Wasp Pass in San Juans claims another boat

Wow, looks like they were running at warp speed when the rocks jumped out in front of them. Looks like they were near the top edge of the tide line. Did this happen at night?
D.D.
 
Report is CG got the call @ 0020 hours, so I assume so but...

Also the tide may have also gone out and that makes it appear they ran up higher, but from the looks of the bow/cabin that boat took some severe impact when it hit.
 
My wife and I plan to travel through the the San Juan islands on our shake-down cruise for our new Marinaut 215. We could not believe the tidal flow range on the west coast -- 12 feet! On Long Island Sound, our Tidal Flow can range from 3 to 6 feet depending upon where we are. So in Washington, one could travel over a rocky bottom with 10 feet of water under one's boat, and if one follows the GPS track on one's return at low tide, one could hit the rocks. We are taking safety very seriously, obtained good quality charts, and we are currently reading Coastal Pilot 7.

Here's another issue we see. When we were visiting EQ Marine a few month's ago, Les Lampman told us that almost no one operates their boats at night. In Coastal Pilot 7, it warned of deadheads (sinkers) in Puget Sound and we now understand why people stay anchored at night. We can see, too, that if the water is not smooth, traveling at too high a rate of speed with low visibility -- it's hard to see deadheads until one is right on top of them, or perhaps not see these at all.

Thanks for your post -- it's sobering.
 
C-Nile, the tides in the PNW are severe and when you visit the San Juans, you'll witness tidal changes and their amazing effects from whirlpools in the middle of no-where, upswells of current & water that resembles river rapids, but in the sound. The amount of water entering and exiting the straight is astounding and it shocked me as Hawai'i doesn't have anything comparable.

We've done limited night traveling. We take it very slowly and both Meredith and I are constantly on the look out for dead heads/bebris. It can be done safely and prudently, but if you have the choice a nice safe harbor/anchorage is the way to go. :wink:

The Yellow Islands & Wasp Pass are on the list of "most hit rocks" in the San Juans. We'ver traversed through both in the daylight and paying very close attention to our path. It was no sweat. My brother won't go near them in his sailboat but he has a keel. :wink: He calls traveling through them "bad juju"... :lol:

You can see here that Wasp Passage is the "money maker" for vessel assist. http://www.navagear.com/2007/07/09/frequently-hit-rocks-san-juan-islands/
 
'AU KAI --

Thank you so much for that map of the danger spots. We will keep it with our essential information. Regarding your suggestion on finding a nice safe harbor/anchorage overnight spot -- Les Lampman made the same recommendation, and we now understand why. It's apparent that we are going to have to pay close attention to the tides when traversing through the San Juan's. It looks like prudent planning is in order.

Thanks!

Rich
 
it amazes me that people hit rocks around here. This rock is well know and shown on every map, both gps and paper. We , susan and I , help pull a 30plus searay off the end of this same rock a few years ago. they ran over the reef at the end of the rock, you know the one with the bouy on it?????????? hit it at 30 knots in day light on a calm day????????????
 
Tom,

You are a very kind and generous man to help out folks like that. However, that said, if that boat had been holed and subsequently sank after being pulled off. You put your self straight in the sights of the insurance company's lawyers.

Let them pay a high priced professional to assess the damage and tow, pull or salvage. The cash outlay will make them safer boaters next time, maybe :roll:
 
Wow, our boat has one of those thingies that shows a boat icon and mean low water depth numbers all around the boat icon. I usually pick the areas on the screen to travel in where the numbers exceed 10 feet. I also go slowly if I'm not in familar waters. I do all this even though I have insurance and a unlimited towing deal with Boat US. Call me crazy!
D.D.
 
Roger let me clarify. the boat in question ran over the reef and tore both out drives off and holed the boat which continued on pass the reef. yep he hit it good. What we pulled off was the owner, his wife, and two kids.

No I would not pull a boat off a rock, just the people. its amazing how little other people property means to me when wives and kids are concerned. we quickly transferred them to another boat that was in the process of rigging their boat for a tow as vessel assist showed up with pumps. they got the boat to a sling in the end and all ended well. funny thing is the guy keep going on about red right return but the red buoy was to the left of his searay???????

will-c. so did this guys boat. same raymarine set up I have. cant fix stupid.
 
And drinking sure does not help :beer



Seven pulled from the waters of Wasp Passage after crabbing boat runs aground near Shaw Island

Today, 3:48 PM · UPDATED


Story update: Alcohol is believed to played a role in the grounding of the commercial crabbing boat that ran aground on Low Island early Friday, shortly after midnight, according to San Juan County Sheriff Rob Nou.

Seven crew members were rescued from the waters of Wasp Passage, including the owner and operator of the 22-foot fiberglass boat, Henry Jackson, 42, of Suquamish. Two of the seven men pulled from the water, Frank Olsen of Lummi and a 17-year-old male from Chehalis, were airlifted to St. Joseph's Hospital in Bellingham with broken bones and for treatment of hypothermia, according to a statement released by the Sheriff's department.
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Over the 4th of July weekend I was up in the area, Jones, Shaw and up to Stuart. On one of the days there was a radio conversation between two boats passing through the Wasp/yellow group, one taking a shortcut at a high speed, the other going out and around. The first came on the radio with some commentary about being dead in the water after a sudden bump and crunch. The first boat driver even said he knew he should go that way and had told himself it was a dumb idea. After a fairly substantial delay, it was determined that the out drive was loosened and the lower skeg was only GONE. No life lost, no boat sunk, but the rocks claimed another hit, and stupid survives to strike again.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
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