2017 trip to Alaska

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bobliz

New member
We're planning on taking our C-Dory Tomcat to Washington in late June then heading to Alaska and back. We've sailed extensively in southern waters but never taken a boat up north so any information (books, charts, sailing directions, personal experiences, etc.,) would really be appreciated!

Thanks! Bob and Liz Speth "Catfish"
 
Hey Bob & Liz
You guys might want to consider coming to the Seattle Boat show in January. There will be a C-dory group there and the show usually has several seminars on the inside passage. It may also give you a chance to scope out some of the places to use as a launching base while you are up in this part of the county.

Your post is timely for us because we are going to run our Tomcat part or all of the way ourselves.
We only live a few blocks from South Lake Union site and the hotel the group is using so would love to compare notes while you are here.

For Charting there are a bunch of alternative but the one that helps us put things in perspective is to have a large planning chart. I suggest you get the following:
http://waggonerguide.com/product/inside ... h-portion/
 
If I was to buy one set of cruising guides, I would go with the "Fine Edge" publications by Don Douglas: Exploring S E Alaska,, Exploring the North Coast of British Columbia, and Exploring the South Coast of British Columbia. The books are about 10 years old--maybe older, but they are excellent, with minimal errors. You may have to find used books. Fine Edge also publishes Waggoner Guide. Don Douglas did a single version book from the San Juans to Glacier Bay in 1995--now out of print ($80 used). There were errors, which were corrected in the newer sectional editions but if you only want one book--that is probably what I would choose.


For general overall planning, we had a tourist type of map which showed the entire passage on one or two pages, and thru the years, plotted our different routes in Sharpie marker. There may be a cheaper one, but ours was similar to National Geographic map. Fine Edge makes one which is I believe the one we used.

Also National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Pacific Northwest, would be a minimal nature guide. We also use Sibley's field guide to birds. There are a few other more specific guides.

Knowing the tides and currents are essential--but you can travel 3 to 4 times faster, and thus hit many passes in one day--than in a sailboat--which most of our trips to AK were in. Link has some very good comments and referrals. We used current books and tables,

On our first trip to AK we were lucky to get a set of complete charts (over 200) from a friend who is a tugboat skipper. These were fully annotated, and only a year old. But where do you put over 200 charts on a Tom Cat (OK--you could load up under one of the hulls under the forward berth... With GPS, Active Captain, and a good tide/current program you should be fine... On the C Dory we had an Evergreen chart atlas up to N. BC. I don't recall, which older atlas we had for AK.

Thru the years I read a number of older books: Such as John Muir's Travels in Alaska--First trip to Glacier Bay in 1879! Captain Cooks, 3 voyages, 1768 to 1779. "The curve of time" is a classic must read. There were many others, most I picked up at used book stores. Reading in one of the books, we found a location with several log dugout canoes with human skeletons in them--I am sure well over 100 years old, and not disturbed. We took photos, and were extremely careful to not touch or move anything in this site.

Side trips, I think are "most do"--Princess Louisa Inlet, Buchart Gardens, by water, spend at least a day (and night) there. Dinghy to their dock, Ford's Terror. Ocean Falls.Pack Creek for Grizley Bears, and if possible Queen Charlotte Islands--if just one part, the South. Of course it is impossible to see all in one trip. We made four, six months trips in the Cal 46, and one, one month trip in the C Dory 25.

Real all of the information posted by other C brats, especially Jay and Jolee (Hunkydory C D 22), and Brent and Dixie (Discovery TC 255). There are a number of C Brats in SE, and along the Inside passage--reach out to them for local knowledge. (hint--go to our C Dorys and Membership list and find out where the owners are in AK)

The Inside Passage is my favorite cruising ground of the entire World...

:
 
Bob is correct, the Alaska Inside Passage is one of the best trips in the world. We did it in a sailboat in ~1998. Figuring out slack water from the Canadian and Alaskan almanacs was a bear.

It's been almost 20 years since we went and electronic charting has made great advances. So, if you have Coastal Explorer or want to download OpenCpn (free) both of those have ride/current information on display. In addition your MFD may display tides/current. Journey On's Lowrance displays do. It makes going through the passes with current much simpler. With our sailboat, if I calculated wrong, we went backwards or sat in one spot for a long time. Of course, with a C-Dory, the need for knowing the state of the current isn't as important. Do buy the Canadian current/tidal almanacs, they're cheap. Also, note that you have to buy the Canadian electronic charts.

As to paper charts, we used chartbooks. The best we found were Evergreen Pacific, expensive but good. Charlies Charts North to Alaska gives good local knowledge.

Boris
 
Boris is right about the sailboat. The first book I bought was: "How to Cruise to Alaska (Olympia to Skagway) Without Rocking the Boat Too Much! (Paperback)
by Walt Woodward" Old copies, for $0.01, and $3.99 S & H....

I had dealt with high tides, a few places with currents, but nothing like we were to experience on the Inside Passage. Frankly I was worried about those passes and currents. After a few experiences we began to use the currents even more to our advantage, but even big power boats can get in trouble --as witnessed by a 57 foot purse seiner we saw in Campbell River which had capsized in Seymour Narrows, and a 75 foot yacht which had run aground near Bella Bella and torn huge holes in the hull....

The C Dory danced thru those passes, but caution is necessary..and if used to your best advantage a lot of fuel can be saved. Our rule with the sailboat was one pass a day, and arrive at high slick water. With the C Dory we could do 3 or 4, and go thru in many states of the tide/current...Still the passes like Ford's Terror need real respect!
 
You're getting some good advice from folks who know their stuff. It will be a great trip and nothing to be afraid of, given preparation, respect and enough time to wait for the weather to beautify at times. I sent a P.M.
 
I agree, you have been given very good advice thus far, especially Bob's. I will only add the direct route passage cruise is no doubt fantastic, but the really special gems are mostly off route & need to be searched out. As wonderful as your first cruise North will be, you will miss out on much, unless you take the time to plan & then see a variety of these out of the way places or just do the up & back this year with future plans of more detail cruising. Study the cruise guides already suggested & as Bob said, read the accounts of those of us who have been there & shared their adventures or live & cruise there. Then if that draws out more questions make contact with PM's, email & phone. Above all, follow through & make the journey.

Jay
 
To Add a little to Jay's. Some of our most special and memorable times have been the hot springs. They may vary from a pool where there is no one with in miles, to formal bath houses and even communal pools--with different times for males and females.

Of course, the most special are the people who live in these isolated areas. We have a hundred stories, but some of the best are way off the tracks. An example is we and a trawler friend, when up into a fjord which is poorly charted. The entrance was as bad as "Ford's Terror"--we just wanted to explore it. We had taken our boats over 50 miles up this system, and we both had fast dinghies, so set off for a day's exploration--having not seen another boat for almost a week. About 30 miles by dinghy we came upon an active lumber camp--but no-one seemed to be there. We made a few "whoops"-- and a fellow appeared out of one of the portable buildings. He invited us to tie up to one of the small tugs and come up the hill. It turned out he was the cook, the entire rest of the crew had 4 days off--and had been flown out. Not only did he fire up one of the logging trucks and take us miles up these primitive roads to show us how that operation worked, then then cooked us lunch, and insisted sending us on our way with fresh baked rolls! There was also a tour of the accommodations,the portable shops, etc--all in modules which had been brought in by barge.

So go off the tracks and explore!
 
You can hop on the AMHS from several ports in Southeast and cross the Gulf to get to places like Seward, Homer, Cordova, Whittier, Valdez and Kodiak. You would likely have to rent a truck and trailer, but I'll bet that could be done.

If you are trying to get creative about something like that in your travels and are thinking about putting the word out via craigslist, also be aware of a similar site that a lot of Alaskans use:

www.alaskaslist.com
 
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