Tuesday, 13 March 2018
As a boater one always keeps an ear tuned to the marine forecast. Problem is that you can miss a fair weather window if treating meteorology as an exact science. Out there, on the ocean, conditions aren’t always the way prognosticators predict. Even current conditions at a weather station may be entirely different from your own position a dozen miles away.
We’re staying in Charleston another day as the forecast calls for strong southerly winds and ocean swells, and there is no use beating against the weather when one can only cover a few miles an hour in the desired direction. Instead, we spend much of the day cleaning the deck of the yacht.
Wednesday, 14 March 2018
We are up and away by 8 o’clock. Seeing the harbour mouth by daylight makes one realize how tricky this entrance is. Yet I have seen an oceangoing cargo ship steam in on its way to the Port of Coos Bay at a pretty good clip.
The seas kick up high waves on our way out because the foreshore is relatively shallow and the fingers of the jetties funnel the water into the bay. It’s a bit like heading out into the surf. Beyond the jetties to the north are yellow sand beaches, to the south the sea crashes into steep cliffs that rise toward Cape Arago.
Once we are clear of the shore the southerly wind and southwesterly swells give us a roller coaster ride as we motor along. We observe a fishing boat laying crab traps less than a quarter mile off our starboard side. Got to be vigilant to avoid those floats. I’ve encountered them when the chart indicated a depth of 350 feet.
Other than the contrary winds, the weather is fair. A bit cooler than in recent days but sunny with clouds on the horizon. By nightfall the seas build and the forecast says there’d be gale force winds overnight. We had hoped to make Crescent Beach, California, but decide to tuck into the next harbour, Gold Beach.
Well, we find out that the entrance to the Rogue River estuary doesn’t have any lights or buoys to guide us in — nothing at all. And if that isn’t bad enough, we “pick up” another crab line and float right there. Under only one engine Captain Dan manages to find the way under radar and with the help of his electronic chart display while Bo and I are stationed at the bow trying to look for hazards in the pitch darkness. Even then we almost touch bottom before finding the docks at the end of a dredged channel in a shallow lagoon. Between the commercial and recreational docks there are only a few local boats in the “harbour”. No wonder, for the decking isn’t in the best of shape, the water outlets don’t work, and there is no electric connection for our 50 amp power requirements (and who knows if the 30 amp outlets they have here really work).
When we talk to the harbourmaster in the morning, we find out that their fuel dock doesn’t have diesel, only gasoline, and he tells us a sorry tale of lack of funding to keep the port in shipshape. Dan’s argument is that more boats would visit the harbour if it had proper navigational markers and dock facilities, for the scenery here is rather lovely with its forested hills on either side of the river.
Photos: 1.) Gold Beach harbour. 2.) Captain Dan using his mini camera to see how the crab line is wrapped around the propeller. 3.) Wreck of the Mary Duncan Hume [1881-1978], “longest active sea service for any commercial vessel on the Pacific coast”. Rogue River Bridge [1932] in the background.
