Bellingham Bay Sunday Breeze

M

MikeR

New member
Just finished uploading about 60 photos from Bellingham, including a bunch from Sunday morning's windstorm that I had to share here. The crews of Ari, El Gato Thomas and Sweet Pea braving the winds and 4' whitecaps on Sunday morning.

SundayStorm19.jpg
Bellingham Bay is no match for a C-Dory!

SundayStorm17.jpg
The crew in the 17' Whaler turned back shortly after this photo - a good thing since none of them even had life jackets on!

SundayStorm22.jpg
Lots of boats had to return from their weekend in this stuff, including this sail boat.

Many more photos in my album.
 
We did 6 knots for the first section when these pics were taken then ramped up a bit after the waves eased to 2-3ft then we dropped back down when they rose again near Chuckanut bay to 5ft peaks and it was time to pull the crab pot. That was a little tough to do but we got the pot (losing most of the crab) as we hauled it more sideways than up then cruised slow until the waves settled closer to Guemes and were able to speed back up.

Last month we ran into 4-5ft waves in Port Alberni inlet for over a hour but the boat was loaded up with lots of group gear and another person. That extra weight allowed us to stay on plane at 11-12knots and run into those waves comfortably. Last weekend, we were running relatively light and getting over about 6 knots had Ari lifting off the waves which was not so comfortable. Cindie was a moderately nervous (getting better each season), but Aven watched a movie in the berth the whole time and never mentioned a thing. Ari can take a lot and we like the big wave behavior better than we did in the 25. The 25 liked to bury the bow in green water (added length/weight) and that was never reassuring. If we seen green water in Ari, I think we would be upside down. A little cork she is...

Greg
 
Is the boat on the right in those photos a 16? Not that I 'plan' to go out in big waves in my 16, but my family members have each made comments about being afraid of my boat. They aren't sure it is sea worthy...though they all took it out multiple times while I had to spend the entire summer down south...not on a boat.

Jackie
 
Hi Jackie, no that is Ari, the amazing 19. Greg posted a brief account directly above, he was piloting the boat you are asking about. Not sure a 16 would have been a very good idea to intentionally go out in this water, although certainly some have been caught in similar conditions and did OK.
SundayStorm1.jpg
 
MikeR":elj2dfpx said:
Just finished uploading about 60 photos from Bellingham, including a bunch from Sunday morning's windstorm that I had to share here. The crews of Ari, El Gato Thomas and Sweet Pea braving the winds and 4' whitecaps on Sunday morning.

SundayStorm19.jpg
Bellingham Bay is no match for a C-Dory!

SundayStorm17.jpg
The crew in the 17' Whaler turned back shortly after this photo - a good thing since none of them even had life jackets on!

SundayStorm22.jpg
Lots of boats had to return from their weekend in this stuff, including this sail boat.
Many more photos in my album.
Click to expand...

As I too own a 16 C-Dory and therefore curious- Were you out there in this at anytime and if so how did she handle?
 
I was just going through some photos on my camera tonight and realized I had also taken a video of Ari leaving Squalicum Harbor into the wind and white caps. The video is uploaded in my album, trying to include a direct link but not sure if it will work:
http://www.c-brats.com/albums/album2552 ... g_2016.mp4

And knowing Bellingham Bay, this was probably the easy stuff for Ari and crew...usually it gets a lot worse out towards the entrance to the bay.

-Mike
 
Hello fellow C-Brat friends,

Dunkley's wife here. Thanks for the photos of sunday's windstorm and the video of the C-Dory in the 4ft chop. I'm curious to 'see' how the C- dory looks/handles in the same chop with a following sea. Like Cindie, I am a moderately nervous sailor... and I find our C-dory seems a little unpredictable and less responsive in a following sea.
Look forward to hearing and hopefully seeing some evidence demonstrating that you can also come home in these conditions too.

Cheers, Sally
 
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