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Clint is right. If members were to launch at Cornet Bay next Saturday morning, it would make more sense to go counter-clockwise...through LaConner, up past Anacortes and down the outside of Fidalgo to enter Deception Pass during the 2 p.m. slack-current period. That is Option #1--launch at Cornet Bay and head east, with the incoming tidal current.
Option #2 -- Launch at Bowman Bay (just outside Deception Pass) and circle Fidalgo Island clockwise. The downside to this plan is that folks would be forced to go through Deception Pass westbound in the mid- to late afternoon with an ebbing current. (When an ebb current meets westerly wind and waves coming in from the Strait of Juan de Fuca, you can get some nasty waves building just outside the Pass...making it difficult to get back to Bowman Bay's launch ramp. An option within this option is to shuttle some tow vehicles over to Cornet Bay's ramp parking lot in the morning, after launching boats at Bowman Bay. That way, members would have the option of pulling their boats out at Cornet Bay--just inside Deception Pass--rather than ploughing through oncoming waves in an attempt to get to Bowman Bay.)
Option 3 -- Maybe this is the best plan: Launch in LaConner, motor north through the Swinomish Channel, pass Anacortes, go down the outside of Fidalgo Island and have a nice, leisurely lunch stop at the Bowman Bay public floats...then go eastbound through Deception Pass during the 2 p.m . slack...totally avoiding Pass currents, big late-afternoon wave action in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, etc. Most members would then return to LaConner in the late afternoon.
If members want to go with Option 3, launching in LaConner, we'll personally just take our time motoring from the Port Townsend area up to Bowman Bay, meeting the rest of you for lunch and then joining you during the cruise through Deception Pass and into Skagit Bay. Chuck Bauer could perhaps do the same thing, returning to the Everett ramp in the late afternoon via Saratoga Passage. Rick and Sarah could also rendezvous with us for lunch at Bowman Bay, but I'm unclear on whether they're heading back to Obstruction Island after the event...or maybe heading back to Bellingham...(?) (Either way, they could accompany the group back to LaConner if they wanted, then continue north through Swinomish Channel to either Obstruction or Bellingham.)
So....what are the thoughts of members? Whatever we do, it appears unlikely that members will want to follow the original plan of launching at Cornet Bay and bucking strong incoming currents through Deception Pass, since the maximum flood current of 5.27 knots hits at 10 a.m., just about when folks would want to launch.
What are members' thoughts...??
- Marty
Option #2 -- Launch at Bowman Bay (just outside Deception Pass) and circle Fidalgo Island clockwise. The downside to this plan is that folks would be forced to go through Deception Pass westbound in the mid- to late afternoon with an ebbing current. (When an ebb current meets westerly wind and waves coming in from the Strait of Juan de Fuca, you can get some nasty waves building just outside the Pass...making it difficult to get back to Bowman Bay's launch ramp. An option within this option is to shuttle some tow vehicles over to Cornet Bay's ramp parking lot in the morning, after launching boats at Bowman Bay. That way, members would have the option of pulling their boats out at Cornet Bay--just inside Deception Pass--rather than ploughing through oncoming waves in an attempt to get to Bowman Bay.)
Option 3 -- Maybe this is the best plan: Launch in LaConner, motor north through the Swinomish Channel, pass Anacortes, go down the outside of Fidalgo Island and have a nice, leisurely lunch stop at the Bowman Bay public floats...then go eastbound through Deception Pass during the 2 p.m . slack...totally avoiding Pass currents, big late-afternoon wave action in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, etc. Most members would then return to LaConner in the late afternoon.
If members want to go with Option 3, launching in LaConner, we'll personally just take our time motoring from the Port Townsend area up to Bowman Bay, meeting the rest of you for lunch and then joining you during the cruise through Deception Pass and into Skagit Bay. Chuck Bauer could perhaps do the same thing, returning to the Everett ramp in the late afternoon via Saratoga Passage. Rick and Sarah could also rendezvous with us for lunch at Bowman Bay, but I'm unclear on whether they're heading back to Obstruction Island after the event...or maybe heading back to Bellingham...(?) (Either way, they could accompany the group back to LaConner if they wanted, then continue north through Swinomish Channel to either Obstruction or Bellingham.)
So....what are the thoughts of members? Whatever we do, it appears unlikely that members will want to follow the original plan of launching at Cornet Bay and bucking strong incoming currents through Deception Pass, since the maximum flood current of 5.27 knots hits at 10 a.m., just about when folks would want to launch.
What are members' thoughts...??
- Marty
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