milestone for the recreational angling community and the citizens of Washington State.
The new policy adopted by the Commission will provide a summer recreational season from July 1st to Labor Day open 5 days a week - including both weekend days. It will also provide a October - December winter recreational season open 7 days a week. Both seasons will employ a 5 crab daily bag limit.
These changes are expected to increase the recreational share of Puget Sound crab harvests and will accommodate increases in recreational participation in the crab fishery in future years.

This was a hard fought battle with commercial interests lobbying hard against even a modest shift of a relatively small portion of the state crab harvest to recreational crabbers. Thanks to You – the members of CCA – and our partners, this meaningful change in recreational opportunity was possible.
Through our membership and the active involvement of CCA leadership we were able to focus the Commission on the facts rather than the same old tired arguments.
Through our Action Alert, CCA members sent hundreds of e-mails to the Commission allowing them to hear directly from us.
Our members also made their voices heard when public comment on this issue was taken by the Commission in Olympia.
We also enjoyed positive media coverage of this issue and our efforts.
This is not our victory alone though. We worked with several other groups and many individuals, all of whom played a critical role in this victory. We also enjoyed the support of elected officials, including 10 legislators who recently wrote a letter to the Commission in support of the change.
Finally, a large majority of the Commission took a strong and courageous stand for fairness in the face of profanity and other intimidation tactics.
This is a great example of working together, focusing on the facts and carrying out a strategic plan to achieve a great outcome for recreational anglers.
A sign of great things to come!